WASHINGTON, March 13 (Reuters) - President Donald Trump said the United States would escort vessels through the Strait of Hormuz if needed, adding in a Fox News interview that aired on Friday that the U.S. would strike Iran "very hard over the next week."

Asked about helping oil tankers pass through the key shipping strait, Trump said: "We would do it if we needed to. But, you know, hopefully things are going to go very well. We're going to see what happens." He gave no other details.

By Timour Azhari

RIYADH, March 13 (Reuters) - Iran's Shi'ite allies in Lebanon and Iraq have joined the war in the region unleashed by U.S. and Israeli strikes on Tehran. But Yemen's Houthi rebels, heavily armed and capable of striking Gulf neighbours and causing major disruption to maritime navigation around the Arabian Peninsula, have not yet entered the fray.

Here is a look at why that might be:

WHO ARE THE HOUTHIS?

"I am worried," a sailor stuck in the Gulf told AFP on Friday, his vessel unable to pass through the Strait of Hormuz, blocked for nearly two weeks after US-Israeli strikes on Iran.

"Every day on the ship, I can see missile launches and hear explosions, making me feel like I was in danger," said Wang Shang, 32.

Wang, a Chinese national from the landlocked central province of Henan, works on a foreign ship used to transport liquefied petroleum gas sourced from the energy-rich region.

By John Irish

PARIS, March 13 (Reuters) - Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy will seek reassurances of support from one of Kyiv’s key Western allies on Friday, arriving in Paris at a time when the war in the Middle East is diverting attention from Ukraine’s fight against Russia.

The widening conflict has raised questions about the supply of weapons – notably air defences – from Western partners to Ukraine, as Gulf Arab states draw down their own air defence stocks to repel daily attacks by Iran.

Iran says no one can exclude it from the World Cup later this year, in response to President Donald Trump's warning that their "life and safety" would be at risk in the US.

The Iranian team also said in the social media post on Thursday that the United States should not be allowed to co-host the tournament if it could not guarantee the safety of the teams taking part.

Trump's comments came just two days after he told FIFA chief Gianni Infantino the Iranian players would be welcome despite the Middle East war.

An Israeli strike in southern Lebanon killed a dozen medical staff at a clinic, Lebanese health authorities said Saturday, after Iran-backed Hezbollah's leader said his group was ready for a long confrontation with Israel.

Lebanon was drawn into the Middle East war last week when the Tehran-backed militant group attacked Israel in response to the killing of Iranian supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei in US-Israeli strikes.

ANKARA, March 13 (Reuters) - NATO air defences in the eastern Mediterranean have shot down a third ballistic missile that was fired from Iran towards Turkey, the Turkish Defence Ministry said on Friday, adding that it was asking Tehran for clarification.

NATO air defences shot down the first Iranian ballistic missile fired at Turkey on March 4, followed by the shooting down of a second Iranian missile on March 9. The ministry has said the first incoming missile was downed en route to Turkish airspace, while the second entered it.

By Mikhail Flores and Nestor Corrales

MANILA, March 13 (Reuters) - ASEAN foreign and economic ministers on Friday called for an immediate halt to the war in the Middle East, and said the effects of surging oil prices and disrupted trade are already hitting Southeast Asia's economies.

Several members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations have begun rolling out measures to counter the economic impact, with governments moving quickly to conserve energy, stabilise domestic markets and protect vulnerable sectors such as tourism.

March 13 (Reuters) - U.S. President Trump told G7 leaders in a virtual meeting on Wednesday that Iran is "about to surrender," Axios reported on Friday citing three officials from G7 countries briefed on the contents of the call.

According to the report, Trump told allies that he "got rid of a cancer that was threatening us all," while boasting about the results of Operation "Epic Fury" on the G7 call Wednesday morning.

Trump said that "nobody knows who is the leader, so there is no one that can announce surrender," Axios reported.

By Napat Wesshasartar and Artorn Pookasook

BAN SAI, Thailand, March 13 (Reuters) - Thousands of miles from the Middle East in Thailand's rural northeast, Sommai Butdee waits for news of her nephew, one of three crew members missing from the Thai-flagged vessel after it was struck with two projectiles earlier this week as it travelled through the Strait of Hormuz.