By Maya Gebeily, Emily Rose and Jarrett Renshaw

PALM BEACH, Florida/DUBAI/JERUSALEM, March 15 (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump threatened further strikes on Iran's Kharg Island oil export hub and urged allies to deploy warships to secure the Strait of Hormuz, an artery for global energy supplies, as Tehran vowed to intensify its response.

With the U.S.-Israeli war on Iran in its third week, Trump said U.S. strikes had "totally demolished" much of the island and warned of more, telling NBC News on Saturday, "We may hit it a few more times just for fun."

JERUSALEM, March 15 (Reuters) - Israeli forces killed four Palestinians, including two children, during a raid in the occupied West Bank on Sunday, Palestinian health authorities said.

A mother and father, ages 35 and 37, were shot dead in the West Bank village of Tammun, along with two of their children ages 5 and 7 while two other children in the household sustained injuries, Palestinian health authorities.

The Israeli military said it was looking into the reports.

President Donald Trump urged NATO partners and China to help reopen the Strait of Hormuz, the critical conduit for crude that Iran has effectively closed, as major economic players began releasing oil reserves on Monday to ward off supply disruptions.

Global oil prices have surged by 40 to 50 percent after Iran choked off the waterway and attacked energy and shipping industry targets in the Gulf in retaliation for the US-Israeli war against the Islamic republic.

From the jet fuel used in bombing raids to acrid smoke from burning oil depots, the conflict in the Middle East is inflicting a significant toll on nature and the climate.

AFP interviewed experts about the environmental cost of war that often goes under the radar:

- Bombers and warships -

US and Israeli aircraft use a considerable amount of fuel reaching the Gulf and flying sorties over Iran, said Benjamin Neimark at the Queen Mary University of London.

March 14 (Reuters) - Russia is supplying Iran with Shahed drones to use against the U.S. and Israel, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy told CNN in an interview excerpt aired on Saturday.

Zelenskiy told CNN's Fareed Zakaria that it is "100% facts" that Iran has used Russian-made Shaheds to attack U.S. bases.

Shahed drones have been linked to other attacks on countries in the region, although their manufacturers are not always clear.

When Israeli settlers attacked their West Bank village of Abu Falah, Milia Hamayel told her son not to try to fight them off, but the 30-year-old went to defend a friend's land anyway.

"I called him two or three more times and he didn't answer. After that -- may God have mercy on him -- that was it," she told AFP, her lips trembling as she looked at a framed picture of her son, Thaer.

Dubai is scrambling to preserve its image as a safe haven despite Iran's onslaught, with influencers rallying behind the government's message as authorities crack down on those sharing footage of strikes.

For decades, the Gulf was seen as an oasis of safety in a tumultuous Middle East, with the United Arab Emirates branding itself the safest country in the world and boasting of its very low crime rates.

But that image has now been shattered.

AI-created videos circulating on Elon Musk's X depict American soldiers captured by Iran, an Israeli city in ruins, and US embassies ablaze -- a surge of lifelike deepfakes despite a policy crackdown to curb wartime disinformation.

The Middle East war has unleashed an avalanche of AI-generated visuals, dwarfing anything seen in previous conflicts and often leaving social media users unable to distinguish fabrication from reality, researchers say.

By Maya Gebeily, Emily Rose and Jarrett Renshaw

DUBAI/JERUSALEM/PALM BEACH, March 15 (Reuters) - Iran threatened escalation across the Middle East to retaliate for American airstrikes on its energy hub and U.S. President Donald Trump urged friendly nations to send warships to secure the Strait of Hormuz, with no sign on Sunday of an end to the war.

Formula One races in Bahrain and Saudi Arabia have been cancelled as the Middle East war engulfs the region, motorsport's governing body the FIA announced on Saturday.

"It has been confirmed today that, after careful evaluations, due to the ongoing situation in the Middle East region, the Bahrain and Saudi Arabian Grands Prix will not take place in April," the International Automobile Federation (FIA) said in a statement.

"While several alternatives were considered, it was ultimately decided that no substitutions will be made in April.