LIVE: India deplores attack on Kandla-bound Thai ship in Strait of Hormuz

Iran attacked commercial ships on Wednesday (March 11) across the Persian Gulf, escalating a campaign of squeezing the oil-rich region as global energy concerns mounted and American and Israeli airstrikes pounded the Islamic Republic.

Iran's joint military command announced it would start targeting banks and financial institutions in the Middle East, a threat that would put at risk, particularly Dubai, in the United Arab Emirates, which is home to many international financial institutions, as well as Saudi Arabia and the island kingdom of Bahrain.

Earlier, a projectile hit a container ship off the coast of Oman in the Strait of Hormuz, setting it ablaze and forcing most of the crew to abandon the vessel, the British military said. Kuwait said its defences downed eight Iranian drones, and Saudi Arabia said it intercepted five drones heading toward the kingdom's Shaybah oil field.

Iran has effectively stopped cargo traffic in the narrow strait through which about a fifth of all oil is shipped from the Persian Gulf toward the Indian Ocean. It has also targeted oil fields and refineries in Gulf Arab nations, aiming at generating enough global economic pain to pressure the United States and Israel to end their strikes.

“India of today does not leave its citizens stranded elsewhere; we are working to ensure all help is provided to Indians in West Asia,” Prime Minister Narendra Modi said in Kochi on Wednesday (March 11).

He added Gulf countries are giving “utmost care” to the Indians working there, and that he was “grateful to them for that”, the PM said, attacks the Congress for “playing politics” over the West Asia crisis.

The ICC on Wednesday expressed sympathy for the international players stranded in India after the T20 World Cup but lambasted "uninformed and unhelpful" suggestions that "anything other than safety" is driving the travel plans that have been thrown haywire by the West Asia conflict.

Giving details of the travel schedule, the ICC said the South African contingent had begun departing for home on Wednesday with "four players and five family members having boarded the flight".

"...all 29 remaining members of their contingent (are) scheduled to depart in the next 24 hours," said ICC in a statement.

"Of the West Indies contingent, nine members have departed for the Caribbean, while the remaining 16 are booked on flights departing India in the next 12 hours." This was after their charter flight scheduled to take off from Kolkata was cancelled due to logistical issues.

The ICC drew criticism from former England captain Michael Vaughan and South African star David Miller insinuated that England players were given better travel arrangements as they were able to leave within a day of their semifinal ouster. Before this, West Indies coach Darren Sammy had expressed frustration at the lack of updates from the world body.

The ICC hit back without naming anyone specifically.

"The ICC rejects any suggestion that these decisions have been driven by anything other than safety, feasibility and welfare. Suggestions otherwise across a variety of media platforms from people uninformed of the situation are as unhelpful as they are incorrect," said cricket's world governing body.

"There is no link between arrangements made in the cases of South Africa and the West Indies and those made previously for England or any other nation, which arose from separate circumstances, routing options and different travel conditions," it added.

"The delay is the direct result of the ongoing crisis across the Gulf region, which has caused widespread and continuing disruption to international air travel, including airspace closures, missile warnings, re-routing constraints, as well as the cancellation and rescheduling of both commercial and charter flights at short notice," it added.

The ICC said due to the current situation, which is outside its control, each travel solution has become significantly more "complex and time-consuming than under normal circumstances." The ICC said it is continuing to liaise with tour operators and airlines to ensure that all players reach home safely.

The Iranian women's soccer team left Australia minus seven of its members, after tearful protests of their departure outside Sydney Airport and frantic final efforts inside the terminal by Australian officials who sought to ensure the women understood they were being offered asylum.

As the team's flight time drew nearer and they passed through security late Tuesday, each woman was taken aside to meet alone with officials who explained through interpreters that they could choose not to return to Iran.

Seven women earlier accepted humanitarian visas allowing them to remain permanently in Australia.

Eventually, after what Australian Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke described as “emotional” meetings, no more women accepted the offers of asylum and the team's flight departed Sydney with all remaining members on board.

The tense and precarious nature of their decisions was underscored Wednesday when Burke announced one of the seven who had stayed behind would return home after all.

It was a dramatic conclusion to an episode that has gripped Australia since the Iranian team's first game at the Asian Cup soccer tournament, when they remained silent during their national anthem.

The players sang the anthem before subsequent games and haven't publicly disclosed their views or explained their actions.

Their silence was cast as a gesture of defiance or protest by some, and an act of mourning by others.

The women's fate captured international attention as Iranian Australian groups warned they could face dire consequences from Iran's theocratic government for failing to sing the anthem, even as the players remained silent on the gesture's meaning or their own concerns about returning.

Meanwhile, an Iranian official rejected suggestions that the women weren't safe to go home.

“Iran welcomes its children with open arms and the government guarantees their security,” Iranian first Vice President Mohammad Reza Aref said Tuesday. “No one has the right to interfere in the family affairs of the Iranian nation and play the role of a nanny who is kinder than a mother,” he added.

Speculation over the health of Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei grew Wednesday after the son of Iran's president mentioned hearing news about him “being injured”.

Mojtaba, 56, is the son of the late Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

He long has been a secretive figure within Iran. His father and wife both were killed in an Israeli airstrike Feb 28 that started the war.

Mojtaba has not been seen since, nor has he given any statement since becoming supreme leader on Monday.

In an overnight post on the app Telegram, Yousef Pezeshkian, the son of President Masoud Pezeshkian, wrote: “I heard news about Mr Mojtaba being injured. I asked friends who were in contact. They said, thank God, he is healthy and there is no problem.” He did not elaborate.

Qatar said it won't serve as a mediator for Iran as it remains under attack from Tehran.

Mohammed bin Abdulaziz al-Khulaifi, Qatar's minister of state for foreign affairs, made the statement to the Qatari-funded satellite news network Al Jazeera in an interview aired Wednesday.

He noted both Qatar and Oman had been attacked even though they worked to “build bridges between Iran and the West”.

“We will not be able to fulfil that role under attack, and that's something the Iranians need to understand,” al-Khulaifi said. "The regional countries are not an enemy of Iran, and the Iranians are not understanding that idea.”

Meanwhile, Qatar issued a warning to the public on Wednesday morning of a possible Iranian attack. Explosions were heard as air defences intercepted incoming fire over capital Doha.