George W. Bush said that during his two terms in office, he rarely called on his father's counsel. But there were exceptions, intersections where the personal drifted into the presidential .
A look at some of those times, as cited by Bush in his 2014 book "A Portrait of My Father," about George H.W. Bush. The elder Bush died late Friday at age 94.
— The younger Bush asked his dad what he thought about making Dick Cheney his vice presidential choice, and his father approved. Cheney was the elder Bush's defense chief and the most influential of the people who served the 41st president to work for the 43rd.
— The elder Bush confessed to "uncontrollable sobs" that wracked his body when he watched on TV as his son reacted to the Supreme Court decision settling the 2000 election in his favor.
— The new and former presidents stood together in the Oval Office on the younger Bush's first day in office, when he invited his parents to come stay at the White House anytime.
— On Sept. 11, 2001, a day after his parents stayed at the White House, the closing of air space to commercial traffic after the terrorist attacks stranded his parents in a Brookfield, Wisconsin, motel on their way to Minnesota for an engagement. Barbara Bush joked about the indignity in a chat with her son, in what he remembers as a bit of levity that painful day.
— The younger Bush says he did not use email during his presidency; his dad would send corny jokes to presidential aides, who passed them on.
— The younger Bush also sought his father's opinions about making Colin Powell secretary of state and Bob Gates his defense chief. The elder Bush liked the choice of both men, who had also served with him.
— After the devastating 2004 tsunami, Bush asked his father and the Democrat who defeated him in 1992, Bill Clinton, to lead a private fund-raising mission to the stricken region. Thus began an unlikely friendship between the two old rivals, and a partnership that continued when Hurricane Katrina hit the Gulf Coast.
— Bush asked his dad in 2007 if he thought it would be a good idea to invite Russian President Vladimir Putin to the Bush family's summer home in coastal Maine. The father heartily approved and joined them. The dad, then 83, took them on a speedboat at top speed. "Putin loved the ride," said Bush the son. The next day, they went fishing; only Putin caught a fish.
See AP's complete coverage of George H.W. Bush here: https://www.apnews.com/GeorgeHWBush
CAIRO (AP) — U.S. President Donald Trump said he hoped allies would send warships to secure the vital Strait of Hormuz while Iran urged people to evacuate three ports in the United Arab Emirates as its war with the United States and Israel showed no signs of ending.
Iran’s call to evacuate the Middle East’s busiest port and two other UAE ports marked the first time it had openly threatened a neighboring country’s non-U.S. assets.
Tehran said the U.S. had used “ports, docks and hideouts” in the UAE to launch strikes on Kharg Island, home to the main terminal handling Iran’s oil exports, without providing evidence. It urged people to leave areas where it said U.S. forces were sheltering.
Meanwhile, Lebanon’s humanitarian crisis deepened, with over 800 people killed and 850,000 displaced as Israel launched waves of strikes against Iran-backed Hezbollah militants.
Iran’s foreign minister, Abbas Araghchi, said the U.S. attacked Kharg Island and Abu Musa Island from two locations in the UAE, Ras Al-Khaimah and a place “very close to Dubai,” calling that dangerous and saying Iran “will try to be careful not to attack any populated area” there.
U.S. Central Command said it had no response to Iran’s claim. A diplomatic adviser to the UAE’s president, Anwar Gargash, said on social media the country has the right to defend itself but “still prioritizes reason and logic, and continues exercising restraint.”
Iran has fired hundreds of missiles and drones at Arab Gulf neighbors during the war, but it has said it was targeting U.S. assets, even as hits or attempts were reported on civilian ones such as airports and oil fields.
Araghchi said the Strait of Hormuz was closed only to “those who are attacking us and their allies.”
As global anxiety soars over oil prices and supplies, Trump said Saturday that he hopes China, France, Japan, South Korea, the U.K. and others send warships to keep the Strait of Hormuz “open and safe.” Britain in response said it was discussing with allies a “range of options” to secure shipping.
Araghchi, in a social media post, urged neighbors to “expel foreign aggressors” and described Trump’s call as “begging.”
On Saturday, Iran’s joint military command reiterated its threat to attack U.S.-linked “oil, economic and energy infrastructures” in the region if the Islamic Republic’s oil infrastructure is hit.
Iran’s semiofficial Fars news agency said the Kharg Island strikes caused no damage to oil infrastructure. It said they targeted an air defense facility, a naval base, the airport control tower and an offshore oil company’s helicopter hangar.
The U.S. Department of Defense on Saturday identified six service members who died when the military refueling aircraft they were aboard crashed Thursday while supporting operations against Iran.
The service members were Maj. John A. Klinner, 33; Capt. Ariana G. Savino, 31; Tech. Sgt. Ashley B. Pruitt, 34; Capt. Seth R. Koval, 38; Capt. Curtis J. Angst, 30; and Tech. Sgt. Tyler H. Simmons, 28, according to U.S. officials.
The crash in western Iraq followed an unspecified incident involving two aircraft in “friendly airspace,” according to U.S. Central Command. The other plane landed safety.
A missile struck a helipad inside the U.S. Embassy compound in Baghdad on Saturday. No one immediately claimed responsibility for the attack. The embassy complex, one of the largest U.S. diplomatic facilities in the world, has been repeatedly targeted by rockets and drones fired by Iran-aligned militias.
The State Department again warned citizens in Iraq to leave “now,” and by land since commercial flights were not available. It noted that Iran and Iran-aligned militia groups “may continue to target” U.S. citizens, interests and infrastructure.
Mednick reported from Tel Aviv, Israel, and Magdy from Cairo. Associated Press writers Melanie Lidman in Jerusalem; Sally Abou AlJoud, Kareem Chehayeb and Bassem Mroue in Beirut; and Tia Goldenberg in Washington contributed to this report.
Smoke rises from the U.S. embassy building in Baghdad, Iraq, Saturday, March 14, 2026. (AP Photo/Ali Jabar)
Mourners react during the funeral ceremony for Gen. Ali Shamkhani, secretary of Iran's Defense Council and a senior adviser to the Supreme Leader who was killed in a strike, at the courtyard of the Imamzadeh Saleh shrine in Tehran, Iran, Saturday, March 14, 2026. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi)
Two men ride their motorbike past a billboard of the Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei in downtown Tehran, Iran, Saturday, March 14, 2026. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi)
Fire and plumes of smoke rise from an oil facility in Fujairah, United Arab Emirates, Saturday, March 14, 2026. (AP Photo/Altaf Qadri)
A man chants slogan while the body of Gen. Ali Shamkhani, secretary of Iran's Defense Council and a senior adviser to the Supreme Leader who was killed in a strike, is being buried at the courtyard of the Imamzadeh Saleh shrine in Tehran, Iran, Saturday, March 14, 2026. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi)
