The United States and Israel pounded Iran with what the Pentagon and Iranians on the ground called the most intense airstrikes of the war, despite global markets betting that President Donald Trump will seek to end the conflict soon.
Israel’s military said it had unleashed a new “wave of strikes” on Tehran, shortly after a round of explosions was heard in the Iranian capital.
“The IDF (military) has begun an additional wave of strikes on Iranian terror regime targets in Tehran,” the Israeli military wrote on its official Telegram channel.
Raising the stakes for the global economy, Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps said it would block oil shipments from the Gulf unless US and Israeli attacks cease.
The Revolutionary Guards also said it fired missiles at Qatar’s US-operated Al Udeid base and the Al Harir base in Iraq’s Kurdistan.
Those launches were followed by drone attacks targeting a gathering of US troops at Al Dhafra air base in the United Arab Emirates and Juffair naval base in Bahrain.
Early this morning, Iranian state media reported another round of attacks was unleashed on US military installations in Bahrain.
Waves of Iranian missiles also were fired at central Israel.
The sound of explosions from air defenses intercepting the rockets punctuated the predawn darkness as air raid sirens blared and Israelis scrambled to safe rooms and shelters.
There was no immediate word of whether any of the missiles reached the ground.
A building is damaged after a drone strike in the Seef district of Manama
The latest attacks from Iran roughly coincided with a new Israeli barrage on Beirut aimed at rooting out the Iran-backed group Hezbollah, which has fired into Israel from Lebanon in solidarity with the Tehran government.
The White House reiterated Mr Trump’s threat to hit Iran hard over moves to stop the flow of energy supplies through the Strait of Hormuz, where the war has effectively halted one-fifth of the world’s oil and liquefied natural gas shipments, and repeated his offer for the US Navy to safely escort tankers.
“Today will be yet again, our most intense day of strikes inside Iran: the most fighters, the most bombers, the most strikes, intelligence more refined and better than ever,” US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth told a Pentagon briefing.
In a message posted to his Truth Social platform later in the day, Mr Trump said, “Within the last few hours, we have hit, and completely destroyed” ten of Iran’s “inactive” mine-laying vessels.
He did not clarify where the strikes occurred.
‘Like hell’
Tehran residents reached by Reuters described the war’s most intense night of bombardment.
“It was like hell. They were bombing everywhere, every part of Tehran,” a resident said by phone, speaking on condition of anonymity for security reasons.
“My children are afraid to sleep now.”
Yet with Mr Trump having described the war as “very complete, pretty much”, investors appeared convinced he would end it soon – before the disruption to global energy supplies caused a worldwide economic meltdown.
Smoke rises above residential buildings following an Israeli attack on Tehran yesterday
An historic surge in crude oil prices on Monday to nearly $120 a barrel was reversed as Brent crude settled back down below $90 yesterday.
Asian and European share prices staged a partial recovery from earlier precipitous falls, and Wall Street bounced around its late February levels, before the war.
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters that the American public will see oil and gas prices drop rapidly once the objectives of the joint Israeli-US airwar are fully achieved.
A source familiar with Israel’s war plans told Reuters theIsraeli military wanted to inflict as much damage as possible before the window for further strikes closes, under the assumption Mr Trump could end the war at any time.
Iranian defiance
Several senior Iranian officials have voiced defiance.
“Certainly, we are not seeking a ceasefire; we believe the aggressor must be struck in the mouth so that they learn a lesson,” Iran’s parliament speaker, Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf, posted on X.
Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi told PBS that Tehran was unlikely to resume negotiations with the US
A spokesperson for the Revolutionary Guards said Tehran would not allow “one litre” of Middle Eastern oil to reach the US or its allies while US and Israeli attacks continue.
“We are the ones who will determine the end of the war,” the spokesperson said.
Quick end to war could leave Iranian leadership in place.
Ending the war quickly would appear to preclude toppling Iran’s leadership, which held large-scale rallies in support of the new supreme leader.
Members of the US Air Force prepare munitions at an RAF base in southwest England
Many Iranians want change and some openly celebrated the death of the elder Khamenei, weeks after his security forces killed thousands of people to put down anti-government protests.
However, there has been little sign of protest during the war.
Fearing a revival of anti-government demonstrations, Iran’s police chief Ahmadreza Radan warned that “anyone taking into streets at the enemy’s request will be confronted as an enemy not protestor.”
“All our security forces have their fingers on the trigger,” Mr Radan told state television.
More than 1,300 Iranian civilians have been killed since the US and Israeli airstrikes began on 28 February, according to Iran’s UN ambassador, Amir Saeid Iravani.
He said nearly 8,000homes have been destroyed, along with 1,600 “commercial and service centers” and dozens of medical, educational and energy-supply facilities.
The intention of US and Israeli strikes is “to terrorise civilians, massacre innocent people, and cause maximum destruction and suffering,” the ambassador said.
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Dozens have also been killed in Israeli attacks on Lebanon, while Iranian strikes on Israel have killed 12 people.
Iran has struck US military bases and diplomatic missions in Arab Gulf states but also hit hotels, closed airports and damaged oil infrastructure.
In addition to the six US soldiers killed at the outset of the conflict, the Pentagon estimated that about 140 American troops have been wounded.
The US Defence Department previously said eight US military personnel had been seriously injured.