By Parisa Hafezi, Alexander Cornwell and Phil Stewart, Reuters
Smoke plumes billow from the site of airstrikes near Azadi Tower in western Tehran on March 10, 2026.
Photo: ATTA KENARE / AFP
The United States and Israel pounded Iran on Tuesday (all times local) with what the Pentagon and Iranians on the ground said were the most intense airstrikes of the war, despite global markets betting that US President Donald Trump will seek to end the conflict soon.
Raising the stakes for the global economy, Iran’s Revolutionary Guards said they would block oil shipments from the Gulf unless US and Israeli attacks cease.
“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.
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Photo: AFP / Octavio Jones
‘Like hell’
Tehran residents reached by Reuters also 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. We have nowhere to go.”
Images verified by Reuters showed two houses had been struck overnight in an upscale residential district of Karaj, just west of Tehran.
In Tehran’s eastern District Four, two five-storey residential buildings had been hit on Monday, blasting out floors and walls and leaving a rickety concrete frame. Footage from Iran’s Red Crescent showed rescuers there carrying a victim in a body bag. Workers were still recovering bodies at the site on Tuesday when a missile struck a road intersection nearby.
Yet with Trump having described the war on Monday 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.
An historic surge in crude oil prices on Monday was mostly reversed within a day. Asian and European share prices staged a partial recovery from earlier precipitous falls, and Wall Street bounced to around its levels of late February, before the war.
A source familiar with Israel’s war plans told Reuters the Israeli military wanted to inflict as much damage as possible before the window for further strikes closes, under the assumption Trump could end the war at any time.
Israel’s foreign minister, Gideon Saar, said his country was not planning for an endless war and was consulting with Washington about when to stop it.
Trump press conference appears to reassure markets
Iran has refused to bow to Trump’s demand that it let the United States choose its new leadership, naming hardliner Mojtaba Khamenei as supreme leader to replace his father, who was killed on the war’s first day.
US President Donald Trump speaks during a press conference at Trump National Doral in Miami, Florida.
Photo: AFP
But occasionally contradictory remarks from Trump at a press conference on Monday appeared to reassure markets he would stop his war before provoking an economic crisis like those that followed the Middle East oil shocks of the 1970s. He said the US had already inflicted serious damage and predicted the conflict would end before the four weeks he initially set out.
Trump has not defined what victory would look like, but on Monday did not repeat declarations that Iran must let him choose its leader.
Iranian defiance
Several senior Iranian officials voiced defiance on Tuesday.
“Certainly, we are not seeking a ceasefire; we believe the aggressor must be struck in the mouth so that they learn a lesson and never again think of attacking dear Iran,” 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.
The war has effectively halted shipments through the Strait of Hormuz, where a fifth of global oil and liquefied natural gas normally passes along Iran’s coast. Some of the world’s biggest producers have run out of storage and cut back output.
In the latest incident, the UK Maritime Trade Operations Centre reported that crew aboard a bulk carrier in the Gulf had witnessed a splash and a loud bang.
After Iran chose its hardline new leader, oil prices briefly surged to nearly US$120 a barrel on Monday. But by 1500 GMT on Tuesday (4am Wednesday NZ), Brent crude had settled back down below US$90.
Trump said on Monday that US military might was sufficient to keep oil flowing. If Iran blocks oil through the strait, “We will hit them so hard that it will not be possible for them or anybody else helping them to ever recover that section of the world,” he said.
But 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.
A rally to pledge allegiance to Mojtaba Khamenei amid the US-Israeli military campaign in Tehran, Iran.
Photo: AFP / MORTEZA NIKOUBAZL
Quick end to war could leave Iran’s leaders in place
Ending the war quickly to let oil flows resume would appear to preclude toppling Iran’s leadership, which held large-scale rallies on Monday in support of the new supreme leader.
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. But there has been little sign of protest during the war, with opponents saying it would be unsafe while Iran is under attack.
At least 1270 people have been killed since the US and Israeli airstrikes began on 28 February, according to Iranian state media reports.
Scores have also been killed in Israeli attacks on Lebanon to root out the Iran-backed group Hezbollah, which has fired into Israel in solidarity with Iran.
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.
– Reuters