U.S. and Israel Intensify Strikes in Major Offensive Against Iran

The United States and Israel have escalated their offensive against Iran, with the Pentagon announcing plans for what it says will be the “most intense day of strikes” to date.

In response, Iran’s Revolutionary Guards have threatened to block oil shipments from the Gulf, demanding an end to the ongoing attacks by the U.S. and Israel.

The White House reaffirmed former President Trump’s warning to retaliate strongly if Iran attempts to disrupt the flow of energy through the Strait of Hormuz. This crucial waterway is currently at the center of the conflict, significantly impacting global oil and liquefied natural gas shipments. The U.S. also reiterated its commitment to provide naval escorts for tankers navigating these waters.

“Today marks another escalation, with our most intense day of strikes inside Iran,” U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth stated during a Pentagon briefing on Tuesday evening. He detailed plans for increased numbers of fighter jets, bombers, and targeted strikes, supported by enhanced intelligence.

Residents of Tehran described the night as the most intense bombardment they’ve experienced since the conflict began, according to reports from Reuters.

“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.”

In Tehran’s east, two five-storey residential buildings had been hit on Tuesday, 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.

With Trump having described the war on Tuesday 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.

A historic surge in crude oil prices 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.

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters on Tuesday that the American public will see oil and gas prices drop rapidly once the objectives of the joint Israeli-US war are fully achieved.

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.

Iran has refused to bow to Trump’s demand that it let the US choose its new leadership, naming hardliner Mojtaba Khamenei as supreme leader to replace his father, who was killed on the war’s first day.

But occasionally contradictory remarks from Trump at a Monday press conference 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 did not repeat declarations that Iran must let him choose its leader on Tuesday.

Several congressional aides have said they expect the White House to soon request as much as US$50 billion ($71 billion) in additional funding for the war. The US used US$5.6 billion ($7.85 billion) in munitions in the first two days of strikes against Iran, a source familiar with the information said on Tuesday.

Iran ‘not seeking a ceasefire’, officials say

Iranian officials have pushed back on the idea of the war ending soon. “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 Araghchi similarly said Tehran was unlikely to resume negotiations with the US.

Trump said on Tuesday that if Iran blocks oil through the Strait of Hormuz, “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”.

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.

Ending the war quickly 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.

At least 1,270 people have been killed in Iran 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.

Iran said four of its diplomats were killed in a strike on a hotel in Lebanon on Sunday. 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 Bahrain, authorities said an Iranian attack hit a residential building in the capital Manama on Tuesday, killing a 29-year-old woman and wounding eight people.

— With additional reporting by the Associated Press via the Australian Associated Press.