Pete Hegseth says Tuesday ‘most intense day’ of US attacks on Iran

US War Secretary Pete Hegseth has said attacks on Iran will ramp up Tuesday with the heaviest strikes since Washington launched the war 10 days ago.
“Today will be yet again our most intense day of strikes inside Iran,” Hegseth told a news conference at the Pentagon.

Meanwhile, the top US general has said that while Iranian forces were fighting, they were not as formidable as the United States had thought, according to Reuters. “I think they’re fighting, and I respect that, but I don’t think they’re more formidable than what we thought,” General Dan Caine, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told reporters.

Iran says oil blockade will continue until attacks end

Iran’s Revolutionary Guards said on Tuesday they would not let any oil be shipped from the Middle East if US and Israeli attacks continue, prompting President Donald Trump to say the US would hit Iran much harder if it blocked exports.

The rhetoric did little to quell a fall in crude prices and a rally in global shares that followed Trump expressing confidence in a swift end to hostilities, even after Iran showed defiance by naming Mojtaba Khamenei as its new supreme leader.

Trump said on Monday the US had inflicted serious damage on Iran’s military. He also predicted the conflict would end before the initial four-week time frame he had set out, although he had not defined what victory would look like.

Israel says its war aim is to overthrow Iran’s system of clerical rule.

“Our aspiration is to bring the Iranian people to cast off the yoke of tyranny,” Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in a statement issued by his office on Tuesday.

“In the end, that depends on them. But there is no doubt that through the actions taken so far we are breaking their bones – and our hand is still extended,” he said. “If we succeed together with the Iranian people, we will bring about a permanent end – if such things exist in the life of nations.”

Read More: Erdogan tells Iran violation of Turkey’s airspace ‘cannot be excused for any reason’

US officials have mainly said Washington aims to destroy Iran’s missile capabilities and nuclear programme, but Trump has said the war can end only with a compliant Iranian government.

At least 1,332 Iranian civilians have been killed and thousands wounded, according to Iran’s UN ambassador, since the US and Israel began air and missile strikes across Iran at the end of February.

Trump said US attacks could increase sharply if Iran sought to block tanker traffic through the Strait of Hormuz, which handles one-fifth of the world’s oil supply. “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,” Trump told a press conference on Monday.

Iran says it will determine end of war

The Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps said it would not allow any oil to leave the region if attacks from the US and Israel continue. “We are the ones who will determine the end of the war,” a spokesperson said, describing Trump’s comments as “nonsense”, according to state media.

In a later Truth Social post, Trump repeated his warning. “If Iran does anything that stops the flow of Oil within the Strait of Hormuz, they will be hit by the United States of America TWENTY TIMES HARDER than they have been hit thus far,” he said.

Saudi Aramco, the world’s top oil exporter, warned on Tuesday of “catastrophic consequences” for global oil markets if the war continued to disrupt shipping in the Strait of Hormuz.

The strait is the world’s most vital oil export ​route, connecting the biggest Gulf oil producers with the Gulf of Oman and the Arabian Sea. The war has already effectively shut the Strait of Hormuz, leaving tankers unable to sail for more than a week and forcing producers to halt pumping as storage facilities fill.

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi said Tehran was unlikely to resume negotiations with the US, which he said had spoken of progress after three rounds of talks. “Still, they decided to attack us. So, I don’t think talking to the Americans anymore would be on our agenda anymore,” he said in an interview with PBS.

Read More: Qatar arrests 313 people for sharing footage, ‘misleading information’ amid attacks by Iran

The appointment on Monday of Mojtaba Khamenei to succeed his slain father, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, appeared to dash hopes of a swift end to the war, sending oil markets surging and share markets nosediving. Markets swung in the other direction when Trump predicted a quick end to the war, and after reports of a possible easing of sanctions on Russian energy.

After speaking with Russian President Vladimir Putin, Trump said the US would waive oil-related sanctions on “some countries” to ease the shortage.

According to multiple sources, that could mean a further easing of sanctions on Russian oil, which could complicate efforts to punish Moscow for its war in Ukraine. Other options include a possible release of oil from strategic reserves or restricting US exports, sources said.

Brent crude futures LCOc1 fell more than 10% on Tuesday after soaring by as much as 29% on Monday to their highest since 2022. Global stock markets also bounced.

The price of gasoline has particular political resonance in the United States, where voters cite rising costs as a top concern ahead of the November midterm elections, when Trump’s Republicans will try to keep control of Congress.

A Reuters/Ipsos poll released Monday found 67% of Americans expect gas prices to rise over the coming months, and only 29% approve of the war.

Tehran was choked in black smoke after an oil refinery was hit, an escalation in strikes on Iran’s domestic energy supplies. World Health Organisation chief Tedros Ghebreyesus warned of the fire risks contaminating food, water and air.

Turkey said NATO air defences had shot down a ballistic missile that was fired from Iran and entered Turkish airspace, the second such incident of the war. Iran did not immediately comment on the report.

Israel’s military said it had launched new attacks in central Iran and struck the Lebanese capital, Beirut, where Israel has extended its campaign after the Iran-backed militia Hezbollah fired across the border.

In Australia, five Iranian women’s soccer team players were granted humanitarian visas after they sought asylum, fearing persecution in their home nation. Canberra has also promised to send military surveillance aircraft to the Middle East and missiles to the United Arab Emirates to help them defend themselves against attacks from Iran.

Iran tells EU chief to ‘spare the hypocrisy’

Esmaeil Baghaei, the spokesperson for Iran’s Foreign Ministry, reacted to a speech by European Union Chief Ursula von der Leyen during which she said “The people of Iran deserve freedom, dignity, and the right to decide their own future.”

Commenting on a video of von der Leyen’s speech, Baghaei wrote on X, “Please spare the hypocrisy. You’ve made a career out of standing on the wrong side of history – green-lighting occupation, genocide, and atrocities, and now laundering US/Israeli crime of aggression and war crimes against Iranians.”

Baghaei asked the EU chief, “Where was your voice when more than 165 innocent IRANIAN little angels were massacred in the city of Minab?” referencing a girls’ school in Southern Iran that was hit on February 28 during the first day of US and Israeli attacks on the Islamic Republic.

“Why don’t you say anything when hospitals, historical sites, oil facilities, diplomatic police headquarter, firefighting stations and residential neighborhoods are wickedly targeted?” the spokesperson questioned.

Further, he accused the EU leadership of being silent “in the face of lawlessness and atrocity”, saying this “is nothing less than complicity”.

Baghaei ended his tweet by telling the EU chief to “Scroll through the replies under your own post and see what people really think about your “whitewashing of criminals.”