Iran dramatically escalated its strategy of attacking civilian infrastructure and transportation networks across the Gulf on Wednesday, attacking commercial ships and targeting Dubai International Airport as US and Israeli warplanes launched new waves of attacks against the Islamic Republic.
Senior Iranian officials struck a defiant tone, warning of a long “war of attrition” that would threaten global economic chaos as the region’s energy supplies were strangled.
In what appears to be a growing stalemate in the 12-day conflict, violence continued across a swath of the Middle East, with Israeli strikes on what it says are Hezbollah targets in Lebanon and Iranian missile and Hezbollah rocket bombardments targeting Israel.
The U.N. refugee agency said at least 759,000 people had been internally displaced in Lebanon and more than 92,000 had crossed into neighboring Syria.
Kuwait said its air defenses had shot down eight Iranian drones and Saudi Arabia said it had intercepted five heading toward its Shaybah oil field.
In Tehran and other Iranian cities, large crowds took to the streets for funerals of top Iranian commanders killed in US and Israeli airstrikes since the start of the war. Mourners carried coffins and brandished flags and portraits of the late Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who was killed in the first minute of the US-Israeli offensive, and his son and successor, Mojtaba.
Iranian officials admitted for the first time on Wednesday that Iran’s new leader had been wounded in airstrikes that killed his father, mother, wife and a son. The 56-year-old has not appeared in public or issued any direct messages since the war began.
“I heard that he was injured in his legs, hand and arm… I think he is in the hospital because he is injured,” Tehran’s ambassador to Cyprus, Alireza Salarian, told The Guardian.
Despite growing pressure for the United States and Israel to consider curbing their joint offensive, decision-makers in both countries appeared to continue the campaign for now.
Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz said Wednesday it would continue “without a time limit, for as long as necessary, until we achieve all the objectives and win the campaign.”
Donald Trump has sent more mixed messages in recent days, going from calling the war a “short-term excursion” that could end soon to proclaiming “we haven’t won enough” in the same speech in Washington on Monday.
The US president told Axios on Wednesday that the war would end soon because “there was virtually nothing left to target.” “Any time I want this to end, it will end,” he said.
Governments around the world fear economic turbulence from rising oil prices, which would anger many voters.
Trump also appeared to praise the “tremendous impact” of the decisions of the leaders of the G7 countries when they met to discuss the war and its economic consequences, according to a short video clip shared by the French presidency.
“I think we are having a tremendous, incredible impact actually, on the world,” Trump said, after being given the floor by his French counterpart, Emmanuel Macron, who chaired the meeting. However, it was not entirely clear who or what Trump was referring to.
Trump spoke after a recommendation by the International Energy Agency to release 400 million barrels of oil, the largest such move in the IEA’s history, in an effort to curb rising oil prices.
But so far there are no signs that ships can safely navigate through the Strait of Hormuz, the conduit through which a fifth of the world’s oil passes.
Three merchant ships in the Gulf were hit by unknown projectiles on Wednesday, according to agencies that oversee maritime security, bringing to 14 the number of vessels allegedly hit since the war began.
Crew were evacuated from a Thai-flagged bulk cargo ship after an explosion sparked a fire. A Japanese-flagged container ship and a Marshall Islands-flagged bulk carrier were also damaged.
Trump told reporters Wednesday that oil tankers passing through the strait “will see great security, and it will be very, very fast,” without elaborating.
Hundreds of ships are blocked behind the narrow canal along Iran’s southern coast for fear of an Iranian attack in the worst energy supply disruption since the oil crises of the 1970s.
The Revolutionary Guards said Tehran would not allow “a single liter of oil” to pass through the vital waterway until the United States and Israel stopped their bombing campaign.
Iran has also continued to attack oil fields and refineries in the Gulf countries in its attempt to force the United States and Israel to stop their offensive.
“Prepare for oil to reach $200 a barrel, because the price of oil depends on the regional security that you have destabilized,” Ebrahim Zolfaqari, spokesman for Iran’s military command, said in comments directed at the United States.
Iran’s military said it had struck key targets in Israel, including the military intelligence headquarters, a naval base in Haifa and a radar system. He also said he targeted US bases in Kuwait and Bahrain.
U.S. and Israeli officials say their goal is to end Iran’s ability to project force beyond its borders and destroy its nuclear program, although they have also encouraged Iranians to overthrow the Islamist clerical regime, which took power after the 1979 revolution that toppled the shah, a U.S. ally. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu reiterated his call on Tuesday for the Iranian people to rise up.
Iran’s police chief, Ahmadreza Radan, said any protesters would be treated as an enemy. “All of our security forces have their finger on the trigger,” he said.
Tehran residents said they were getting used to nightly airstrikes that have forced hundreds of thousands of people to flee to the countryside and polluted the city with black rain of oil smoke.
“Last night there were bombings, but I wasn’t scared like before. Life goes on,” Farshid, 52, said by phone.
Iran accused the United States and Israel of attacking a sea ambulance on an island in the Strait of Hormuz, Mehr news agency reported.
Admiral Brad Cooper, commander of US Central Command, said Iran’s ballistic missile and drone attacks had “decreased dramatically” as a result of the US strikes, including one against a “large ballistic missile manufacturing facility”. The targets include more than 60 ships, he said in a video posted on social media Wednesday.
Cooper also confirmed that the military was using “advanced artificial intelligence tools” to “examine large amounts of data in seconds.” He said the tools were enabling leaders to make smarter, faster decisions, but emphasized that “humans will always make the final decisions about what to shoot, what not to shoot, and when to shoot.”
Explosions occurred in Israel before dawn as air defenses intercepted missiles. The sirens sent the Israelis to the shelters. Twelve people have been killed and hundreds injured by Iranian and Hezbollah attacks. Israeli officials have repeatedly accused Iran of using cluster munitions, which are illegal under international law, against population centers.
Israel also bombed Beirut, targeting the southern suburbs that are a stronghold of Hezbollah, which has fired on Israel from Lebanon in solidarity with Tehran.
More than 1,300 Iranian civilians have been killed since US and Israeli airstrikes began on February 28, according to Iran’s ambassador to the UN, Amir Saeid Iravani.
Israel’s offensive against Hezbollah has killed 570 people in Lebanon, including 45 women and 86 children, the country’s Health Ministry said. It does not distinguish between combatants and civilians, but the total includes 14 health workers, he said.
Washington says seven American soldiers have been killed and about 140 wounded.
