Israel launched fresh strikes on Iran early Wednesday as the United States military said it had struck nearly 2,000 targets inside the Islamic republic since Saturday. Iran responded by expanding missile and drone attacks across the Gulf.
President Donald Trump said rising global energy prices had prompted the US Navy to prepare to escort oil tankers through the Strait of Hormuz, a key Gulf shipping route that Iran has threatened to close.
Israel’s military said it carried out a “broad wave of strikes” after midnight across Iran. Hours earlier, Iran fired three separate missile barrages at Israel. One strike in Tel Aviv caused minor injuries to a woman.
Admiral Brad Cooper, commander of US Central Command, said US forces had targeted ballistic missiles and “all the things that can shoot at us”. He described the military build-up as the largest US deployment in the Middle East in a generation. He said the opening barrage exceeded the scale of the 2003 “shock and awe” campaign against Iraq.
The Iranian Red Crescent said US and Israeli strikes had killed 787 people in Iran. AFP could not independently verify the toll.
Iran vowed to impose a heavy cost. Drones struck near the US consulate in Dubai, causing a fire but no casualties. Iran also targeted the US military base at Al-Udeid in Qatar. A day earlier, strikes hit US embassies in Riyadh and Kuwait City and a US air base in Bahrain.
Islamic Revolutionary Guard General Ebrahim Jabbari warned that if Iran’s main centres came under attack, it would strike economic centres across the region.
The United States and Israel began the offensive on Saturday. Ayatollah Ali Khamenei was killed soon after, according to the report, two days after US envoys had held talks with Iran in Geneva over a nuclear accord.
Trump said Iran wanted to resume negotiations but insisted it was “too late”. He rejected suggestions that Israel had acted alone and said he might have pushed Israel to move sooner. Meeting German Chancellor Friedrich Merz at the White House, Trump claimed US and Israeli strikes had crippled Iran’s navy, air force and air defences. He said many potential successors in Iran’s leadership were also dead.
Iranian media said strikes targeted a building in the holy city of Qom linked to the body tasked with electing a new supreme leader. The Tasnim news agency reported that earlier strikes had hit the group’s headquarters in Tehran.
Despite calls from Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for Iranians to rise up, Trump said regime change was not the objective.
The conflict also intensified in Lebanon. Hezbollah launched drones and rockets at Israel in response to Khamenei’s killing. The group said it struck an Israeli naval base in Haifa. Israel said it hit Beirut’s southern suburbs. Loud explosions echoed across the Lebanese capital early Wednesday.
Lebanon’s government said Israeli strikes had killed at least 52 people. The United Nations reported that more than 30,000 people had fled their homes. Israel said it had moved troops across the border to create a buffer zone.
In Tehran, images showed damage at Mehrabad airport. Israel said it struck an underground facility on the eastern outskirts of the capital where it alleged scientists worked covertly on a nuclear programme.
Washington ordered non-emergency staff to leave embassies across much of the region. The Washington Post reported that an Iranian drone struck a CIA station in Riyadh. The United States urged Americans to leave the region if commercial flights were available, despite severe disruption to air travel. The State Department said around 9,000 Americans had returned home.
Qatar said it intercepted missiles targeting Hamad International Airport in Doha. Oman reported drone attacks on the port of Duqm. Authorities in the United Arab Emirates said debris from an intercepted drone caused a fire at an oil storage and trading zone.
Tehran, a city of around 10 million people, appeared largely deserted as residents stayed indoors or fled. Samireh, a 33-year-old nurse, said the capital felt like a ghost town. Security forces set up checkpoints across major junctions.
Iranian authorities said a strike on a school in Minab on the first day of the war killed more than 150 people. AFP could not independently verify the claim.
The US military named the first of six service members killed. In Israel, nine people died on Sunday when a missile struck Beit Shemesh. At least eight people have died across Gulf states.
Western nations offered limited support, focusing on assisting Gulf allies and evacuating citizens. Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney, speaking in Sydney on Wednesday, called for “rapid de-escalation”.
