DUBAI/TEL AVIV/WASHINGTON--The United States and Israel pounded Iran on Tuesday with what the Pentagon and Iranians on the ground called the most intense airstrikes of the war, despite global markets betting that 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 U.S. and Israeli attacks cease. Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps also said it launched missiles on Tuesday evening at Qatar's U.S.-operated Al Udeid base and the Al Harir base in Iraq's Kurdistan.
But the White House reiterated Trump's threat to hit Iran hard over moves to stop the flow of energy supplies through the Strait of Hormuz, where the war has effectively halted one-fifth of the world's oil and liquefied natural gas shipments, and repeated his offer for the U.S. Navy to safely escort tankers.
"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," U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth told a Pentagon briefing.
In a message posted to his Truth Social platform later in the day, Trump said, "Within the last few hours, we have hit, and completely destroyed" 10 of Iran's "inactive" mine-laying vessels. He did not clarify where the strikes occurred.
Tehran residents reached by Reuters 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."
In Tehran's east, two five-storey residential buildings were 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 to nearly $120 a barrel was reversed as Brent crude LCOc1 settled back down below $90 on Tuesday. Asian and European share prices staged a partial recovery from earlier precipitous falls, and Wall Street bounced around its late February levels, 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-U.S. air war are fully achieved.
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 the war would proceed until his country and the U.S. determine the time had come to cease hostilities, but that Israel was not seeking an "endless war."
"We will continue until the minute that we, and our partners, think that it is appropriate to stop," he said.
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. But occasionally contradictory remarks from Trump at a Monday press conference seemed to reassure markets he would stop the war before provoking an economic crisis like those that followed the Middle East oil shocks of the 1970s. He said the U.S. 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.
Several congressional aides have said they expect the White House to soon request as much as $50 billion in additional funding for the war. The U.S. used $5.6 billion in munitions in the first two days of strikes against Iran, a source familiar with the information said on Tuesday.
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," 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 U.S.
At the White House, Leavitt told reporters on Tuesday that Trump and his energy team were closely watching the markets and consulting with industry leaders while military leaders devised "additional options" for opening the Strait of Hormuz.The deliberations reflect White House concerns that rising oil prices will undermine the U.S. economy ahead of the November midterm elections, when Trump's fellow Republicans hope to retain control of Congress.
But a spokesperson for the Revolutionary Guards said Tehran would not allow "one litre" of Middle Eastern oil to reach the U.S. or its allies while U.S. and Israeli attacks continue."We are the ones who will determine the end of the war," the spokesperson said.
