President Donald Trump says the United States has heavily bombed military targets on Iran’s oil hub Kharg Island and the US Navy will soon begin escorting tankers through the Strait of Hormuz.
Several top Iranian officials joined a defiant pro-government rally in Tehran, meanwhile, marching alongside demonstrators waving banners reading “Death to America” and “Death to Israel”.
As the United States intensified its bombing of Iran, Tehran launched a new wave of drone and missile attacks on Israel and its Gulf neighbours.
The war between Israel and Hezbollah in Lebanon continued to rage and the Lebanese health ministry said an Israeli strike on a primary healthcare centre in southern Lebanon had killed at least 12 medical personnel on Friday.
According to the Lebanese authorities, at least 773 people have been killed by Israeli attacks in Lebanon aimed at wiping out Iranian ally Hezbollah.
In a post on Truth Social, Trump said military targets on Kharg Island, which handles almost all of Iran’s crude exports, had been “totally obliterated” in “one of the most powerful bombing raids in the History of the Middle East”.
He said he had chosen not to target oil infrastructure on the island for now.
“However, should Iran, or anyone else, do anything to interfere with the Free and Safe Passage of Ships through the Strait of Hormuz, I will immediately reconsider this decision,” the US President said.
With oil prices spiking, Trump was asked when the US Navy would begin escorting tankers through the Gulf’s critical Strait of Hormuz. “It’ll happen soon, very soon,” he said.
Iranian strikes have all but halted maritime traffic in the Strait of Hormuz, through which a fifth of global crude oil and liquefied natural gas normally pass.
The United States and Israel have trod carefully around Kharg Island until now, but US officials have been reported as saying that capturing the island was potentially on the table.
The Wall Street Journal and New York Times reported that the Pentagon had dispatched the Japan-based amphibious assault ship USS Tripoli to the region with its complement of some 2500 Marines.
Heavy blasts shook Tehran Saturday after the United States vowed to step up airstrikes and Iranian state media said a fresh round of missiles had been launched towards Israel. Israeli rescue workers said no casualties were reported.
Blasts were heard in Doha early Saturday and Qatar’s defence ministry said its military had intercepted missiles targeting the Gulf state.
Saudi Arabia’s defence ministry said its forces had intercepted dozens of drones on Friday and Turkey said Nato forces shot down a ballistic missile launched from Iran, the third such interception in the war.
The Islamic Republic is intent on showing it will come through the war intact and in control, despite its Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei being killed at the start of the US-Israeli campaign on February 28.
Khamenei’s son Mojtaba Khamenei was named the new Supreme Leader, but has been absent from public view and said to be wounded.
The US Government has announced a US$10 million ($17m) reward for information about Mojtaba Khamenei’s whereabouts.
US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth told a news conference the US military would bombard Iran more heavily on Saturday than any other day so far in the war.
According to the Pentagon, the US and Israel have struck more than 15,000 targets in Iran over the past two weeks. Israel’s military said it conducted 7600 strikes on the country, most of them against its missile programme.
The conflict has sparked chaos in global markets and sent oil prices soaring.
Brent contracts for a barrel of crude have soared more than 42%, leaving markets and governments everywhere skittish about energy supply and higher inflation. On Friday, oil stayed above US$100 a barrel.
Within Iran, the Revolutionary Guards have warned of an even stronger response to any anti-government protests, after ones in January in which several thousand people were killed.
Iranian authorities have maintained an internet blackout since the war started.
Iranians speaking to AFP under cover of anonymity have described a grim picture of cities in ruins and cash running short.
A woman in Kermanshah, western Iran, told AFP “countless” people from Tehran had come to seek refuge from the airstrikes, adding to demand for food and scarce medicine, with prices “nearly doubling”.
The UN refugee agency has estimated up to 3.2 million people have been displaced inside Iran since the war started.
Iran’s health ministry said on March 8 more than 1200 people have been killed, a figure AFP has not been able to verify independently.
The US military has lost 13 personnel since the war started – including six members of a refuelling aircraft that crashed in Iraq after an incident officials said was not caused by hostile fire.
– Agence France-Presse