The United States on Wednesday said it destroyed more than a dozen Iranian mine-laying vessels on Tuesday, as Tehran vowed to block the region’s oil exports and warned it would not allow “even a single liter” to reach its enemies.
The US military said it had taken out 16 minelayers near the Strait of Hormuz, a key shipping route through which about 20 per cent of the world’s oil passes. President Donald Trump, however, said in social media posts there were no reports that Iran had planted explosives in the waterway.
The military released the figure along with unclassified footage of some of the vessels after Trump threatened to strike Iran at “a level never seen before” if it failed to immediately remove any mines it might have deployed in the channel.
As the war entered its 11th day, both sides hardened their rhetoric. US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth warned that the most intense strikes of the conflict were yet to come, while the Pentagon also detailed the broader toll of injuries among US troops.
The conflict’s impact spread across the Middle East and beyond, with Iranian leaders ruling out talks, issuing threats against Trump and launching new attacks against Israel and Gulf Arab states.
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Tehran residents on US-Israel war
Residents in Tehran said they experienced some of the heaviest strikes of the war, with one woman saying she witnessed a residential building being hit. She and others who spoke to The Associated Press requested anonymity for fear of reprisals.
Tens of thousands of Iranians have reportedly sought shelter in the countryside.
In Lebanon, multiple Israeli strikes across the south killed seven people, the Lebanese Health Ministry said early Wednesday. Among the dead was a Red Cross member who succumbed to injuries early Wednesday after an Israeli strike hit his rescue team on Monday while they were aiding victims of an earlier attack.
On Tuesday, Israeli airstrikes also killed four people, including a paramedic from the Hezbollah-affiliated Islamic Health Authority who had been treating the wounded.