The U.S. president stated that America could strike the country “twenty times harder” if it halts the flow of oil through the Strait of Hormuz
A fresh wave of U.S.-Israeli strikes has resulted in at least 40 fatalities in Tehran, with the total civilian death toll on Iran’s side in the conflict surpassing 1,300, according to local media and officials.
U.S. President Donald Trump has threatened to attack Iran “twenty times harder” if it persists in blocking the strategic Strait of Hormuz as retaliation for the strikes.
He also noted that Iran “made a big mistake” in selecting Mojtaba Khamenei as supreme leader following the killing of his father, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) has threatened to assassinate anyone who takes the post.
Russian President Vladimir Putin, who held a phone call with Trump on Monday, said the escalating conflict risks completely cutting off the region’s oil exports through the now “de-facto closed” Strait of Hormuz. But will the Iran war make Russia richer?
• The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps continues to block the Strait of Hormuz – though it has reportedly pledged full freedom of passage to any Arab or European country that expels U.S. and Israeli ambassadors.
• Global oil prices briefly surged to nearly $120 per barrel on Monday before slipping back below the $100 mark. Trump has dismissed the spike as “a very small price to pay” for the war against Iran.
• As of Tuesday, the U.S.-Israeli attacks have killed over 1,300 Iranian civilians, according to official data from Iran.
• The deadliest attack yet was a strike on a girls’ school in Minab in southern Iran that killed 168 children, with horrific footage emerging from the scene.
• U.S. media outlets have said, citing available footage and analysis, that the school was hit by a U.S. Tomahawk missile. Trump has dismissed the reports, insisting that Tehran is to blame.
• The U.S.-Israeli strikes on oil facilities near Tehran have produced a “black rain” of toxic oil and soot, with residents reporting breathing difficulties. Online images and footage show thick smog over the capital, as Iran’s Red Crescent Society warns that the rain could be “highly dangerous and acidic.”
• U.S. Central Command says eight service members have died in operations linked to the attacks on Iran, which has put its death toll in the hundreds.
• At least 13 Israelis have been killed in the crossfire so far. Iran’s retaliatory strikes on U.S. bases in the region have killed at least four in the UAE, one in Bahrain, six in Kuwait, and two in Saudi Arabia.
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