Iran squeezes key oil shipping route
Israel launched fresh strikes on Iran and Lebanon, where state media reported a residential building was hit on Wednesday, as Iran’s Guards said they had sealed off one of the world’s most vital shipping routes for energy.
Governments scrambled to evacuate citizens stranded in the Middle East, where Iran expanded a retaliatory missile and drone barrage on the fifth day of a war that sent stocks sinking.
With global energy prices already on the rise over the expanding war, Iran’s Revolutionary Guards said it has “complete control” of the Strait of Hormuz, the crucial chokepoint into the Gulf.
But Trump said the United States had “knocked out” Iran’s navy, along with its air force and radar systems, and that the US Navy was ready to escort tankers through the waterway through which one-fifth of global seaborne oil pass.
The US military said it has hit nearly 2,000 targets since first launching deadly strikes with Israel on Iran on Saturday that killed Iranian leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
Disrupted travel
Israel kept up the bombardment, with its military announcing a “broad wave of strikes” after midnight across Iran, which in the hours before had launched three waves of missile barrages at Israel.
Saudi Arabia said it intercepted two cruise missiles, while drones struck near the US consulate in Dubai, starting a fire, and against the US military base at Al-Udeid in Qatar.
The United States encouraged all Americans to leave the region if they can find commercial flights, even though air travel has been severely disrupted, while governments including Britain and France sent in chartered flights to get citizens out.
The war took a growing toll on Lebanon, where Iran-backed militant group Hezbollah has launched drones and rockets at Israel in retaliation for the killing of Iran’s supreme leader Ali Khamenei in the US-Israeli opening strikes.
Early Wednesday, the Israeli military called on residents to leave 16 towns and villages in southern Lebanon, in an “urgent warning” before using force against Hezbollah militants.
Lukewarm support
Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu have urged Iranians to rise up but Trump said regime change was not the goal.
The assault came weeks after Iranian authorities clamped down on mass protests, killing thousands.
The United States and Israel have received lukewarm support, with Western nations limiting involvement to helping Gulf states and repatriating citizens.
The US and Israeli attacks have killed 787 people in Iran, according to the Iranian Red Crescent, a toll that could not be independently confirmed by Agence France-Presse (AFP).
The Iranian capital Tehran is normally home to around 10 million people, but in recent days “there are so few people that you’d think no one ever lived here,” said Samireh, a 33-year-old nurse.
Iranian authorities said a strike on a school in the city of Minab on the first day of the war killed more than 150 people. AFP has been unable to access the location independently to verify the toll or circumstances.
The US military began naming the first of six troops who have been killed. In Israel, nine people died on Sunday when a missile hit the town of Beit Shemesh.
At least eight people have died across the Gulf.
Israeli strikes have killed at least 52 people in Lebanon, according to the government, while the United Nations said that more than 30,000 people were displaced.
World Health Organization chief Tedros Ghebreyesus said among those killed in Lebanon were three paramedics.
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