Iran’s Supreme Leader vows to keep Strait of Hormuz closed as Middle East war intensifies

The United States military said late on Friday night that its B-2 stealth bombers were on their way to conduct a mission against Iran that would not only eliminate the threat from the country today but also its ability to rebuild in the future. 

The announcement came after warnings earlier in the day from officials of hammering Iran hard today in a new wave of attacks. 

In a post on X, US Central Command said: “B-2 stealth bombers takeoff to conduct a mission during Operation Epic Fury, delivering long-range fire to not only eliminate the threat from the Iranian regime today, but also eliminate their ability to rebuild in the future.” 

Larijani says Iran’s leaders are with their people, America’s on ‘Epstein’s island’

Iranian security chief Ali Larijani earlier ridiculed Pentagon chief Pete Hegseth’s claim that Iranian leaders were hiding “like rats”, highlighting that several top officials, including the president, made public appearances at a rally in Tehran.

“Mr Hegseth! Our leaders have been, and still are, among the people. But your leaders? On Epstein’s island!” the top Iranian official wrote on X, referring to the late sex offender who had close ties to rich and powerful people in the US.

European countries engage Iran to negotiate Hormuz passage deal: report

France and Italy ​have opened ‌talks with Iran seeking ​to ​negotiate a deal to ⁠guarantee ​safe passage ​for their ships through the ​Strait of ​Hormuz, the Financial ‌Times ⁠reported on Friday, citing people ​briefed ​on ⁠the efforts.

Reuters could ​not immediately ​verify ⁠the report.

6 US service members killed in plane crash over Iraq

All six crew members aboard a United States military refueling aircraft that crashed in western Iraq are confirmed to ​have been killed, the US military said on Friday.

A US military refueling ‌aircraft crashed in western Iraq on Thursday, in an incident the military said involved another aircraft but was not the result of hostile or friendly fire.

The deaths add to the seven ​US service members who have already been killed as part of US ​operations against Iran which began on February 28.

“The circumstances of the ⁠incident are under investigation. However, the loss of the aircraft was not due ​to hostile fire or friendly fire,” a statement from US Central Command said.

A US ​official told Reuters that the second aircraft involved in the crash, which landed safely, was also a military refueling aircraft known as the KC-135.

The US has deployed a large number of aircraft ​into the Middle East to take part in operations against Iran and the ​incident highlights the risk of not just operations, but of refueling aircraft in the air.

The KC-135, ‌built ⁠by Boeing in the 1950s and early 1960s, has served as the backbone of the US military’s air refueling fleet and is critical to allowing aircraft to carry out missions without having to land.

The Islamic Resistance in Iraq, an umbrella group of ​Iran-backed armed factions, ​claimed responsibility for ⁠downing the US military refueling aircraft.

Reuters reported on Tuesday that as many as 150 US troops have been wounded in the ​US-Israeli war on Iran. News of the crash comes the ​same day ⁠two US sailors were injured after the USS Gerald Ford suffered a non-combat-related fire on board.

The first seven US troops were killed when a drone slammed into a US military ⁠facility ​in Port Shuaiba, Kuwait.

President Donald Trump and other ​senior officials have warned the Iran conflict will result in more US military deaths as Tehran retaliates against ​US and Israeli strikes.

Earlier, US War Secretary Pete Hegseth said the US military would bombard Iran more heavily on Friday than any other day so far in the war. “In fact, today will be yet again, the highest volume of strikes that America has put over the skies of Iran and Tehran,” he told a press conference.

Meanwhile, President ​Donald Trump said the US was going to be hitting Iran “very hard ​over the next week”, shortly after issuing a partial 30-day waiver for purchases of sanctioned Russian oil, hoping to ease prices fuelled by the US-Israeli war on Iran.

Prices have been whipsawing ‌on Trump’s comments about the likely duration of the war, which has prompted Iran to attack vessels in the Strait of Hormuz, the conduit for a fifth of the world’s oil.

Trump has previously said the war is “complete”, and also promised to guarantee the safety of vessels in the Strait. In a Fox News interview aired on Friday, Trump said the US would escort shipping there “if we needed to”.

Benchmark Brent crude eased about 1% to around $99.50 in European trading, still up almost 40% since the start of the war, ​with European and Asian shares under pressure.

In the interview, he further said the US would escort vessels through the Strait of Hormuz if needed.

Asked ​about helping oil tankers pass through the ​key shipping strait, Trump said: “We would do it if we needed to. But, you know, ​hopefully things are going to ​go very well. We’re going to see what ‌happens.” ⁠He gave no other details.

​On Thursday, US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent told Sky News in an interview that the US Navy, perhaps ​with an international coalition, will escort vessels ‌through the Strait of Hormuz when it is militarily possible “My belief, that as soon as ​it is militarily possible, the US Navy, perhaps ⁠with an international coalition, will be escorting ​vessels through,” Bessent said.

The plan to escort ships ​would go ahead as soon as the US has “complete control of the skies and … (Iran’s) rebuilding capabilities for the missiles completely ​degraded,” he said.

US and Israeli strikes on ​Iran and the subsequent response by Tehran have widened regional ‌tensions ⁠and paralyzed shipping through the Strait of Hormuz, disrupting vital Middle East oil and gas flows and sending energy prices higher.

Raising the stakes for the ​global economy, ​Iran’s Islamic ⁠Revolutionary Guard Corps says it will block oil shipments from the Gulf ​unless the US and Israeli attacks cease. “There ​are, ⁠in fact, tankers coming through now, Iranian tankers, I believe some Chinese flag tankers have come through. ⁠So ​we know that they have ​not mined the straits,” Bessent said.

Trump claimed in G7 call that Iran is “about to surrender,” Axios reports

Trump ​told G7 leaders in a ‌virtual meeting on Wednesday that Iran is “about to surrender,” Axios reported on Friday citing three officials ​from G7 countries briefed on ​the contents of the call.

According to ⁠the report, Trump told allies that ​he “got rid of a cancer that ​was threatening us all,” while boasting about the results of “Operation Epic Fury” on the G7 ​call Wednesday morning.

Trump said that “nobody ​knows who is the leader, so there is ‌no ⁠one that can announce surrender,” Axios reported.

The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment ​outside regular ​business hours.

Trump ⁠on Friday derided Iran’s leaders as “deranged scumbags” and said it ​was his great honor to ​kill ⁠them as the war in the Middle East approached the two-week mark ⁠with ​heavy exchanges of drone ​and missile strikes across the region.

Iran claims missile, drone strike on US aircraft carrier, causing ‘major damage’

In a late Friday night statement, Iran’s Revolutionary Guard said it had targeted the US aircraft carrier Abraham Lincoln with missiles and drones, claiming the strike caused “major damage” to the vessel, according to an Al Jazeera post on X.

The Revolutionary Guard added that the aircraft carrier is now “withdrawing toward America” following the alleged attack.

However, the spokesperson for the US Central Command told Al Jazeera that “the Revolutionary Guard’s claims of targeting the Lincoln aircraft carrier are false,” denying any damage or operational impact on the vessel.

At least one killed in blast during pro-govt Tehran rally: state media

At least one person was killed on Friday in an explosion that went off close to an annual pro-government rally in Tehran marking support for the Palestinian cause, Iran’s official IRNA news agency said.

No further details were given but the Israeli army earlier called on people to evacuate two areas in the city centre of Tehran close to the site of the rally, on the 14th day of a war that is engulfing the Middle East.

Turkiye says third ballistic missile from Iran shot down

Turkiye’s defence ministry on Friday said a ballistic missile from Iran had been shot down in Turkish airspace by NATO defences, in the third such incident in just over a week.

“A ballistic munition launched from Iran and entering Turkish airspace was neutralised by NATO air and missile defence assets deployed in the Eastern Mediterranean,” a ministry statement said.

Israeli army warns residents of two Tehran areas of imminent strikes

The Israeli military on Friday warned it would strike two areas in the Iranian capital Tehran, Villa and Moniriyeh, and told residents to evacuate.

“In the coming hours, the IDF will operate in these areas, as it has in recent days across Iran, to strike military infrastructure belonging to the Iranian regime. Dear citizens, for your safety and well-being, we ask that you immediately evacuate the marked area,” the army posted on its Persian-language account on X, attaching maps of the affected neighbourhoods.

Earlier on Thursday, new Iranian Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei issued his first comments, read out by a television presenter, vowing to keep the Strait of Hormuz shut and calling on neighbouring countries to close US bases on their territory or risk Iran targeting them.

“I assure everyone that we will not neglect avenging the blood of your martyrs,” he said. Iranian officials have said he was lightly wounded in initial strikes.

The leaders of Iran, Israel and the United States all voiced defiance and vowed to fight on as the Middle East war approached the two-week mark on Friday, killing thousands of people, disrupting the lives of millions of others and shaking financial markets.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu held his first news conference since the US and Israeli airstrikes on Iran started on February 28, taking questions via video-link and issuing a veiled threat to kill Khamenei and defending the military assault.

“I will not detail the actions we are taking. We are creating the optimal conditions for toppling the regime, but I won’t deny that I can’t tell you with all certainty that the people of Iran will topple the regime – a regime is toppled from the inside,” Netanyahu said. “But we can definitely help, and we are helping”.

Read: Iran vows to keep Strait of Hormuz closed in Mojtaba Khamenei’s first statement

US President Donald Trump weighed in on social media on Friday, saying the US was “totally destroying the terrorist regime of Iran”. “We have unparalleled firepower, unlimited ammunition, and plenty of time – Watch what happens to these deranged scumbags today,” Trump said.

The Israel Defense Forces said on Friday its air force struck more than 200 targets in western and central Iran over the past day, including ballistic missile launchers, air defence systems and weapons production sites, as part of its operation dubbed Operation Roar of the Lion.

Overnight, Iran launched a barrage of missiles towards Israel, undermining earlier US and Israeli claims to have knocked out much of Iran’s stock of long-range weapons.

Medics in Israel’s north said they had taken 58 people to hospitals, most with minor injuries from glass shards.

Debris from a successful interception also caused minor damage to the façade of a building in central Dubai, the emirate’s media office said early on Friday, adding that no injuries were reported. The office did not specify the exact location of the incident. And in Saudi Arabia, the defence ministry said two drones were intercepted in the east.

Read more: Oil prices fall as IEA weighs record emergency reserve release

The prospect that one of the most severe disruptions ever to global energy supplies could endure sent oil prices up about 9% to $100 a barrel LCOc1 on Thursday, helping drive down US stocks.

The S&P 500 notched up its biggest three-day percentage drop in a month, and shares in Asia were also under pressure on Friday.

In an effort to stabilise global energy markets, the US on Thursday issued a 30-day licence for countries to buy Russian oil and petroleum products currently stranded at sea.

“The temporary increase in oil prices is a short-term and temporary disruption that will result in a massive benefit to our nation and economy in the long-term,” Bessent said in the statement, echoing earlier comments from Trump.

US political fallout

Trump, who has already declared that the US and Israel “won” the war, said the United States stood to make significant money from oil prices driven higher because of supply issues tied to the closure of the Strait of Hormuz, through which a fifth of global oil normally passes.

“The United States is the largest oil Producer in the World, by far, so when oil prices go up, we make a lot of money.” Stopping Iran from having nuclear weapons was far more important, he said on social media.

Israel and the US have said Iran needs to be “stopped from having nuclear weapons” for decades now.

Trump’s comments angered opposition Democrats, who accused the Republican president of caring too little about the war’s impact on average Americans and demanded more information about civilian casualties, particularly a double-tap strike that killed dozens of schoolchildren at an Iranian girls’ school.

Trump’s administration has not provided a public assessment of the expected cost or duration of the war, which is unpopular with the American public, or a strategy for Iran after the fighting stops. The president and top aides have also given conflicting reasons for starting the fight.

The death toll has risen to more than 2,000 civilians, mostly in Iran. Almost 700 have been killed by Israeli attacks in Lebanon, where Israel has targeted central Beirut and ordered residents out of a swathe of southern Lebanon as they push their offensive against the Hezbollah group.

France’s President Emmanuel Macron said one soldier had died and several were wounded during an attack in northern Iraq, hours after an Italian base was also targeted in the area.

Two tankers were set ablaze in the Iraqi port of Basra earlier this week after allegedly being hit by Iranian explosive-laden boats. Other ships have been struck in the Gulf near the Strait of Hormuz, some by Iran after repeated warnings not to approach the straits, and buildings have been struck in cities of other Gulf countries.

Iran tightens security

Inside Iran, residents said security forces were increasing their presence to instil order through constant US-Israeli strikes on civilian infrastructure.

“Security forces are everywhere, more than before. People are afraid to come out, but supermarkets are open,” teacher Majan, 35, said by phone from Tehran.

Israel and the United States have called on Iranians to “rise and topple their clerical rulers”.

Many Iranians mourned the death of the supreme leader, while other Iranians and the Iranian diaspora in places like New York celebrated the Ayatollah’s death and the strikes on Iran. There has been no sign of organised dissent while the country is under attack.

Iran’s message is that its strategy now is to impose a prolonged economic shock to force Trump to back off. A spokesperson for Iran’s military command said on Wednesday that the world should prepare for oil prices of $200 a barrel.

US Energy Secretary Chris Wright said on Thursday he did not expect that to happen, but did not totally rule it out. “I would say unlikely, but we are focused on the military operation and solving a problem,” Wright told CNN.

US refuelling craft goes down

In Iraq, US Central Command said it was carrying out rescue efforts after one of its refuelling aircraft went down in an incident that involved another aircraft but was not the result of hostile or friendly fire. The Islamic Resistance in Iraq, ​an ​umbrella group of ⁠Iran-backed ​armed factions, claimed responsibility for downing the aircraft.

In a brief statement issued on Thursday, CENTCOM confirmed the loss of a KC-135 Stratotanker during the continuing military offensive known as Operation Epic Fury. According to CENTCOM, two aircraft were involved, with one going down while the second landed safely. No hostile or friendly fire was involved in the incident.

Rescue and recovery operations are currently ongoing, CENTCOM added, without providing further details on the crew or the cause of the accident.

CENTCOM added that the aircraft loss occurred entirely in non-combat conditions and that investigations are underway.

The KC-135 Stratotanker provides the core aerial refuelling capability for the US Air Force and has excelled in this role for more than 60 years. This asset enhances the Air Force’s capability to accomplish its primary mission of global reach. It also provides aerial refuelling support to the Air Force, Navy, Marine Corps and allied nations’ aircraft.