Tehran, Iran. Iran fired at Israel and targets across the Middle East on Wednesday, while at least three ships were hit in the Gulf. The developments highlighted continued disruption risks to energy supplies as U.S.-Israeli strikes intensified.
Strikes and shipping disruption
Oil prices that rose earlier in the week later eased and stock markets rebounded, with investors betting U.S. President Donald Trump will find a quick way to end the war he began alongside Israel nearly two weeks ago.
There was no let-up on the ground, and there was no sign that ships could safely sail through the Strait of Hormuz. A fifth of the world’s oil has been blockaded behind a narrow channel along the Iranian coast, in what was described as the worst disruption to energy supplies since the oil shocks of the 1970s.
The Pentagon described its attacks on Iran on Tuesday as the most intensive of the war so far.
Iran warns of attacks on banks
After offices of a bank in Tehran were hit overnight, Iran’s military command said it would respond with attacks on banks that do business with the United States or Israel. It added that people across the Middle East should stay 1,000 metres from banks.
Funerals and reports on Mojtaba Khamenei
Huge crowds of Iranians took to the streets on Wednesday for funerals for top commanders killed in airstrikes, carrying caskets and holding flags and portraits of slain Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei and his son and successor, Mojtaba.
A source told Reuters that Israel believed Mojtaba Khamenei had been injured early in the war, when airstrikes killed his father, mother, wife and a son. Reuters was unable to confirm his condition, but state media have used a term that means “wounded veteran” to describe him. He has not appeared in public or issued any direct message since the war began.
Missile and drone incidents across the region
The Iranian military said on Tuesday it had launched missiles at a U.S. base in northern Iraq, the U.S. naval headquarters for the Middle East in Bahrain, and at Be’er Ya’akov city in central Israel.
Explosions rang out in Bahrain, while in Dubai four people were injured by two drones that crashed near the airport.
Tehran residents describe nightly airstrikes
In Tehran, residents said they were growing accustomed to the nightly airstrikes that have sent hundreds of thousands of people fleeing to the countryside and contaminated the city with black rain from oil smoke.
How is the continuing disruption in the Strait of Hormuz affecting you or your region?
