<\/p>\n
Iranian attacks on Israel and Arab states in the Persian Gulf continued overnight into Wednesday, while President Donald Trump said the US could end the war with the Islamic Republic \u201cin the near future.\u201d<\/p>\n
Iran launched fresh waves of missile and drone attacks, targeting the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia and Kuwait. It also struck Tel Aviv and killed two people.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
The attacks followed Iran confirming the assassination of its security chief, Ali Larijani, in an Israeli strike. The country showed no sign of backing down on the 19th day of a war that has upended global energy flows and bond markets.<\/p>\n
Iran\u2019s military vowed to avenge the killing of Larijani as well as that of Gholamreza Soleimani, the head of the Basij paramilitary unit, which the government uses to maintain internal security in Iran. They died in the same strike, Israel said.<\/p>\n
The US said it dropped 5 000-pound bunker-buster munitions on Iranian missile sites near the Strait of Hormuz late on Tuesday. That\u2019s part of Trump\u2019s efforts to reopen the vital waterway to commercial vessels. It\u2019s effectively been closed since the war started, forcing countries such as Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Iraq to cut oil production and pushing crude prices above $100 a barrel.<\/p>\n
Iran has de facto control over which ships transit the Strait of Hormuz, with some transiting the chokepoint by tracking close to the Iranian coast. Most ships exiting are heading to places such as China \u2014 which buys almost all Iran\u2019s oil \u2014 and India. Mohammad-Bagher Ghalibaf, the powerful speaker of Iran\u2019s parliament, said the strait \u201cwon\u2019t return to its pre-war status.\u201d<\/p>\n
Iran\u2019s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi echoes those comments.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe need to design new arrangements for the Strait of Hormuz and the way ships pass through it in the future,\u201d he said to Al Jazeera. The rules should \u201cguarantee that safe passage through the strait takes place under specific conditions.\u201d<\/p>\n
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\u2018Near Future\u2019<\/p>\n
Trump, meanwhile, again said the US would soon be ready to end the war.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf we left right now, it would take them 10 years to rebuild,\u201d Trump said at the White House on Tuesday. \u201cBut we\u2019re not ready to leave yet. But we\u2019ll be leaving in the near future.\u201d<\/p>\n
Trump threatened to expand strikes on Iran\u2019s main oil export hub on Kharg Island after weekend attacks on military installations there. The president has abandoned efforts to recruit partners from Europe and Asia to help reopen Hormuz with naval escorts. That was after most countries showed little willingness to join such a mission, which military analysts say would be risky without a ceasefire.<\/p>\n
The USS Gerald R. Ford aircraft carrier \u2014 the world\u2019s biggest \u2014 is withdrawing from the conflict and heading back to port after a fire broke out in its laundry area, leaving at least two sailors injured. The carrier will sail from the Red Sea to Souda Bay on the Greek island of Crete.<\/p>\n
In Iran, a strike hit an area at the Bushehr nuclear power plant, according to Russia\u2019s state atomic firm Rosatom, which operates the facility. No Rosatom employees were injured, and about 480 Russian citizens remain at the plant, Likhachev said, according to Russia\u2019s Tass news agency.<\/p>\n
Iran\u2019s strikes on energy facilities and ports across the Gulf have continued this week. It set a massive natural gas field in the UAE ablaze Monday as it stepped up attacks on key energy sites, the first time the Islamic Republic has damaged an oil or gas upstream facility in the neighboring country during the war.<\/p>\n
Anwar Gargash, a top adviser to UAE President Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed, said Iran miscalculated by firing upon Arab states in the Gulf. The attacks will drive them closer to Israel and the US while demonstrating why the region can\u2019t accept Iranian nuclear and missile programs, Gargash said.<\/p>\n
He signaled the UAE may be willing to help secure the Hormuz Strait.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is the responsibility not only of the United States, but of countries in Asia, countries in the region, countries in Europe,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
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The US president scolded North Atlantic Treaty Organisation allies for their reluctance to join such an effort. \u201cI\u2019ve long said I wonder whether or not NATO would ever be there for us,\u201d Trump said. \u201cThis was a great test because we don\u2019t need them, but they should have been there.\u201d<\/p>\n
Trump also reiterated he started the war \u2014 which began with US and Israeli bombings of Iran on February 28 \u2014 to disarm a potent nuclear threat. He claimed, without providing evidence, that Iran was just two weeks away from acquiring a weapon that they would have used \u201cvery gladly.\u201d Iran has long denied pursuing atomic weapons and nuclear experts mostly disagree it could have built weapons that quickly.<\/p>\n
US gasoline prices have soared in recent weeks, rising to around $3.79 a gallon, according to the American Automobile Association. That\u2019s the highest level since October 2023 and is piling pressure on the administration ahead of the November midterm elections. White House officials are claiming energy prices will drop rapidly once the war ends and are urging Americans to be patient.<\/p>\n
National Economic Council Director Kevin Hassett told CNBC that the US\u2019s expectation is still for a \u201cfour-to-six week operation,\u201d while acknowledging that a longer war could \u201churt consumers.\u201d<\/p>\n
In the latest sign of growing domestic opposition to the conflict, Joe Kent, a top counterterrorism official, announced he is resigning in protest of the war, arguing that Israel had dragged the US into the conflict.<\/p>\n
Asked about the resignation, Trump countered that Iran indeed had been a threat. He said Kent, a staunch MAGA Republican, was \u201ca nice guy, but I always thought he was weak on security.\u201d<\/p>\n
In parallel with the war in Iran, Israel has stepped up an offensive in Lebanon, where it\u2019s fighting the Tehran-backed Hezbollah militant group. Israeli strikes in the country have killed more than 900 people, according to the Lebanese government.<\/p>\n
That brings the war\u2019s death toll to more than 4 000, with most of the fatalities in Iran. Dozens of others were killed in the rest of the Middle East, while the US has lost 13 military personnel.<\/p>\n
\u00a9 2026 Bloomberg<\/p>\n
#Iran #vows #revenge #Larijani #Trump #war<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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