Iran could disrupt the Strait of Hormuz with drones for months

Iranian drone attacks could disrupt the Strait of Hormuz for months, but how long the Islamic Republic could sustain its missile barrage is less clear, according to ​intelligence sources and military analysts.

Since the US and Israel attacked Iran on Saturday, Iran has launched hundreds of missiles and more than 1,000 drones at Gulf states allied with Washington. ‌Most were intercepted by air defences, but some residential and commercial buildings, infrastructure and US military bases have sustained damage.

Pete Hegseth claims US is winning against Iran

United States Defence Secretary ​Pete Hegseth said ‌on Wednesday that US-Israeli campaign against Iran was “just getting started”. He added that the US was ​winning in ​the war ⁠and that ​the US military ​could fight as long as needed.

"Our air ​defences and ​that of our allies ‌have ⁠plenty of runway. We can sustain this fight ​easily ​for ⁠as long as we ​need to," ​he told a press conference at the Pentagon. 

“We are accelerating, not decelerating … More bombers and more fighters are arriving just today,” he told reporters, adding that the US would be using a “nearly unlimited” supply of 226kg (500lb), 453kg (1,000lb) and 900kg (2,000lb) bombs.

He dismissed China and Russia as non-factors in Washington's decision making when it comes to the war against Iran.

"I don't have a message for them, and they're not really a factor here, and our issue is not with them," Hegseth said, adding that the US focus was purely on ending what he called "the nuclear ambitions of Iran."

Russia and China have longstanding diplomatic and trade ties with Iran, while Russia has close military links to the country. Both Moscow and Beijing have criticised the US-Israeli war to topple the Iranian government and destroy its military.

US submarine torpedoed Iranian warship in Indian Ocean: Pentagon

A US submarine sank an Iranian warship in the Indian Ocean, Hegseth said, touting the strike as evidence of America's global reach in its war on Iran. "An American submarine sunk an Iranian warship that thought it was safe in international waters. Instead, it was sunk by a torpedo," Hegseth told reporters.

Sri Lankan authorities said they had rescued 32 crew members from the frigate IRIS Dena but that 148 other sailors were missing, with hopes low that any more would be found.

Hegseth called the attack "quiet death" and the first US sinking of an enemy ship by torpedo since World War II. "Like in that war," he said, "we are fighting to win."
The Pentagon says one of the main aims of the US-Israeli war against Iran, launched Saturday, is to wipe out the country's navy.

Sri Lanka's foreign minister, Vijitha Herath, told parliament that the rescued Iranians were rushed to the main hospital in the island's south while two navy craft and a plane were deployed to search for others.

The frigate issued a distress call at dawn on Wednesday and within less than an hour a rescue vessel reached the area about 40 kilometres (25 miles) south of the southern port of Galle, the minister said.

The frigate had completely sunk and only an oil patch remained when the navy rescue boats approached. "We are keeping up a search, but we don't know yet what happened to the rest of the crew," a Sri Lankan defence official told AFP.

Sri Lankan navy spokesman Buddhika Sampath said their operation was in line with Sri Lanka's maritime obligations.

"We responded to the distress call under our international obligations, as this is within our search and rescue area in the Indian Ocean," Sampath told AFP. "We have found a few bodies from the area where the ship had gone down," Sampath.

Russia says US attacked Iran on false pretext

Russia accused the US on Wednesday of using an imaginary threat from ​Iran as a pretext to overthrow its constitutional order, and ‌said Washington's calls for Iranians to seize power from their leaders were cynical and inhumane.

Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said the ​US had used negotiations with Iran, which were ​taking place as recently as last week, as ⁠a cover to disguise a plan for regime change ​there.

Russia has a strategic partnership treaty with Iran and ​President Vladimir Putin has condemned what he called the cynical murder of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who was killed on ​the first day of the war launched by the US ​and Israel on Saturday.

"There is no doubt that the imaginary, invented ‌Iranian ⁠threat, repeatedly stated over many years, was merely a pretext for the implementation of a long-cherished plan to violently overthrow the constitutional order of a sovereign state... ​that Washington and ​Tel Aviv dislike," ⁠Zakharova told reporters.

Without mentioning US President Donald Trump by name, Zakharova alluded to ​his call for Iranians to take power ​from the ⁠clerical leadership.

"It is even more cynical and inhumane to hear calls for the Iranians to seize power, as ⁠the ​West says, when the West is ​literally tearing ripping these hands from the Iranians," she said.

Missile launched from Iran towards Turkiye destroyed: Ankara

A missile launched from Iran, heading towards Turkish airspace through Iraq and Syria, has been destroyed by NATO air defence systems, Turkish officials said on Wednesday.

"A ballistic munition launched from Iran, which was detected passing through Iraqi and Syrian airspace and heading towards Turkish airspace, was engaged in a timely manner by NATO air and missile defence assets stationed in the eastern Mediterranean and rendered inactive," the defence ministry said in a statement.

"The munitions fragment that fell in the Dortyol district of Hatay province was identified as belonging to the air defence munitions that intercepted the threat after it was destroyed in the air," the ministry said, adding there were no casualties.

"Any steps necessary to defend our territory and airspace will be taken decisively and without hesitation," it added. "We reiterate that we reserve the right to respond to any hostile actions directed at our country."

Turkiye warned Tehran against any steps that could spread the war after a missile launched from Iran heading toward Turkish airspace was destroyed by NATO air-defence systems, a foreign ministry source said.

Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan told his Iranian counterpart in a phone call that "any steps that could lead to the spread of conflict should be avoided", the source added.

US-Israel intensify strikes on Iran as markets plunge across Asia

The United States and Israel pressed on with their round-the-clock assaults on Iran on Wednesday ‌in a campaign that the top US commander said was "ahead of the game plan". Meanwhile, death toll from US-Israeli attacks on Iran rose to 1,045, Iranian state media reported.

Even as new explosions rang out in Tehran, huge crowds of mourners were expected in the streets later on Wednesday ​to grieve the slain Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, 86, killed by Israeli forces in the first assassination of a nation's top ruler by airstrike.

But a fall in global markets turned into a rout in Asia, including a record-breaking crash in Seoul, as investors were unconvinced by US President Donald Trump's assurances he would quickly reopen the world's most important shipping corridor and release blockaded Middle East oil and gas.

Meanwhile, Mojtaba Khamenei, the powerful son of the late supreme leader, is alive and favoured to emerge as his father's successor, two Iranian sources told Reuters on Wednesday.

The two sources, speaking on condition of anonymity, said Mojtaba, 56, was not in Tehran during the strike that destroyed the leader's compound and also killed the elder Khamenei's wife, another son and a number of senior ​military and leadership figures.

Iran said the Assembly of Experts that will select the new leader will announce its decision soon, only the second time it has done so since the Islamic Republic's founding in 1979.

"The Supreme Leader ​will be identified in the closest opportunity, we are close to a conclusion. However the situation in the country is a war situation," Assembly member Ayatollah Ahmad Khatami told ⁠state TV. He said the candidates had already been identified but did not name them.

Israel said it would hunt down whoever was chosen.

"Every leader appointed by the Iranian terror regime to continue and lead the plan to destroy Israel, to ​threaten the United States and the free world and the countries of the region, and to suppress the Iranian people — will be an unequivocal target for elimination," Defence Minister Israel Katz said in a statement. "It does not matter what his name ​is or the place where he hides."

Israel said its forces hit targets across Iran for a fifth day. An Israeli F-35 fighter jet shot down an Iranian Yak-130 over Tehran, believed to be the first time the new generation F-35 has downed a manned aircraft in combat.

Oil shock fear hits Asian tech stocks while European selloff pauses

Selling in hard-hit European shares paused on Wednesday as the focus shifted to Asia - including a record-breaking crash in ​Seoul, where investors dumped chipmakers on fears the widening Middle East war will create an oil price shock, raising inflation and delaying interest rate cuts.

Traders' rush ‌to unload different asset classes around the world has at times threatened to become chaotic this week as they process the consequences of energy prices remaining elevated for an extended period of time.

Plunges in one part of the market have spilled over into others as investors try to cover for losses elsewhere and cut down on risks.

Even safe-haven gold for example fell more than 4% on Tuesday, though it was ​back up 1.5% on Wednesday at $5,155 an ounce.

At the heart of it all, benchmark Brent crude was at $83.76 a barrel on Wednesday, up for a third straight ​day, though off its Tuesday highs, after Trump said the US Navy could escort tankers through the key Strait of Hormuz ⁠if necessary.

Ship owners and analysts were uncertain how practical that would be.

Body of Khamenei to lie in state in prayer hall

Mourners were invited to pay respects from Wednesday evening to the body of the late leader, which would lie in state at Tehran's vast Imam Khomeini Prayer Hall, named for Khamenei's predecessor and the founder of the Islamic ​Republic, Ruhollah Khomeini.

Khomeini's grandson Hassan is also seen as a potential candidate for supreme leader, representing the more reformist wing of the leadership, suppressed under Khamenei.

But the clear favourite appears to be Mojtaba, who amassed power under his father as ​a senior figure in the security forces and the vast business empire they control. Choosing him would send a signal that hardliners were still firmly in charge.

Some Iranians have openly celebrated the death of Khamenei, whose security forces killed thousands of anti-government demonstrators only ‌weeks ago in ⁠the biggest domestic unrest since the era of the revolution.

But Iranians angry with the government said there was unlikely to be much sign of protest while bombs are falling. "We have nowhere to go to protect ourselves from strikes, how can we protest?" Farah, 45, said by phone from Tehran.

The Revolutionary Guards and basiji militia "are everywhere. They will kill us. I hate this regime, but first I have to think about the safety of my two children," he said.

Despite initial US hope for a swift and decisive ouster of Tehran's clerical leadership, Iran kept up strikes in response against Israel and Arab Gulf states that host US bases.

Admiral Brad Cooper, the overall commander of the US campaign as head of the military's Central Command, said ​50,000 troops, 200 jets and two aircraft carriers were engaged ​in "24/7 strikes into Iran from seabed to space and ⁠cyberspace," with more assets on the way.

'Shooting what can shoot us'

Iran's air defences had been badly degraded, its navy had no operational vessels on important waterways after 17 were sunk, and more than 2,000 Iranian targets had been hit, Cooper said in a video briefing released on Tuesday evening.

"My overall operational assessment is that we are ahead of our game plan," ​he said. "In simple terms, we're focused on shooting things that can shoot us."

In Israel, air-raid sirens sounded warnings and buildings shook as Iranian missiles were intercepted.

Oil prices climbed ​higher on Wednesday as Tehran attacked ⁠ships and energy facilities, closing navigation through the Strait of Hormuz, where a fifth of the world's oil and liquefied natural gas are shipped close to its coast.

Scores of ships have halted in the Gulf. Qatar, one of the world's main LNG producers, has shut production. Iraq has scaled back oil output.

The Strait is under the "full control" of Iran's navy, the Revolutionary Guards said on Wednesday, warning vessels not to transit the waterway, the semi-official Fars news agency said.

Trump said the US Navy could begin escorting oil tankers through ⁠the Strait if ​necessary. But shipowners and analysts are uncertain that would be enough to stop rising prices or whether the US can spare vessels to do ​so without exposing them to potential attacks.

Trump risks political fallout if higher energy prices persist, as his Republican Party tries to retain power in the congressional midterm elections in November.

Iran won't negotiate with US: senior adviser to Khamenei

Iran has no intention of negotiating with the United States and can continue the Middle East war for as long as needed, Mohammad Mokhber, a senior aide to the late supreme leader Khamenei told state TV.

He told the broadcaster that Iran had "no trust in the Americans, and we have no basis for any negotiations with them", adding that: "We can continue the war as long as we want."

Iran's security chief Ali Larijani, who was also an adviser to Khamenei, said in a post on X on Monday that Tehran will not negotiate with the US, in response to a report that Iran is trying to revive negotiations with Washington.

The Israeli military said its air force shot down an Iranian fighter jet over Tehran on Wednesday, the fifth day of the Middle East war sparked by joint US-Israeli strikes on the Islamic Republic.

"The Israeli Air Force... completed an additional wave of strikes targeting the Iranian terror regime's command centres throughout Tehran," including internal security and paramilitary Basij sites, the statement added.

The Revolutionary Guards said Iranian forces had "complete control" of the Strait of Hormuz, a vital route for world oil and gas supplies, and any vessels seeking to pass risked damage from missiles or stray drones.

The Guards said they had also launched more than 40 missiles at US and Israeli targets in a new wave of strikes.