The United States-Israel war on Iran, now in its third week, continues to escalate after US forces struck military targets on Kharg Island, the critical hub through which most of Iran's crude exports pass. US President Donald Trump said Washington deliberately spared the island's oil infrastructure but warned that it could be attacked if Iran interferes with shipping through the Strait of Hormuz.
Since February 28, at least 1,444 people have been killed and 18,551 injured in US-Israel attacks on Iran. The joint strikes launched by the US and Israel assassinated Ali Khamenei, Iran's supreme leader, whose compound was destroyed. Other Iranian officials were also killed. Iran's new supreme leader, Mojtaba Khamenei, issued his first statement, warning that attacks on Israel and US military assets and infrastructure in the Middle East will continue unless bases hosting US forces in the region are closed.
Iran then launched hundreds of drones and ballistic missiles at targets in Israel and at US military bases in Bahrain, Jordan, Kuwait, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, and the United Arab Emirates. Israeli attacks have killed at least 773 people in Lebanon since March 2, the Lebanese Ministry of Public Health said, as Israel pledged the country would pay an "increasing price" in damage to infrastructure.
Oil prices are hovering around $100 a barrel as attacks on shipping and energy infrastructure disrupt key supply routes. Strikes and counterstrikes between Israel, Hezbollah and Iran continue, while ships have reportedly been hit in the Strait of Hormuz and the Gulf of Oman, sending shocks through the global economy. A near-total halt of tanker traffic in the Strait of Hormuz has disrupted the supply of fuel and essential fertilizers, threatening global food security.
