After five days of war, the death toll in Iran from the ongoing war with the United States and Israel has reached at least 1,045 people, an Iranian government agency said on Wednesday.
Meanwhile, the United States and Israel have continued to hit Tehran and other cities in multiple airstrikes.
On Wednesday, a torpedo from a US submarine sank an Iranian warship in international waters near Sri Lanka. Up to 140 people on board are reported missing.
Iran has continued to fire missiles and drone in the region and there is no indication so far of hostilities easing. Saudi Arabia’s defense ministry said on Wednesday it had intercepted and destroyed 10 drones and two cruise missiles, and the Israeli military said it had detected missiles launched from Iran toward Israel.
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Strikes around Strait of Hormuz
About 20 per cent of global oil and liquified natural gas pass through this crucial artery which has become a significant focus of attack.
Iran has responded to the US and Israeli attacks with its own assault on US bases in several Gulf nations in the region, as well as attacks on oil and gas infrastructure in neighboring countries, and an effort to shut the strait to shipping.
Traffic through the strait has been largely closed after Iran attacked at least five ships in the area.
The US has responded with strikes targeting Iranian military in and around the strait.
US president Donald Trump has said the US Navy could escort tankers through the strait and directed the US International Development Finance Corporation to provide political-risk insurance and financial guarantees for Gulf shipping, though shipowners and analysts doubt this will be enough.
Where have US-Israeli air strikes hit Iran?
Israel and the US have continued to bomb Iranian missile sites and targeted its navy, claiming to have destroyed its headquarters and multiple warships.
While attacks initially prioritised regime leaders, air defence installations, rocket launchers and missile storage facilities, they have since widened to include buildings and compounds identified with the regime’s suppression of domestic opposition, including Revolutionary Guard, Basij militia and police buildings.
The US is chiefly striking missile and drone launch sites in southern Iran that threaten Arab states in the Gulf, while the Israeli air force focuses on missile launch sites in western Iran that threaten Israel.
The US has continued to deny responsibility for a strike on an Iranian girls’ school on Saturday, one of the deadliest attacks of the US-Israeli campaign that killed at least 175 people.
“All I can say is that we’re investigating, and that we, of course, never target civilian targets,” US defense secretary Pete Hegseth said, adding that an investigation into the strike was continuing.
Many of the victims were attending class at the Shajarah Tayyebeh school, in the southern town of Minab, according to local health officials and Iranian state media.
What did US-Israeli air strikes target in Tehran?
Israel said it had worked with the US for months to plan the attacks.
The US military said targets in Iran included Revolutionary Guard command facilities, air defence capabilities, missile and drone launch sites and military airfields.
One of the first strikes hit near the offices of the 86-year-old Khamenei, who had ruled since 1989 and held ultimate power.
Israel said that it also killed dozens of other top Iranian military officials.
Where has Iran attacked?
Iran fired has missiles at targets in Israel and Gulf states after vowing retaliation for the killing of its supreme leader by the US and Israel.
Iran and Iranian-backed militias have also targeted US embassy buildings in Saudi Arabia and Kuwait, as well as a US base in the north of Iraq and a British airbase on the Mediterranean island nation of Cyrprus.
Iran has also expanded its attacks to major regional oil infrastructure, adding a new element to the war gripping the Middle East, directly targeting the lifeblood of the area’s economy.
A Saudi Arabian oil refinery – one of the world’s largest – came under a drone attack earlier this week, while Oman said a bomb-carrying drone boat exploded against an oil tanker in the Gulf of Oman. Debris also fell on Kuwait’s Ahmadi oil refinery, injuring two workers, after drones were shot down.
Where are US forces amassed?
The US has at least a dozen ships in the region, including two aircrafts carrier and eight destroyers, according to the US Navy, as well as three littoral combat ships that have been converted into minesweepers.
Its two aircraft carriers have thousands of troops and dozens of fighter jets on board.
The US has also deployed additional fighter aircraft and Thaad and Patriot air defences to bases in the region.
The US also has thousands of troops and larges numbers of aircraft at bases dotted around the Middle East and Europe including fighter jets, refuelling tankers used to support the long-range movement of other aircraft and surveillance aircraft.
– Agencies, maps by Paul Scott/The Irish Times
