DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Israel and the U.S. intensified their bombardment of Iran's security forces and other symbols of power Wednesday, as Tehran vowed to completely destroy the Middle East's military and economic infrastructure — all indications that the war was nowhere near over and risks expanding further.
In addition to striking Tehran on the fifth day of the conflict, Israel hit the Iranian-backed Hezbollah militant group in Lebanon, while Iran fired on Bahrain, Kuwait and Israel. As the conflict spiraled, Turkey’s Defense Ministry said NATO defenses intercepted a ballistic missile launched from Iran before it entered Turkey’s airspace. And an Iranian warship sank off the coast of Sri Lanka, though it was not immediately clear what happened.
The tempo of the strikes on Iran was so intense that state television announced the mourning ceremony for Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who was killed in the conflict, would be postponed. As fighter jets roared overhead, those in Tehran worried about whether and how to flee.
The war has killed more than 1,000 people in Iran and dozens in Lebanon, while disrupting the supply of the world’s oil and gas, snarling international shipping, and stranding hundreds of thousands of travelers in the Middle East.
Both sides are unrelenting in their attacks
Israel said it hit buildings associated with Iran's Basij, the all-volunteer force of Iran’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard that conducted a bloody crackdown on protesters in January that killed thousands and saw tens of thousands detained in the country.
The Israeli military also said it hit buildings associated with Iran’s internal security command, which also has suppressed demonstrations in the past. It also pounded towns near Beirut on Wednesday.
Israel and the U.S. have said they want to see the Iranian public overthrow the country's theocracy. Strikes against counterprotest forces likely are part of that effort.
Iranian state television showed the ruins of buildings in center of the capital of Tehran, with interviewees complaining the attacks damaged their homes. Strikes have also been reported in the holy Shiite seminary city of Qom, targeting a building associated with a clerical panel set to pick Iran’s next supreme leader. Iranian media said it was empty at the time and their work continued.
State TV has begun calling the conflict the “Ramadan war,” a reference to the holy Muslim fasting month currently taking place. But that term also suggested leaders are trying to prepare the public that the war will continue for some time.
Adm. Brad Cooper, the top U.S. military commander in the Middle East, echoed that sentiment, saying: “We’ve just begun.”
Cooper and American forces have damaged Iran’s air defenses and taken out ballistic missiles, launchers and drones. Israeli military spokesman Brig. Gen Effie Defrin said that has led to a decline in launches from Iran.
Still, explosions echoed across the skies over Jerusalem on Wednesday, and Israel’s military said Iran had launched missiles toward the country.
Iran has also struck around the region. Air sirens sounded Wednesday morning across the island kingdom of Bahrain, home to the U.S. Navy’s 5th Fleet.
Authorities said 32 people were rescued from the Iranian ship that was reported in distress off the coast of Sri Lanka. It was not immediately clear what happened to the ship or how many people were on board. The U.S. military said earlier it had already destroyed 17 Iranian vessels and that its goal was sinking “the entire navy.”
At least 1,045 people have been killed in Iran, the country's Foundation of Martyrs and Veterans Affairs said Wednesday. Eleven people in Israel have been killed. More than 50 people have been killed in Lebanon, according to the Health Ministry. Six U.S. troops have been killed.
Those in Tehran are unsure of what to do
A resident of Tehran, who runs a clothing shop, said he didn’t know what, if anything, he could do to protect himself from the bombing.
“It’s very difficult to decide what to do. If I leave the city, how am I supposed to earn money and survive?” said the man, who spoke on condition of anonymity for the fear of reprisals.
“I just hope the Arabs do not get involved. If they do, their missiles won’t be as precise as these.”
Energy supplies in the crosshairs
Iran’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard issued its most-intense threat yet.
“The continued mischief and deception by the United States in the region will come at the cost of the complete destruction of the region’s military and economic infrastructure,” it said in a statement issued via Iranian state television.
With Iran’s stranglehold on tanker movement through the Strait of Hormuz, the narrow mouth of the Persian Gulf through which about a fifth of the world’s oil is shipped, Brent crude prices hit $84 a barrel, up more than 15% since the start of the conflict and at its highest price since July 2024.
Global stock markets have been hammered over worries that the spike in oil prices may grind down the world economy and sap corporate profits.
Iran’s clerics are choosing a new supreme leader
Iran’s leaders are scrambling to replace Khamenei, who ruled the country for 37 years, and was killed on the first day of strikes.
It’s only the second time since the 1979 Islamic Revolution that a new supreme leader is being chosen.
Potential candidates range from hard-liners committed to confrontation with the West to reformists who seek diplomatic engagement. Mojtaba Khamenei, Khamenei’s son, has long been considered among them — despite the fact he’s has never been elected or appointed to a government position.
In a sign that Iran’s leadership will only seek to consolidate its power after it faced its biggest challenge in decades in recent nationwide protests, the head of the judiciary warned Wednesday that “those who cooperate with the enemy in any way will be considered an enemy.”
Israel’s defense minister, meanwhile, threatened whoever Iran picks to be the country’s next supreme leader.
“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 a target for elimination,” Israel Katz wrote on X.
It’s not clear how Washington will respond if a new leader in the mold of Khamenei is chosen. U.S. President Donald Trump said Tuesday that the “worst case would be do this, and then somebody takes over who’s as bad as the previous person.”
Though he has urged Iranians to rise up against their leaders, Trump since seemed to downplay the chances of the war ending Iran’s theocratic rule, saying Tuesday that “someone from within” the Iranian regime might be the best choice to take power.
He added that all “the people we had in mind are dead.”
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Rising reported from Bangkok, and Magdy from Cairo. Associated Press writer Elena Becatoros in Athens, Greece; Melanie Lidman in Tel Aviv, Israel; Bassem Mroue in Beirut; Elaine Kurtenbach in Bangkok; Simina Mistreanu in Taipei, Taiwan, and Giovanna Dell'Orto in Miami contributed to this report.
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