Iran
escalates attacks on infrastructure and transport networks across the Gulf
Iranian
officials warn of ‘war of attrition’ and global economic chaos as energy
supplies are throttled
Jason
Burke Jerusalem
Wed 11
Mar 2026 18.27 GMT
Iran
dramatically escalated its strategy of striking civilian infrastructure and
transport networks across the Gulf on Wednesday, attacking commercial ships
travelling through the Gulf and targeting Dubai’s international airport, as US
and Israeli warplanes launched new waves of strikes on the Islamic Republic.
Senior
Iranian officials struck a defiant tone, warning of a long “war of attrition”
that will threaten global economic chaos as energy supplies from the oil and
gas rich region are throttled.
Amid what
appears to be a growing stalemate in the 12-day-old conflict, violence
continued across a swath of the Middle East, with Israeli strikes on what it
says are Hezbollah targets in Lebanon and barrages of Iranian missiles and
Hezbollah rockets targeting Israel.
The UN
refugee agency said at least 759,000 people have been internally displaced in
Lebanon, while more than 92,000 others have crossed into neighbouring Syria.
In the
Gulf, Kuwait said its air defences downed eight Iranian drones and Saudi Arabia
said it intercepted five heading toward the kingdom’s Shaybah oil field.
In Tehran
and other cities, huge crowds took to the streets for funerals for senior
Iranian commanders killed by US and Israeli airstrikes since the beginning of
the war 12 days ago. Mourners carried caskets and brandished flags and
portraits of the late supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who was killed in
the first minute of the US-Israeli offensive, and his son and successor,
Mojtaba.
Iranian
officials admitted for the first time on Wednesday that Iran’s new leader had
been wounded in the airstrikes that killed his father, mother, wife and a son.
The 56-year-old has not appeared in public or issued any direct message since
the war began.
“I have
heard that he was injured in his legs and hand and arm … I think he is in the
hospital because he is injured,” Alireza Salarian, Tehran’s ambassador to
Cyprus, told the Guardian.
Despite
growing pressure for the US and Israel to consider reining back their joint
offensive, decision-makers in both countries appeared to continuing the
campaign for now.
Israel
Katz, Israel’s defence minister, said on Wednesday the joint offensive against
Iran “will continue without any time limit, as long as required, until we
achieve all objectives and win the campaign”.
Donald
Trump has sent more mixed messages in recent days, going from calling the war a
“short-term excursion” that could end soon to proclaiming “we haven’t won
enough” during a single speech in Washington on Monday.
On
Wednesday the US president told Axios the war would end “soon” because there is
“practically nothing left to target … Any time I want it to end, it will end.”
Governments
across the world fear economic turmoil from surging oil prices which would
anger many voters.
On
Wednesday, Trump appeared to praise the “tremendous impact” of decisions being
by leaders of the Group of Seven nations as they met to discuss the war and its
economic consequences, according to a short video clip shared by the French
presidency.
“I think
we are having a tremendous impact, unbelievable actually, on the world,” Trump
said, after being given the floor by Emmanuel Macron, the French president, who
chaired the G7 meeting, though it was not entirely clear who or what Trump was
referring to.
The US
president was speaking after a recommendation by the International Energy
Agency (IEA) to release 400m barrels of oil, the largest such move in the IEA
history, in a bid to restrain soaring oil prices.
But so
far there is no sign that ships can safely sail through the strait of Hormuz,
which carries a fifth of the world’s oil.
Three
more merchant ships were struck in the Gulf by unknown projectiles on
Wednesday, according to agencies that monitor maritime security, raising the
number of ships reportedly hit since the war began to 14.
Crew were
evacuated from a Thai-flagged bulk freighter after an explosion caused a fire.
A Japanese-flagged container ship and a Marshall Islands-flagged bulk carrier
also sustained damage.
Trump
told reporters on Wednesday that oil tankers passing through the strait would
“see great safety, and it’s going to be very, very quickly”, without giving
further details.
Hundreds
of ships are now blockaded behind the narrow channel along the Iranian coast
for fear of Iranian attack in the worst disruption to energy supplies since the
oil shocks of the 1970s.
The
Revolutionary Guards said Iran would not allow “a single litre of oil” through
the vital waterway until the US stopped its bombing campaign.
Iran has
also continued to target oilfields and refineries in Gulf Arab nations as it
seeks to force the US and Israel to stop their offensive.
“Get
ready for oil to be $200 a barrel, because the oil price depends on regional
security which you have destabilised,” Ebrahim Zolfaqari, spokesperson for
Iran’s military command, said in comments addressed to the US.
Iran’s
army said it had attacked key targets in Israel, including the military
intelligence headquarters, a naval base in Haifa and a radar system. It also
said it targeted US bases in Kuwait and Bahrain.
US and
Israeli officials say their aim is to end Iran’s ability to project force
beyond its borders and to destroy its nuclear programme, though they have also
encouraged Iranians to overthrow the Islamist clerical regime, which took power
after the 1979 revolution that ousted the Shah, a US ally. Benjamin Netanyahu,
Israel’s prime minister, on Tuesday repeated a call for the Iranian people to
rise up.
Iran’s
police chief, Ahmadreza Radan, said any protesters in Iran would be treated “as
an enemy … All our security forces have their fingers on the trigger”.
Residents
of Tehran said they were getting used to nightly airstrikes that have sent
hundreds of thousands of people fleeing to the countryside and contaminated the
city with black rain from oil smoke.
“There
were bombings last night but I did not get scared like before. Life goes on,”
Farshid, 52, said by phone.
Iran
accused the US and Israel of striking a maritime ambulance boat at an island in
the strait of Hormuz, Mehr news agency reported.
Adm Brad
Cooper, commander of US Central Command, said that as a result of the US
strikes, including one on a “large ballistic missile manufacturing facility”,
Iran’s ballistic missile and drone attacks have “dropped drastically”. The
targets have included more than 60 ships, he said in a video posted to social
media Wednesday.
Cooper
also confirmed that the military was using “advanced AI tools” to “sift through
vast amounts of data in seconds”. He said these tools are enabling leaders to
make smarter decisions faster, but stressed that “humans will always make final
decisions on what to shoot and what not to shoot and when to shoot”.
In
Israel, explosions rang out before dawn from air defences intercepting
missiles. Sirens sent Israelis to shelters. Twelve people have been killed and
hundreds injured by Iranian attacks and those by Hezbollah. Israeli officials
have repeatedly accused Iran of using cluster munitions, which are illegal
under international law, against population centres.
Israel
also launched a barrage on Beirut, targeting southern suburbs that are a
stronghold of Hezbollah, which has fired into Israel from Lebanon in solidarity
with Tehran.
More than
1,300 Iranian civilians have been killed since the US and Israeli airstrikes
began on 28 February, according to Iran’s UN ambassador, Amir Saeid Iravani.
In
Lebanon, Israel’s offensive against Hezbollah has killed 570 people, the
country’s health ministry says, including 45 women and 86 children. It does not
distinguish between combatants and civilians but the total includes 14
healthcare workers, the ministry says.
Washington
says seven US soldiers have been killed and approximately 140 have been
wounded.
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