The U.S. sank an Iranian warship in international waters, Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth said Wednesday, as it intensified its bombardment with Israel of Iran’s security forces and other symbols of power. Tehran vowed to completely destroy the Middle East’s military and economic infrastructure — signaling the war was nowhere near over and could expand further.
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. Millions attended the funeral of his predecessor Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini in 1989.
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 said NATO defences intercepted a ballistic missile launched from Iran before it entered Turkey’s airspace.
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 travellers in the Middle East.
Both sides are unrelenting in their attacks
Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth said a torpedo from a U.S. submarine sank an Iranian warship. He did not name the ship, but earlier an Iranian warship sank off the coast of Sri Lanka.
In a Pentagon briefing, Hegseth said that the Tuesday night strike on an Iranian warship was the first such attack on an enemy since World War II.
“An American submarine sunk an Iranian warship that thought it was safe in international waters,” Hegseth said. “Instead, it was sunk by a torpedo.”
Sri Lankan authorities said 32 people were rescued from the Iranian ship and that others died.
Israel said it hit buildings associated with Iran’s Basij, the all-volunteer force of the 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.
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Israel and the U.S. have said they want to see the Iranian public overthrow the country’s theocracy, and strikes against counterprotest forces are likely part of that effort.
Iranian state television showed the ruins of buildings in the center of the capital of Tehran, with interviewees saying 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.
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 for a protracted conflict.
Adm. Brad Cooper, the top U.S. military commander in the Middle East, echoed that sentiment, saying: “We’ve just begun.”
Cooper said American forces have damaged Iran’s air defences and taken out ballistic missiles, launchers and drones. Israeli military spokesman Brig. Gen. Effie Defrin said that such damage has led to a decline in launches from Iran.
Still, explosions echoed in the skies over Jerusalem on Wednesday, and Israel’s military said Iran had launched missiles toward the country, while Hezbollah sent rockets.
Iran has also struck around the region, and air sirens sounded Wednesday morning across Bahrain, home to the U.S. Navy’s 5th Fleet.
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 how 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.
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 Iranian attacks disrupting 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 US$84 a barrel, up more than 15 per cent 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 as it faces its biggest crisis in decades, the head of the judiciary warned Wednesday that “those who cooperate with the enemy in any way will be considered an enemy.”
Israel’s defence 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.”
