The military operation against Iran entered its tenth day on Tuesday. President Trump said the war is “nearly complete” overnight and warned Iran against trying to escalate the conflict now, but it seems Tehran hasn’t got the message… yet.
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**Tuesday’s live updates below. All updates in Eastern time**
09:55 AM: Iraq looking for alternatives to Strait of Hormuz
A spokesman for the Iraqi Oil Ministry told AFP on Tuesday that it is currently exploring alternative routes for oil exports beyond the Strait of Hormuz.
“As with many other countries in the region, oil production and marketing have been severely impacted, leaving the government with no choice but to seek alternative channels for our sales,” Iraqi Oil Ministry spokesman Saheb Bazoun said.
It comes as President Trump and the remnants of the Iranian regime trade barbs over the safety of energy shipments through the critical supply chain chokepoint. President Trump has said that the U.S. Navy may be deployed to the Strait. French President Emmanuel Macron has made similar indications of a deployment to the region to protect the global economy.
09:50 AM: UAE shuts down largest refinery in region
The United Arab Emirates has reportedly shut down the largest oil refinery in the Middle East following a drone strike from the Islamist Iranian regime, Bloomberg reports. The Ruwais oil refinery, which can process over 900,000 barrels of oil per day, was shut down as a precautionary measure.
The local government in Abu Dhabi, the UAE capital, said on Tuesday morning that a fire broke out at the facility as a result of the drone attack. No injuries have been reported at the time of this post.
08:55 AM: U.S. targeting Iranian mine capabilities
Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Dan Caine said that the U.S. Military has struck over 5,000 targets in Iran, including 50 Iranian naval vessels. Ballistic missiles fired by the regime are down 90 per cent since the start of Operation Epic Fury, he said, and one-way attack drone strikes are down by 83 per cent.
U.S. Central Command has also begun targeting Iranian mine-laying ships and mine storage facilities to prevent Tehran from deploying them in the Strait of Hormuz to slow down shipments of energy, General Caine said.
08:25 AM: Tuesday will see most strikes on Iran
U.S. Secretary of War Pete Hegseth said that Tuesday will be the “most intense” day of strikes so far against the Islamist Iranian regime since Operation Epic Fury began on February 28th, saying that today will see the largest number of fighter jets and bombers deployed as well as the most strikes.
“The mullahs are desperate and scrambling,” Hegseth said. “Like the terrorist cowards they are, they fire missiles from schools and hospitals, deliberately targeting innocents because they know their military is being systematically degraded and annihilated.”
“Iran’s neighbors—and in some cases former ‘allies’ in the Gulf—have abandoned them. Their proxies—Hezbollah, the Houthis, Hamas—are either broken, ineffective, or on the sidelines. They stand alone—and they are badly losing.”
08:15 AM: Iran says Trump’s threats are “empty”
The head of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council Ali Larijani said on Tuesday that Tehran is “not afraid” of President Donald Trump’s “empty threats” after he warned that Iran will face “death, fire, and fury” if it attempts to top energy shipments through the Strait of Hormuz.
“Those more powerful than you have tried to eliminate the Iranian nation and have not succeeded. Be careful not to be eliminated yourself!” Larijani said.
07:55 AM: War for oil
Spokesman for the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) Ali Mohammad Naini said on Tuesday that the “Iranian armed forces will not allow the export of a single liter of oil from the region to the hostile side and its partners until further notice.”
“Their efforts to reduce and control oil and gas prices will be temporary and fruitless,” he added.
It comes as President Donald Trump has sought to alleviate the skittishness of the international energy markets on Monday by saying that the U.S. is prepared to deploy naval assets to protect shipping in the Strait of Hormuz and will offer risk insurance to ships that traverse the imperilled waterway.
President Trump also issued a warning to the Iranian regime, saying that “death, Fire, and Fury will reign upon them” if they seek to stop the flow of energy through the Strait.
07:40 AM: Patriots to defend Turkey
The Turkish Ministry of Defense said on Tuesday morning that “in light of recent developments in our region,” NATO will be deploying a U.S. made Patriot Air Defence system to the city of Malatya in eastern Turkey for the protection of the country’s airspace. This comes after Iran fired two missiles at the NATO ally nation over the past week amid the U.S.-Israeli military operation against the mullahs in Tehran.
“Maintaining its defense and security capabilities at the highest level, our country will continue to evaluate developments in cooperation and consultation with NATO and our Allies, and to strive for regional peace and stability,” the Turkish MoD said.
06:55 AM: More allied equipment on its way
Operation Epic Fury is very much a joint enterprise between the U.S. and Israel, but a surprising factor has been how slow and reluctant America’s broader network of allies have been to stand up for their friends, even passively. We reported yesterday that the British government has now walked back its vague briefing over the weekend that they could deploy an aircraft carrier to the region, and that a single air warfare destroyer planned to go remains alongside as it was apparently totally unready to deploy.
Now London has declared it will indeed send a second warship, but one roled towards a humanitarian role. The RFA Lyme Bay, a landing ship with a large amount of accommodation onboard — normally for embarked Royal Marines — and a hospital facility, is expected to assist with evacuations.
Navy Lookout notes Lyme Bay is already in the Mediterranean, and has been alongside the British sovereign territory of Gibraltar since completing a maintenance period late last year. Per the report, the Ministry of Defence is so strapped for cash, the plan was to leave the large ship inactive until the new financial year in April to fix cashflow.
Meanwhile, Australia says it is sending extra air-to-air missiles into theatre and a Boeing airborne early warning jet and France has sent a whole carrier force, gathered together and deployed in less than the time it has taken for Britain to dispatch one destroyer. Tough times for fans of British sea power.
06:45 AM: CENTCOM shows off more strikes
In a digest of the attacks on Iran so far, U.S. Central Command says it has struck over 5,000 targets including sinking over 50 ships, a considerable development from when we last heard of 30 sinkings late last week. In tactics familiar to NATO militaries from the Cold War, when many military assets including missile launchers were made highly mobile to escape surprise decapitation strikes, Iran has widely dispersed its network of launchers.
While the U.S. and Israel have stated they’ve already considerably degraded Iran’s launch capability, with the number of missile attacks a fraction of what they were ten days ago, the game of whack-a-mole continues unabated. We’ve got fresh footage of this from CENTCOM, showing strikes on mobile launchers in what cover they could find:
For earlier Livewire updates from Monday, please click here
