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Around 140 US service members wounded since start of US-Israeli war on Iran, Pentagon says

Approximately 140 US service members have been wounded since the start of “Operation Epic Fury”, according to chief Pentagon spokesperson Sean Parnell.

The vast majority of these injuries have been minor, and 108 service members have already returned to duty. Eight service members remain listed as severely injured and are receiving the highest level of medical care.

The Trump administration is reportedly considering the deployment of special forces into Iran to secure its stockpile of highly enriched uranium (HEU), which experts say could be used to make at least 10 nuclear warheads.

Preventing Iran from acquiring a bomb is one of Trump’s stated war aims, and the 440kg HEU stockpile represents the greatest nuclear threat as it could be turned into weapons-grade uranium relatively easily. The US secretary of state, Marco Rubio, has told Congress that “people are going to have to go and get it”.

Rubio did not go into greater detail, but there have been US and Israeli reports on discussions between the two countries on how such a mission might be carried out by special forces from either or both militaries. But nuclear experts say the complexity and risk involved would be considerable.

Rafael Grossi, the director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), said on Monday that the UN watchdog body believed that 200kg of Iran’s HEU stockpile was in deep tunnels at its nuclear complex outside the city of Isfahan. He added that there was another “amount” of HEU in another nuclear centre at Natanz, where Iranians have constructed a new fortified and deeply buried facility called Kuh-e Kolang Gaz La, known to western analysts as Pickaxe Mountain.

Trump warns Iran about placing mines in strait of Hormuz

Donald Trump has said there are “no reports” of Iran placing mines in the strait of Hormuz, and warned that if Iran has placed mines in the key waterway off its coast, they must be moved “IMMEDIATELY” or Iran will face military consequences “at a level never seen before”.

US officials earlier told CBS News that Iran may be preparing to deploy naval mines in the strait to further disrupt the crucial shipping lane.

Trump wrote on Truth Social:

If Iran has put out any mines in the Hormuz Strait, and we have no reports of them doing so, we want them removed, IMMEDIATELY! If for any reason mines were placed, and they are not removed forthwith, the Military consequences to Iran will be at a level never seen before. If, on the other hand, they remove what may have been placed, it will be a giant step in the right direction!”

Tehran residents say the Iranian capital has endured what they described as its worst night of aerial bombardment, as the US defense secretary, Pete Hegseth, followed Donald Trump’s suggestion on Monday the war could soon be over with a warning of more strikes to come, writes William Christou in Beirut, Deepa Parent and Hannah Ellis-Petersen in Dubai.

“We are under heavy bombardment and I can hear back-to-back explosions. The place they hit has caught fire. It’s not clear where it exploded, but the buildings are shaking,” Niloufar, who lives in east Tehran said early on Tuesday, speaking under a pseudonym for security reasons. “They are destroying Iran,” they added, saying there were low-flying jets above.

Israel, which launched an air campaign against Iran with the US on 28 February, on Tuesday said it had hit a weapons development facility among a wave of strikes.

Other residents told the Guardian of rolling blackouts, and that much of Iran’s communications were down.

The World Health Organization has urged Iranians to stay inside, saying “black rain” falling after strikes on oil facilities could cause respiratory problems.

One Tehran resident described the city as “the last stop before hell”.

At least 1,245 civilians have been killed, including 194 children, by the US-Israeli war on Iran, according to the US-based Human Rights Activists in Iran group.

Israel will allocate a special budget of tens of billions of shekels for extra defence spending to finance the air war with Iran, prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu and finance minister Bezalel Smotrich said in a joint statement.

Smotrich said the cabinet was meeting on Tuesday night to approve the special war budget.

“This is not an expense, it’s an investment,” he said.

US asks Israel to stop strikes on Iran's energy infrastructure - report

The United States has asked Israel to halt strikes on Iran’s energy infrastructure, Axios reports, citing three sources familiar with the matter, marking the first time the US has reined in its ally since they went to war 11 days ago.

Washington sent the message at a senior political level and to IDF chief of staff Eyal Zamir, Axios reports, citing an Israeli official.

Per Axios’s report, the Trump administration gave three reasons for the request, including a goal to cooperate with Iran’s oil ‌sector after the war (as Trump has done with Venezuela); fears that the ⁠strikes would harm the ​Iranian public; and concerns that it could trigger ​massive Iranian retaliatory attacks on energy infrastructure across Gulf states.

It comes after an Israeli bombing of fuel storage facilities blanketed Tehran - a city home to some 10 million people - in toxic black smoke and acid rain over the weekend, raising urgent health warnings for ordinary Iranians.

Iran has appealed to to the United Nations to condemn the US and Israel for a “manifest environmental crime”.

Fire burns and smoke rises from Aqdasieh Oil Depot in Tehran after being hit by an Israeli strike on 7 March. Photograph: Social Media/Reuters

Karoline Leavitt also claimed that Americans will see oil and gas prices “drop rapidly” once the US military’s national security objectives are “fully achieved” in Iran.

The recent increase in oil and gas prices is temporary, and this operation will result in lower gas prices in the long term.

Asked how long the US-Israeli war on Iran will last, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt echoed Donald Trump’s comments that the operation is ahead of schedule, but added that the war will not end until Iran’s “complete and unconditional surrender, whether they say it or not”.

Trump will be the one to determine when Iran does not pose a direct threat, she added.

US Navy has not escorted a vessel through strait of Hormuz, White House confirms

Karoline Leavitt was also just asked why Trump’s energy secretary earlier claimed that the US Navy had escorted an oil tanker through the strait of Hormuz “to ensure oil remains flowing to global markets”, before deleting the X post a few minutes later.

She replied:

I know the post was taken down pretty quickly, and I can confirm that the US Navy has not escorted a tanker or a vessel at this time, though of course that’s an option the president has said he will absolutely utilize if and when necessary at the appropriate time.

US military 'drawing up additional options' to keep strait of Hormuz open, says White House

Karoline Leavitt said that Donald Trump is committed to allowing the free flow of oil through the strait of Hormuz, and reiterated that the US president has offered for the navy “to escort tankers when necessary”.

“The US military is drawing up additional options following the president’s directive to continue keeping the strait of Hormuz open,” Leavitt said.

I will not broadcast what those options look like, but just know the president is not afraid to use them.

White House says US military moving to 'dismantle Iran's missile production infrastructure'

At the White House briefing, Donald Trump’s press secretary Karoline Leavitt has told reporters that the United States is “making tremendous strides towards achieving our military objectives”.

More than 5,000 enemy targets have been struck so far.

Iran’s ballistic missile attacks are down more than 90%, and their drone attacks are down by approximately 85%.

She said the US military is now moving to “dismantle Iran’s missile production infrastructure”.

Our incredible B-2 bombers recently dropped dozens of 2,000-pound penetrator bombs on deeply buried missile sites.

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt briefs the media on Tuesday. Photograph: Alex Brandon/AP