WASHINGTON - Israel early Wednesday launched new attacks on Iran as the US military said it has hit nearly 2,000 targets inside the Islamic republic, which tried to impose a cost by expanding a missile and drone barrage across the region.
With global energy prices on the rise, President Donald Trump said the US Navy was ready to escort oil tankers through the Strait of Hormuz, the vital chokepoint into the Gulf that Iran has threatened to seal off.
Israel's military said it launched a "broad wave of strikes" after midnight across Iran, which in the hours before had launched three separate missile barrages at Israel, causing mild injuries to a woman in Tel Aviv.
The US military has hit nearly 2,000 targets since attacking Iran alongside Israel on Saturday, targeting ballistic missiles and "all the things that can shoot at us", said Admiral Brad Cooper, commander of US Central Command.
"These forces bring a massive amount of firepower, representing the largest buildup by the US in the Middle East in a generation," he said in a video message, describing the first day's barrage as bigger than the so-called "shock and awe" against Saddam Hussein's Iraq in 2003.
The US and Israeli attacks have killed 787 people in Iran, according to the Iranian Red Crescent, a toll that could not be independently confirmed by AFP.
Iran vowed to inflict a heavy price in retaliation. Drones struck adjacent the US consulate in Dubai, starting a fire but inflicting no casualties, and against the US military base at Al-Udeid in Qatar.
The attacks came a day after strikes on the US embassies in Riyadh and Kuwait City and on a US air base in Bahrain.
"We are saying to the enemy that if it decides to hit our main centres, we will hit all economic centres in the region," Islamic Revolutionary Guard General Ebrahim Jabbari said.
The United States and Israel launched the attack on Saturday and quickly killed Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, two days after US envoys had been speaking to Iran in Geneva on a nuclear accord.
Trump insisted that Iran wanted to resume talks but it was "too late".
He also walked back a statement the day before from Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who said the US attack's timing was precipitated by Israel's plans.
"If anything, I might have forced Israel's hand," Trump said as he met German Chancellor Friedrich Merz at the White House.
Trump boasted that "just about everything's been knocked out" in Iran, including its navy, air force and air detection, and said the attacks had killed even leaders who could have taken over.
"Most of the people we had in mind are dead," Trump said. "Now we have another group. They may be dead also, based on reports."
According to Iranian media, US and Israeli strikes targeted a building on Tuesday in the holy city of Qom belonging to the committee that is to elect a new supreme leader. The Tasnim news agency reported that strikes had already targeted the body's main headquarters in Tehran the day before.
Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu have urged Iranians to rise up but Trump said regime change was not the goal.
The assault came weeks after Iranian authorities clamped down on mass protests, killing thousands.
The regional war also took a growing toll on Lebanon, where Hezbollah, the armed Shiite Muslim movement that long had Tehran as a benefactor, launched drones and rockets at Israel in retaliation for Khamenei's slaying.
Hezbollah said it targeted the Israeli naval base in the northern city of Haifa and Israel said it struck Beirut's heavily Shiite southern suburbs. Loud explosions were heard early Wednesday.
Israeli strikes have killed at least 52 people in Lebanon, according to the government, while the United Nations said that more than 30,000 people were displaced.
In a throwback to earlier wars, Israel said it was moving troops across the border to create a buffer zone inside Lebanon.