Live Updates En español: guerra con Irán
With jets overhead, CNN's crew forced to seek safety in Tehran
• Focus on strait: The US military said it destroyed Iranian naval ships — including 16 minelayers — near the Strait of Hormuz. Sources told CNN earlier that Tehran has begun laying mines in the waterway, the world’s most important energy chokepoint, through which about one-fifth of all crude oil travels.
• Tehran airport: Video geolocated by CNN shows explosions coming from the direction of Tehran’s Mehrabad International Airport. This comes as the Israeli military said it had begun a new wave of strikes on Tehran in the early hours of Wednesday.
• Baghdad target: A suspected Iranian drone hit a US diplomatic facility in Iraq on Tuesday, two sources told CNN. Iran has been targeting US military and diplomatic installations as it retaliates against ongoing US and Israeli military operations.
• “Most intense”: Iran’s revolutionary guards claimed they launched their “most intense and heaviest operation” since the start of the war, state media reported.
A container vessel has sustained damage off the north coast of the United Arab Emirates, according to UK Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO).
The incident was caused by a “suspected but unknown projectile” and the extent of the damage is “under investigation by the crew,” UKMTO said in a report Wednesday.
The vessel was located northwest of the UAE’s Ras Al Khaimah and all crew members are safe and accounted for, the UKMTO added.
Video geolocated by CNN shows explosions coming from the direction of Tehran’s Mehrabad International Airport.
In the video, which was posted to social media Wednesday morning local time, several large explosions can be heard and a large orange flash can be seen.
It comes as the Israeli military said it had begun a new wave of strikes on Tehran in the early hours of Wednesday.
Sen. Chris Murphy called the Trump administration’s Iran war plans “incoherent and incomplete” and said he worries the conflict could turn into an “endless war” after attending a two-hour classified briefing on Capitol Hill today.
Murphy, who is among many Senate Democrats pushing for public hearings on the war, said he couldn’t disclose classified information, but he shared several concerns coming out of the briefing.
“Maybe the lead is that the war goals DO NOT involve destroying Iran’s nuclear weapons program. This is, uh…surprising…since Trump says over and over this is a key goal,” Murphy said.
Murphy, who sits on the Appropriations and Foreign Relations Committees, said the briefers confirmed to the senators that regime change is also not on the list of key goals for the administration.
“So, they are going to spend hundreds of billions of your taxpayer dollars, get a whole bunch of Americans killed, and a hardline regime - probably a MORE anti-American hardline regime - will still be in charge,” Murphy posted.
CNN has reached out to the White House for comment.
“The question that stumped them: what happens when you stop bombing and they restart production?” Murphy said. “They hinted at more bombing. Which is, of course, endless war.”
Murphy also was not satisfied with the briefing on the subject of the Strait of Hormuz — the world’s most important energy chokepoint that carries about one-fifth of all crude oil and is now effectively controlled by Iran.
“They had NO PLAN,” Murphy said. “I can’t go into more detail about how Iran gums up the Strait, but suffice it say, right now, they don’t know how to get it safely back open. Which is unforgiveable, because this part of the disaster was 100% foreseeable.”
Background: CNN reported earlier today that Iran has begun laying mines in the strait, according to two people familiar with US intelligence reporting on the issue.
The US military said today that it has destroyed 16 Iranian mine-laying vessels near the strait.
Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) said it launched its “most intense and heaviest operation” since the start of the war, according to state media.
Iran claimed its overnight attack involved missile launches, including its long-range ballistic Khorramshahr missile, against targets in Israel and at US assets in the region, Iran’s state broadcaster IRIB reported.
At a Pentagon briefing on Tuesday, US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said the US will not relent until “the enemy is totally and decisively defeated,” adding that this will be done on the United States’ timeline.
There were sirens in central Israel on Wednesday morning, after the Israel Defense Forces warned of missile launches from Iran. No injuries were reported.
US oil and gas are in high demand overseas right now, as Asian nations that rely heavily on Middle Eastern energy imports look for alternative sources of supply.
According to Argus Media, a market pricing firm, prices for US light sweet crude for delivery in Asia have spiked 47% to $115 a barrel since the US and Israel launched their initial attack on Iran. Meanwhile, freight rates for US liquefied natural gas, or LNG, have more than quadrupled and at least four cargoes of US LNG have been diverted away from Europe and toward Asia.
Though Japanese refiners have bought up to 9 million barrels of US crude for June arrival since the war started, other Asian buyers have been reluctant to pay such high premiums and are waiting to see if the situation improves, said Fabian Ng, head of crude pricing in Asia for Argus.
But around the Strait of Hormuz, through which about 80% of Asian fuel supplies transit, the conflict has been escalating. The US military said it destroyed 16 Iranian minelayers near the critical energy passageway Tuesday. On social media, President Donald Trump warned Iran of consequences for laying mines in the strait.
As the war has choked off a primary source of energy for many countries in Asia, some like Indonesia and Pakistan have been forced to rely reserves that may only last a few weeks. And as demand spikes, the US does not have the production capacity to make up for the global shortfall in oil and gas from the Middle East, said analysts at research firm Energy Aspects.
“Most Asian buyers are resorting to storage, fuel-switching and some industrial demand curtailment to offset lost LNG,” said Livia Gallarati, Energy Aspects’ head of global gas.
Gulf states have been intercepting new waves of Iranian drones and missiles early Wednesday local time.
Israel began a second wave of strikes in the Iranian capital, Tehran, and is also striking a suburb of Beirut in Lebanon, its military said.
In an earlier wave Tuesday, Israel said it struck Tehran and the city of Tabriz in Iran, hitting “central command centers where Iranian terror regime operatives were located.”
Here’s what else you should know:
- Baghdad strikes: A suspected Iranian drone hit a US diplomatic facility in Iraq Tuesday, two sources told CNN. It struck the Baghdad Diplomatic Support Center — a large logistical and operational support hub located near the Baghdad airport.
- Destroyed naval ships: The US military said it destroyed multiple Iranian naval ships — including 16 minelayers — near the Strait of Hormuz on Tuesday. CNN reported earlier, citing sources familiar, that Tehran has begun laying mines in the waterway, the world’s most important energy chokepoint that carries about one-fifth of all crude oil,.
- North Korea weighs in: North Korea criticized the United States and Israel over their attacks on Iran and said it respects Tehran’s right to select a new supreme leader.
- Humanitarian visas: Two more members of the Iranian football team were granted humanitarian visas in Australia before the rest of the team departed Sydney late Tuesday, Home Affairs Tony Burke confirmed Wednesday. That takes the total number of visas granted to 7 – including six players and a member of the Iranian support team.
CNN’s Erin Burnett and Jeremy Diamond take shelter in Tel Aviv as missile sirens ring out while discussing their experience with Fred Pleitgen in Tehran.
Erin Burnett and Jeremy Diamond take shelter in Tel Aviv as missile sirens ring out
