WASHINGTON: The US launched a massive 900-kg bunker buster bomb at an ammunition storage facility in Isfahan, a city home to one of Iran’s main nuclear sites, while Tehran retaliated with a strike on an oil refinery in Israel.
On the diplomatic front, US President Donald Trump reportedly told his aides he was willing to end the war without reopening the strategically important Strait of Hormuz. This came even as Iran refused to yield to Trump’s threats demanding the reopening of the strait, asserting that “ships would be allowed passage only in compliance with measures it had laid down”.
Iran has declined to unblock the waterway despite repeated warnings from Trump. The US President and his aides reportedly concluded that any operation to reopen the chokepoint would likely prolong the conflict beyond his preferred four-to-six-week timeline, according to a report in The Wall Street Journal. The Iranian Embassy in India released what it described as a “fact sheet on legal and proportionate measures” concerning passage through the Strait of Hormuz. It stated that the Iranian government reserved the right to determine whether a vessel’s transit posed a threat and to prevent such passage if necessary. Tehran cited relevant UN laws to assert that the existing legal regime of “innocent passage” for ships stood suspended, with transit now subject to conditions set by Iran’s competent authorities.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio told Iran to abandon all weapon programmes and all nuclear ambitions. “And if they do that, then Iran’s future can be bright,” he said. This even as Israel and US Secretary of War Pete Hegseth, in separate statements, indicated that the US and Israel were ready for a long haul.
“The upcoming days will be decisive. Iran knows that and there’s almost nothing they can do militarily about it,” Hegseth told a news conference on Tuesday. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had earlier said the assault on Iran was “definitely beyond the halfway point”, later clarifying “he meant in terms of missions, and not necessarily in terms of time”.
Meanwhile, Trump chided his European allies for their lack of support. He lashed out at France for denying passage through its airspace for US planes carrying ammunition to Israel. “France has been very unhelpful with respect to the ‘Butcher of Iran’, who has been successfully eliminated. The US will remember this,” he wrote.
Trump also asked the UK to itself go to Hormuz for fuel. This even as reports from London suggested that King Charles was headed to the US. In a post on Truth Social, Trump said countries like the UK should build up “courage to go to the Strait of Hormuz to take fuel”. “You’ll have to start learning how to fight for yourself, the US won’t be there to help you anymore, just like you weren’t there for us,” Trump said as he criticised countries that “refused to get involved in the decapitation of Iran”. “Iran has been, essentially, decimated. The hard part is done. Go get your own oil!” said Trump while concluding his social media post.
Meanwhile, Italy joined France and barred US planes carrying weapons to stage through an airbase in Sicily. Spain had done the same on Sunday.