Three American service members have been killed and five seriously wounded in what US Central Command confirmed as the first combat fatalities of Operation Epic Fury, as the conflict between the United States, Israel and Iran escalated dramatically on its second day. Iranian state media officially confirmed the death of Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei in the joint US-Israeli strikes, while the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps launched retaliatory attacks on 27 military bases across the Middle East where US troops are deployed, as well as Israeli military installations in Tel Aviv and other locations.
The death toll across the region continued to climb throughout the day. According to the Iranian Red Crescent Society, at least 201 people have been killed and 747 injured in Iran, with the deadliest single incident being an airstrike on an elementary girls school in the southeastern city of Minab that killed at least 148 people and injured 95 others. In Israel, nine people were killed and 121 injured, with the most devastating attack being an Iranian ballistic missile that struck a residential area in Beit Shemesh, destroying a synagogue and leaving 11 people still unaccounted for. A woman in Tel Aviv was also killed by falling shrapnel as Iranian missiles struck residential blocks.
The regional impact extended far beyond Iran and Israel. Three people were killed and 58 injured in the United Arab Emirates, two were killed and five wounded in Iraq, one person died and 32 were injured in Kuwait, while 16 people were hurt in Qatar and four in Bahrain. In a major escalation with global economic implications, the IRGC announced the closure of the Strait of Hormuz to all shipping traffic, a move that threatens to disrupt approximately 20 percent of the global oil supply that transits through the narrow waterway daily.
President Trump told CNBC that the military operation is moving ahead of schedule and claimed that 48 Iranian leaders had been killed in the strikes. The US military stated it had sunk nine Iranian naval vessels and largely destroyed their naval headquarters. B-2 stealth bombers armed with 2,000-pound bombs struck Iranian ballistic missile production facilities, while CIA intelligence reportedly tracked Khamenei's location for months before identifying a Saturday morning meeting he planned to attend. The IRGC claimed to have struck the USS Abraham Lincoln aircraft carrier with four ballistic missiles, though US Central Command dismissed this as false, stating the missiles did not come close to the vessel, which continues normal operations.
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi announced that Iran has begun the procedure for the Assembly of Experts to elect a new supreme leader, with a temporary leadership council formed under Ali Larijani to manage the transition. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warned that strikes on Iran will increase even more in the coming days, signalling that the military campaign is far from over. The United Nations Secretary General condemned both the US-Israeli attacks and the Iranian retaliation, calling for an immediate return to negotiations. French President Emmanuel Macron called an emergency session of the UN Security Council.
OPEC Plus moved to stabilise global oil markets by announcing a 206,000 barrel-per-day production increase for April. An additional 1,579 flights were cancelled on the second day of the conflict, with Dubai International Airport losing 70 percent of its operations. OPEC Plus members expressed deep concern about the closure of the Strait of Hormuz and its potential to trigger a global energy crisis. The situation remains highly fluid, with active military operations continuing and diplomatic efforts intensifying at the United Nations as the international community scrambles to prevent further escalation.
Comments