Iran Refuses to Back Down Until US Apologizes for 'Catastrophic Error' - Top Security Official

A dramatic scene unfolded at the Repsol oil refinery in A Coruna, northwestern Spain, on March 11, 2026, as gas flares were captured in a photograph, a stark reminder of the turmoil in global energy markets.

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The US-Israeli conflict with Iran has had far-reaching consequences, extending beyond the Gulf and severely disrupting international energy trade, with the Strait of Hormuz, a crucial waterway through which a fifth of the world's crude oil passes, experiencing virtually all traffic coming to a halt.

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In response to the crisis, the 32 member countries of the International Energy Agency (IEA) have taken the unprecedented step of releasing 400 million barrels of oil from their reserves, the largest such release in history, in an effort to mitigate the impact of the war in the Middle East.

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Iranian security chief Ali Larijani issued a defiant statement on Thursday, vowing that his country would not back down from the fight until the United States regretted its decision to launch a war against the Islamic republic.

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US President Donald Trump has expressed his desire for a swift victory, but Larijani cautioned that winning a war cannot be achieved through simple tweets, saying "we will not relent until making you sorry for this grave miscalculation," in a message posted on X.