Iran remains unyielding, US pledges intensified airstrikes

A US Army photo taken on March 2, 2026, and released on March 13, 2026, by US Central Command Public Affairs, shows a M142 High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems conducting live-fire missions during “Operation Epic Fury” at an undisclosed location.

n

On March 13, 2026, Iranian officials led a pro-government rally in Tehran as explosions rocked the city, while the United States vowed to intensify strikes in the coming hours and days.

n

The hardline stances and renewed strikes by Israel and Iran indicate no let-up in the conflict engulfing the Middle East and affecting the global energy market.

n

AFP journalists in Tehran reported loud blasts over the city as Israel’s military said it had carried out 7,600 strikes in Iran since the war started on February 28, with most targeting the country’s missile programme.

n

US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth stated that the US military would bombard Iran more heavily on Friday than any other day so far in the war, and also said Iran’s new supreme leader, Mojtaba Khamenei, was “wounded and likely disfigured” in the attack that killed his father and predecessor Ali Khamenei.

n

President Donald Trump expressed that he viewed it “a great honour” to be killing Iran’s rulers, calling them “deranged scumbags”, and later said the United States would be hitting Iran hard over the next week.

n

Other Islamic republic officials walked in the open in Tehran with pro-government demonstrators who waved flags and brandished banners reading “Death to America” and “Death to Israel”.

n

Iran’s state media reported that at least one woman was killed when blasts hit an area near the demonstration, and Ali Larijani, secretary of the Supreme National Security Council, said “These attacks are out of fear, out of desperation”.

n

Larijani also stated “It’s clear that it (the enemy) has failed” in a speech broadcast on state TV, as President Masoud Pezeshkian and Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi attended the rally.

n

Iran launched a fresh salvo of missiles at Israel, and explosions were later heard on the outskirts of Tel Aviv, but Israeli paramedics reported no casualties.

n

A strike on the Israeli town of Zarzir wounded around 60 people, according to police, with AFP images showing burnt-out vehicles and craters in the ground.

n

Iran continued launches of drone and missile strikes against neighbouring states hosting US military assets, and Saudi Arabia’s defence ministry said its forces had intercepted dozens of drones.

n

An AFP journalist reported an explosion heard over Dubai that rattled buildings, and Turkey said NATO forces shot down a ballistic missile launched from Iran — the third such interception in the war.

n

The conflict has sparked chaos in global markets and sent oil prices soaring, with Iran’s Revolutionary Guards closing the Gulf’s strategic Strait of Hormuz through which 20 percent of global oil supplies pass.

n

Oil stayed at over $100 a barrel on Friday, leaving markets and governments skittish about the consequences of higher inflation, as a sailor stuck on one of the ships unable to pass through the strait expressed concerns about safety.

n

The US government stated that the US Navy would likely not be able to escort ships through the strait until the end of the month, and the White House and Pentagon criticized CNN for a report suggesting that Washington had underestimated Iran’s ability to disrupt oil traffic.

n

Within Iran, the Revolutionary Guards have warned of an even stronger response to any anti-government protests, after ones in January in which several thousand people were killed, and Iranian authorities have maintained an internet blackout since the war started.

n

Iranians speaking to AFP under cover of anonymity described a grim picture of cities in ruins and cash running short, with one 30-year-old woman in Kermanshah saying “Bread is now rationed” and the population is extremely tense and outraged.

n

Another woman in the city said “countless” people from Tehran had come to seek refuge from the airstrikes, adding to demand for food and scarce medicine, with prices “nearly doubling”.

n

The UN refugee agency has estimated that up to 3.2 million people have been displaced inside Iran since the war started, and Iran’s health ministry said on March 8 that more than 1,200 people have been killed.

n

The US military has lost 13 personnel since the war started, including all six members of a refuelling aircraft that crashed in Iraq, and Pentagon chief Hegseth said the US and Israel have so far struck more than 15,000 targets.

n

President Emmanuel Macron announced the death of France’s first soldier in an attack in the Erbil region of Iraq, and the conflict has also battered Lebanon, with authorities reporting at least 687 people killed by Israeli attacks.

n

Israel’s military said it has conducted 1,100 strikes in Lebanon, including 200 that hit “missile and launcher targets” and 35 command-and-control sites of the Iran-backed Hezbollah armed group, and said it had killed more than 380 members of Hezbollah.

n

UN chief Antonio Guterres called on Israel and Hezbollah to “stop the war” at the start of a visit to Beirut.