US launches biggest strikes yet on Iran as Pentagon says military weaker than expected

Iran is fighting back but is not tougher than the US military expected before the war, the top US general has told reporters, as the Pentagon promised its most intense day of strikes in the 10-day-old conflict.

As Iran’s Revolutionary Guards threaten to block oil shipments from the Gulf, the Pentagon renewed threats to hit Iran harder unless shipments can flow through the Strait of Hormuz off Iran’s coast and said it was striking Iranian mine-laying vessels and mine storage facilities.

“Today will be yet again, our most intense day of strikes inside Iran: the most fighters, the most bombers, the most strikes, intelligence more refined and better than ever,” US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth told a Pentagon briefing.

The Pentagon says the number of Iranian strikes has fallen sharply from the start of the war, as the Pentagon bombs Iran’s weapons inventories and targets Iran’s more limited number of missile launchers.

Asked if Iran was a stronger adversary than he expected when the US military drew up its war plans, General Dan Caine, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told reporters the fight was not harder than expected.

“I think they’re fighting, and I respect that, but I don’t think they are more formidable than what we thought,” General Caine told the Pentagon briefing.

“(US Central Command) continues today to hunt and strike mine-laying vessels and mine storage facilities,” General Caine told reporters.

US President Donald Trump said on March 3 that the US would provide protection through the Strait for oil tankers but the Pentagon has yet to announce any plan to do that while fighting rages.

The US military has started looking at ways to potentially escort ships through the Strait of Hormuz, should it be ordered to do so, General Caine said.

“We’re looking at a range of options there,” General Caine told reporters.

Still, Mr Hegseth echoed Mr Trump’s threats to heavily strike Iran if it shuts down the critical waterway, saying “death, fire, and fury will rain upon them”.

But the war has already effectively halted shipments through the Strait, where a fifth of global oil and liquefied natural gas normally passes along Iran’s coast, and Middle East oil producers have run out of storage and stopped pumping.

The Strait of Hormuz will either be a strait of peace and prosperity for all or a strait of defeat and suffering for “warmongers,” Iranian security chief Ali Larijani said in a post on X on Tuesday.

Iran launched new attacks on Tuesday at Israel and Gulf Arab countries as it kept up pressure in the war started by Israel and the US.

In Bahrain, authorities said an Iranian attack hit a residential building in the capital Manama, killing a 29-year-old woman and wounding eight people.

Saudi Arabia said it destroyed two drones over its oil-rich eastern region and Kuwait’s National Guard said it shot down six drones.

In the United Arab Emirates, firefighters battled a blaze in the industrial city of Ruwais - home to petrochemical plants - after an Iranian drone strike, officials said.

No injuries were reported.

Sirens also sounded in Jerusalem, and sounds of explosions could be heard in Tel Aviv as Israel’s defence systems worked to intercept barrages from Iran.

Mr Hegseth said the United States was focused on striking Iranian military capabilities, and stressed the war would not be like the years-long conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan.

On Saturday, Mr Trump said Iran would be “hit very hard” and that the country was already “being beat to hell” by ongoing US and Israeli attacks.

So far, the United States has carried out strikes against more than 5000 targets since the war began on February 28, destroying or damaging more than 50 Iranian naval vessels, General Caine said.

“We will not relent until the enemy is totally and decisively defeated. But we do so ... on our timeline,” Hegseth said.

with DPA and AP