IRGC says its only focus is at enemy's 'complete surrender'

TEHRAN: Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) said on Wednesday it will continue striking Israeli and US bases across the Middle East until it perceives the threat of war against Iran has ended.

“We only think of the enemy's complete surrender," the IRGC said in a statement on its official outlet, Sepah News. The IRGC claimed that its 38th wave of attacks late Tuesday hit the US Al-Udairi base in Kuwait, sending more than 100 troops to nearby hospitals.

The IRGC also claimed missile and drone strikes on US naval infrastructure at Mina Salman port in Bahrain, home to the US Fifth Fleet, as well as attacks on Kuwait's Ali Al-Salem Air Base and Mohammed Al-Ahmad Naval Base.

Earlier on Tuesday, the IRGC said it targeted a satellite communications centre south of Tel Aviv and military sites in Beer Yaakov, West Jerusalem, and Haifa with Khorramshahr missiles. It also claimed attacks on several US positions in Erbil, Iraq.

Separately, Iran's army reported early on Wednesday drone strikes on Israeli Military Intelligence, the Unit 8200 cyber division, a Green Pine radar installation, and a submarine command center at Haifa's naval base.

The flare-up follows joint US-Israeli strikes on Tehran and other Iranian cities on February 28, which killed former Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei and senior military commanders. In response, Iran has carried out repeated missile and drone attacks on US and Israeli targets in the region.

In the latest strike on Iranian soil, Bank Sepah, a major bank in Iran, said a US-Israeli missile hit one of its Tehran buildings around 1am local time Wednesday, injuring and killing employees on the overnight shift. State broadcaster IRIB confirmed the attack but did not provide casualty figures.

The Khatam al-Anbiya Central Headquarters--Iran's primary military command--warned the strike would prompt retaliation, saying the attack on a bank "freed" Iran to target US and Israeli financial institutions across the region.

The Military spokesman Ebrahim Zolfaghari urged civilians to stay at least one kilometre away from such facilities. 

Trump says Iran war will end ‘soon’ as there is ‘practically nothing left to target’

US President Donald Trump has said the war with Iran will end "soon" because there is "practically nothing left to target." "Little this and that... Any time I want it to end, it will end," he said during a five-minute phone interview with Axios on Wednesday.

Even as Trump publicly signals his 'Operation Epic Fury' has largely accomplished its objectives, US and Israeli officials say there has been no internal directive on when fighting might stop.

IRGC hits two vessels attempting to navigate Strait of Hormuz

Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) said on Wednesday that they struck two vessels after they ignored warnings from the IRGC Navy and attempted to navigate the strategic Strait of Hormuz.

“The vessel ‘Expres Room’, owned by the Zionist regime, flying the Liberian flag, was struck with Iranian projectiles this morning after ignoring warnings from the IRGC Navy,” the IRGC said in a statement posted on X handle ‘True Promise,' the codenamed Iran has given to its retaliatory operation against the US-Israel attacks in the Islamic republic.

“The container ship ‘Mayuree Naree Bangkok’ was also struck a few hours earlier after ignoring alerts and warnings from the IRGC Navy and illegally insisting on passing through the Strait of Hormuz,” the Guards further claimed.

“We will not allow even a single litre of oil to pass through the Strait of Hormuz for the benefit of the US, the Zionist regime or their partners,” it added.

In a separate post, the Iranian forces claimed to have delivered "a devastating blow" to the Israeli military intelligence directorate.

"The Iranian army attacked with drones this morning, hitting various targets in the occupied territories, including the military intelligence directorate, known as AMAN, Unit 8200, the Green Pine radar, as well as the submarine headquarters building at the naval base in Haifa," it added.

Earlier, Iran's military command said the world should be prepared for oil to hit $200 a barrel, as three more ships came under attack in the blockaded Gulf.

Iran fired at Israel and targets ​across the Middle East, demonstrating it could still fight back and disrupt energy supplies despite what the Pentagon has described as the most intense US-Israeli strikes yet.

Oil prices that shot ‌up earlier this week have eased, and stock markets have rebounded, with investors betting for now that US President Donald Trump will find a quick way to end the war he began alongside Israel nearly two weeks ago.

But so far, there has been no let-up on the ground or any sign that ships can safely sail through the Starit of Hormuz, where a fifth of the world's oil has been blockaded behind a narrow channel along the Iranian coast in the worst disruption to energy supplies since the oil shocks of the 1970s.

"Get ready ​for oil to be $200 a barrel, because the oil price depends on regional security which you have destabilised," Ebrahim Zolfaqari, spokesperson for Iran's military command, said in comments addressed to the US.

After offices of a ​bank in Tehran were hit overnight, Zolfaqari also said Iran would respond with attacks on banks that do business with the United States or Israel. People across the Middle ⁠East should stay 1,000 metres from banks, he added.

A senior Israeli official told Reuters Israeli leaders now privately accept that Iran's ruling system could survive the war. Two other Israeli officials said there was no sign Washington was close ​to ending the campaign.

IRGC identifies Google, Microsoft, Palantir, IBM, Nvidia and Oracle as new targets

The IRGC-affiliated Tasnim news agency has released a list of offices and infrastructure run by top US companies with Israeli links whose technology has been used for military applications, describing them as “Iran’s new targets”.

“As the scope of the regional war expands to infrastructure war, the scope of Iran’s legitimate targets expands,” it said.

The companies include Google, Microsoft, Palantir, IBM, Nvidia and Oracle, and the listed offices and infrastructure for cloud-based services are located in multiple Israeli cities, as well as in some Gulf countries.

Iran's Araghchi urges UN chief to condemn aggression

Iran's Foreign Minister Seyed Abbas Araghchi held a telephone conversation with UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres in which they “discussed and exchanged views regarding the latest developments following the attack and aggression of the US and Israeli regime against Iran,” the Islamic Republic’s Foreign Ministry wrote on X.

Araghchi discussed what the ministry termed “the various dimensions of the aggressive attack and American-Zionist war crimes,” noting that schools, hospitals, residential areas, as well as historical sites, have been targeted. These actions, the Iranian foreign minister said, “constitute a clear violation of international law and the fundamental principles of humanitarian law.”