DUBAI: The ongoing American-Israeli war with Iran, for all its complexity and global effects, boils down to a single question: Who can take the pain the longest? A surge in oil prices points to what may be Iran's most effective weapon and the United States' biggest vulnerability in continuing the campaign: Damaging the world economy.
Wednesday's major developments include Iranian attacks against commercial ships around the Strait of Hormuz and Dubai International Airport, escalating a campaign of squeezing the oil-rich Gulf region as global energy concerns mount.
The US campaign of airstrikes in Iran is now in its 12th day with no end in sight. A US commander says artificial intelligence has helped the military hit more than 5,500 targets in the country. An Israeli intelligence assessment also indicates that Iran's new supreme leader, Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei, was wounded at the start of the war.
Witnesses in Tehran said they heard loud airstrikes and heavy anti-aircraft fire Wednesday, and columns of smoke made the sky overcast as a layer of gray dust settled over the city. The air is filled with the distinctive smell of burnt powder and gasoline. They spoke on condition of anonymity to avoid reprisal.
The Israeli military is also striking Iran and its militant ally Hezbollah in Lebanon, where more than 800,000 people have been displaced by the fighting.
The president said that after the strikes with Israel last summer on Iran's nuclear program: “We obliterated it. They don't have nuclear potential.”
But, Trump said, without offering specifics, that Iran “started again.”
“That's why we got to finish it, right? We don't want to go back every two years.”
Trump, along with others in his administration, have said as they justified the strikes on Iran that the country was weeks away from a nuclear weapon despite claiming last summer's strikes had destroyed the program.
Speaking at an event in Kentucky, the president said the U.S. has won the war in Iran but isn't ready to end it.
“We don't want to leave early, do we? We've got to finish the job,” the president said.
He said the U.S. knocked out 58 naval ships and eliminated Iran's air force.
“You never like to say too early, We won,'” he said. “We won.”
Iran's U.N. Ambassador Amir Saeid Iravani said the resolution adopted by the Security Council on Wednesday, which does not mention that U.S. and Israeli strikes launched the war, “deliberately ignores the root causes of the current crisis.”
“The very purpose of this biased and politically motivated text, which was pushed by Israeli regime and the United States, is clear: to reverse the roles and positions of victim and aggressor,” Iravani told the 15-member council.
During an interview Wednesday with WKRC Local 12 in Cincinnati, Trump was asked about tapping the reserve and said, “Well, we'll do that and then we'll fill it up.”
He added, “Right now we'll reduce it a little bit, and that brings the prices down.” He didn't specify how many barrels of oil the U.S. would release.
Trump frequently criticized the administration of former President Joe Biden for tapping the reserve to try and bring down gas prices.
The Russian proposal failed to reach the nine votes needed to pass.
The one-page text makes no mention of Iran, Israel, the U.S. or the Gulf states all countries involved in the conflict but simply urges military activities to cease. It also condemns attacks on civilians and civilian infrastructure.
Russia, China, Pakistan and Somalia were the only countries that supported the draft resolution. Other nations called it hypocritical for Russia to call for end of hostilities despite its own war with Ukraine.
Vassily Nebenzia, Russia's U.N. ambassador, had urged its adoption calling it “an impartial document” aimed at “de-escalating the situation.”
Even before the Iranian ambassador got to speak, Mike Waltz, the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, said Tehran's diplomat would present lies during the Security Council session on its actions in the region.
Waltz said Iran's repeated claims that it is only targets U.S. military bases in the Gulf is a lie.
“These attacks were so brutal and so indiscriminate, as Iran shoots in all directions, that nations that previously had serious disagreements have now joined together,” he said. “They've now spoken as one voice.”
Simultaneous blasts rocked the Lebanese capital's densely populated southern suburbs an area known as Dahiyeh where large fires and plumes of smoke could be seen Wednesday evening.
The Israeli military said it would respond aggressively after Hezbollah fired dozens of rockets at the same time into northern Israel, in one of the largest attacks in the current conflict. Israel struck what it said was infrastructure belonging to the militant group.
The exchange marks an apparent escalation in the past week of fighting, which has killed more than 600 people in Lebanon and displaced about 800,000 others in the small country.
After abstaining from the UN Security Council resolution that demanded a halt to Iran's attack on Gulf countries, the Chinese and Russian ambassadors defended their position, saying that the Bahrain proposal was “extremely unbalanced” in not mentioning the strikes against Tehran that began this war.
“It muddies up the cause and effect. And if someone who is not well-versed in international affairs reads this then this person will be left with the impression that Tehran, on its own volition, and out of malice, conducted an unprovoked attack on Arab states,” Russia's UN Ambassador Vassily Nebenzia said during a Security Council session Wednesday.
Both Nebenzia and China's U.N. envoy Fu Cong said they attempted to negotiate with Bahrain and the US to include the initial strikes from Israel and the U.S. on Feb. 28 that launched the war, but the final resolution text ended up “unbalanced.”
“We're basically talking about weeks, and not months, of supply,” said Bruce Bullock, director of the Maguire Energy Institute at Southern Methodist University.
Bullock said the 400 million barrels of crude oil are meant as a short-term bridge while markets wait to see how the war unfolds. If the conflict drags on or the Strait of Hormuz stays blocked, reserves may need to be released more slowly, he said.
But if the war ends soon, he added, the extra supply could trigger a sharp drop in oil prices.
Even as leaders in Iran say it's “not possible” for the country to participate in this year's World Cup, the U.S. president is indicating Iran's team is still welcome in the United States.
Trump met privately with soccer chief Gianni Infantino on Tuesday at the White House, according to the FIFA president's Instagram account.
During the meeting, Trump “reiterated that the Iranian team is, of course, welcome to compete in the tournament in the United States,” Infantino wrote in the Instagram post.
A White House official, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss private conversations, confirmed Trump's message to Infantino about Iran's participation.
Since June, Iran has been subject to a travel ban into the U.S. as part of the Trump administration's immigration crackdown. But athletes and coaches from the target nations are exempt, which means the Iranian team would be allowed in.
The U.S. is hosting the tournament with Canada and Mexico from June 11 to July 19.