While Donald Trump called Iranian leaders “deranged scumbags” and declared the regime effectively finished on Friday, global stock markets staged a modest recovery after steep drops the previous day. Oil prices also fell slightly as investors tried to assess whether the massive Kharg Island strikes would prove decisive in the conflict. Trump announced late Friday that US Central Command had completely obliterated every military installation on the island, Iran’s primary oil export hub, calling it one of the most powerful bombing raids in Middle Eastern history.
The market reaction reflected deep uncertainty about the conflict’s trajectory. Iran’s effective blockade of the Strait of Hormuz, through which roughly one-fifth of global oil and gas supplies travel, remains the most direct economic threat of the war. Trump warned that he would immediately strike Kharg Island’s oil infrastructure if the disruption of shipping continued, a move that could dramatically reduce global oil supply and send prices soaring. European nations, reportedly including France, have opened diplomatic back-channels with Tehran seeking guaranteed safe passage for commercial vessels.
US and Israeli forces have combined to strike more than 15,000 enemy targets since the conflict began, at more than 1,000 per day. Israel alone confirmed over 200 strikes in the most recent 24 hours, targeting Iranian missile launchers, weapons production sites, and air defences. Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth described Iran’s new supreme leader Mojtaba Khamenei as wounded and disfigured, hiding underground and communicating only through written statements. He called Iranian leaders desperate and said they had nowhere left to run.
The human cost of the war continued to mount across the region. Iran has reported over 1,300 deaths since the conflict began with Israel’s killing of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Lebanon has seen over 600 killed and 800,000 displaced. Israeli strikes killed eight more in Sidon on Friday. Hezbollah injured about 60 Israelis in rocket salvoes at northern Israel. Saudi Arabia intercepted close to 50 Iranian drones. Qatar issued Doha evacuation orders before a missile interception. Two died in Oman in drone crashes. Dubai’s financial district sustained damage.
Tehran residents described another devastating day of constant explosions, power cuts, and fuel shortages. A shopkeeper counted six explosions in one hour. A retired professor pleaded for international intervention. Iran’s Revolutionary Guards launched new coordinated strikes on Israel with Hezbollah. The United States has lost 13 service members, including six in a tanker aircraft crash in Iraq. France lost one soldier in Iraq to a militia drone. Trump’s vow to keep striking harder was matched by Iran’s apparent determination to keep fighting, with no diplomatic solution in sight.
