US destroys 16 Iranian mine boats as Strait of Hormuz oil showdown escalates

U.S. forces destroyed 16 Iranian mine-laying vessels near the Strait of Hormuz Tuesday, U.S. Central Command said, in what officials described as a move to prevent Iran from disrupting one of the world’s most critical maritime choke points.

The strikes come as oil traffic through the strait remains at a near standstill, threatening a corridor that carries roughly 20 million barrels per day — about one-fifth of global consumption — and squeezing Gulf exporters like Iraq and Kuwait that rely on the narrow passage to ship their primary source of revenue.

Prior to taking out the mining vessels, Trump demanded Iran remove them “IMMEDIATELY!” warning that if it doesn’t, “the Military consequences to Iran will be at a level never seen before.”

U.S. officials have long warned that Iran maintains a significant naval mine inventory and has rehearsed tactics designed to threaten commercial shipping in the Gulf. The destruction of the vessels appears aimed at stopping any potential deployment before mines could be laid in shipping lanes.

US SIGNALS READINESS TO ESCORT TANKERS THROUGH HORMUZ AS TRAFFIC THINS, BUT NO MISSION HAS BEEN LAUNCHED

The Strait of Hormuz, bordered by Iran to the north and Oman and the United Arab Emirates to the south, is a critical artery for global energy markets. Even the threat of mining operations can further disrupt traffic and spike insurance and shipping costs.

It was not immediately clear whether any mines had already been placed in the water before the U.S. action. Citing intelligence sources, CNN reported Iran had laid a few dozen mines in the strait in recent days and had the capability to place hundreds more. 

Since Friday, seven vessels, including four tankers and three bulk carriers, have passed through the strait, according to data from trade intelligence platform Kpler.

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The U.S. Navy has been weighing escorts for commercial ships through the strait. 

“We’re looking at a range of options there and will figure out how to solve problems as they come to us,” Joint Chiefs Chairman Gen. Dan Caine told Fox News Tuesday. 

The world is watching to see whether the Navy will step in to try to free up shipping. Immediately after an inaccurate and since-deleted post from Energy Secretary Chris Wright claiming the Navy had escorted a tanker, oil prices fell nearly 12%.

European allies are moving in as well: France sent two frigates to join a European Union-led escort mission for ships through the strait, though their arrival timeline is unclear.

While U.S. Secretary of War Pete Hegseth has claimed the U.S. and Israel have “total air dominance” over Iran’s skies, that doesn’t mean the threat from missiles and drones is entirely eliminated yet. 

The Navy won’t escort tankers until Iran’s missile and drone threat is eliminated, retired Gen. Jack Keane told FOX Business. 

“Makes no sense in terms of the risk when we’re going to finish them off entirely in a few weeks,” he said.  

Recognizing the squeeze on prices around the globe, Trump announced Monday the U.S. would remove oil-related sanctions. 

“We are also waiving certain oil-related sanctions to reduce prices,” he said during a press conference. “So in some countries, we’re going to take those sanctions off until this straightens out. Then, who knows, maybe we won’t have to put them on.”

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The United States currently maintains sanctions affecting oil Iran, Venezuela, Russia, Syria and North Korea. 

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt declined to detail what that relief would look like. A 30-day waiver was already recently issued for Russian oil stranded at sea to reach India.

A naval mine costing only a few thousand dollars can cripple or even sink a $2 billion U.S. destroyer. 

The danger is not theoretical: In 1988, USS Samuel B. Roberts nearly sank after striking an Iranian mine in the Persian Gulf. 

Mine-laying operations are often conducted covertly at night using small vessels such as fishing dhows or fast-attack craft, allowing mines to be deployed with little warning and potentially devastating consequences.

Trump’s Middle East envoy reveals what led to breakdown in Iran talks before Operation Epic Fury

U.S. special envoy to the Middle East Steve Witkoff described what he said were early threats and demands from Iran during an interview on “Hannity” Tuesday, as U.S. negotiators and Iranian counterparts explored whether a deal could be reached before talks collapsed — a breakdown that preceded the launch of Operation Epic Fury. 

Witkoff offered a behind-the-scenes account of the opening exchanges in the U.S.-Iran nuclear negotiations. He said Iranian representatives opened by asserting an “inalienable right to enrich” nuclear fuel — a stance the U.S. delegation opposed by insisting that Iran should not enrich uranium at all.

Witkoff said Iranian negotiators declared they controlled roughly 460 kilograms of enriched uranium to about 60% and that this material could potentially be further enriched toward weapons-grade levels in about a week to 10 days. 

He explained that enrichment beyond about 20% serves no civilian purpose and is associated with weaponization.

FROM BIDEN’S ‘WAR’ ON GAS PRICES TO ‘SMALL PRICE TO PAY’: GOP SHIFTS TONE AS IRAN CONFLICT HITS PUMPS

Iran’s negotiators told U.S. officials that the United States would not obtain through diplomacy what it could not achieve militarily — a remark he linked to June’s Operation Midnight Hammer, which targeted Iranian nuclear facilities.

Witkoff maintained that the country’s three main enrichment and conversion centers were, in fact, destroyed, but Tehran has not publicly acknowledged such destruction.

US STRIKE ON KEY IRAN OIL HUB WOULD FIT TRUMP’S ‘ENERGY DOMINANCE DOCTRINE,’ EXPERT SAYS

“It was very, very clear to us that with that amount of weapons-grade material, that they had every intention of seeking a weapon. It would not be logical to us to think anything else,” he said.

The United States even offered to help Iran convert its nuclear endeavors to a civil, non-enrichment program, and, “as a little extra, we suggested to them that we would provide fuel to them for free for a long period of time,” said Witkoff.

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But Iran called the offer “an assault on their dignity,” he said, emphasizing that he viewed the stance as “subterfuge” to obscure their advance toward a nuclear weapon.

“That’s how they felt that they would have increased power in the Mideast, and it would have changed the dynamic in the Mideast, and we couldn’t allow it,” he said. 

“A second North Korea in the Mideast would have been untenable, and everybody on our foreign policy team knew it, and the president was very clear-minded about it.”

Operation Epic Fury was launched by President Donald Trump as a U.S. and Israeli joint military campaign on February 28, 2026, with the goal being to destroy Iranian missile infrastructure, naval assets and nuclear capabilities to prevent Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons.

Australian official touts bravery of Iranian women’s soccer team as some receive asylum

At least six members of the Iranian women’s soccer team decided to stay in Australia and seek asylum instead of going back to their home country where they face war and the possibility of even worse if they decide to go back.

Five of the six members of the team were granted asylum on Tuesday. Two others were also seeking asylum, but one of them changed their minds. There were more than 20 members of the team who came to Australia to compete in the Women’s Asian Cup.

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Tina Kordrostami, a councilor for the city of Ryde in Australia, told Fox News in an interview on Wednesday the reason why most of the girls decided to go back was because of their families.

“So, their family is the No. 1 reason that the girls want to go back home and the No. 1 thing they’re worried and scared about,” she said. “The second thing, as I mentioned, is all they have is in Iran, and they are fearful of their identity and losing anything that they have built over the last few years for it.

“I know for a fact that they don’t want to be living there. They are passionate athletes. They are women who, you know, have so much to say about their identity and who they are. And because they are in the public eye within Iran, they are restricted even more than others. No logical person would want to remain in that country, especially if they have the option to stay. You know, they had it so close that it was offered to them. And they were so close to having everything that they wanted. And yet they still chose their family over their own, live their own future.”

The team arrived in Australia before Israel and the U.S. launched a joint offensive against Iran on Feb. 28. The strikes led to the death of Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei.

Iranian players refused to sing their national anthem before an opening loss to South Korea last Monday, which was viewed by some as an act of resistance, which was dubbed by an Iranian commentator as the “pinnacle of dishonor.” The team didn’t clarify. But the players sang the anthem and saluted before their losses to Australia and the Philippines.

MORE IRANIAN WOMEN’S SOCCER PERSONNEL ACCEPT ASYLUM IN AUSTRALIA AMID THREAT OF PUNISHMENT IN HOME COUNTRY

As their time in the tournament came to an end, the possibility of at least some of the players applying for a humanitarian visa became a reality.

Kordrostami told Fox News she believed the Australian government could have done more.

“Here’s one thing that I believe the government should have done: they, immediately, after the first game, should have entered the girls’ hotel, they should have sat down with them,” she said. “Dismissing all of the security, all of the personnel they had there with them, with official key figures within our government as well. They should have sat down with these girls, and they should have laid everything out for them.

“They should have reached out to the diaspora and gotten all the contacts from the families. They should for allowed for them to have a clear, open conversation with their families within that room for however long they needed to. … Within a day, they should have put together a plan for these girls to seek safety for their families. … I am not happy today at all. I am so sad. I’m so concerned. And I just know that if we weren’t so limited by our rules and regulations, we could have potentially held on to the whole team.”

Kordrostami stressed the importance of what the women who left the team did.

“I want more people to be speaking about these girls,” she said. “These girls are a window into Iran for us, for everyone to understand exactly what people are living through. The control, the coercion, the restrictions, the limitations, this is the reality for 90 million people within that country.”

Australian officials stressed that they made every effort to give the Iranian team the option to stay.

Australian Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke said the chance for the players to consider asylum came down to last-minute discussions at Sydney Airport where the women were separated from their minders and had time to call their families.

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“Everything was about ensuring the dignity for those individuals to make a choice,” he said. “We couldn’t take away the pressure of the context for these individuals, of what might have been said to them beforehand, what pressures they might have felt there were on other family members.”

Hezbollah, Iran unleash coordinated cluster bomb strikes on Israel in major escalation

Hezbollah and Iran launched a coordinated strike strategy Tuesday, a national security expert claimed, as reports emerged that deadly cluster munitions were hitting Israel in synchronized attacks.

The developments unfolded on day 11 of Operations Epic Fury and Roaring Lion, the joint U.S.-Israeli campaign targeting Iran, marking a potential escalation in the widening regional conflict.

“Hezbollah has fully joined the war, and it looks like they are now very well coordinated with Iran,” Kobi Michael, a senior researcher at the Institute for National Security Studies and the Misgav Institute, told Fox News Digital while speaking from his bomb shelter near Tel Aviv.

“Most of Hezbollah’s rockets and drones are launched simultaneously with the Iranian missiles,” he said.

IRAN’S SENIOR CLERICS ‘EXPOSED’ AFTER BUILDING STRIKE IN QOM, SUCCESSION CHOICE LOOMS

Israel confirmed Tuesday that Iran had been firing cluster munitions — adding a complicated and deadly challenge to Israel’s stretched air defenses, The Associated Press reported.

The warheads burst open at high altitudes, scattering dozens of smaller bomblets across a wide area. The smaller bombs, which at night can resemble orange fireballs, are difficult to intercept and have proven lethal.

Fox News correspondent Nate Foy also said despite Israel’s strong air defense, half of the missiles are hard to defend against because half of the missiles are cluster munitions.

“The Iranian use of cluster missiles and the idea that they deliberately target civilians and civil facilities must be considered as a use of non-conventional weapons, and the American-Israeli response must be appropriate,” Michael urged.

Banned by more than 120 nations under the 2008 Convention on Cluster Munitions, the weapons are widely condemned for their broad-area, indiscriminate effects that often result in catastrophic civilian harm.

IRAN PROXIES WAGE WAR ON ISRAEL, THREATEN US INTERESTS AS IRAQ SLAMMED FOR NOT DISARMING THEM

Michael spoke as Reuters reported Hezbollah was applying lessons from its last war with Israel as it prepares for a possible full-scale Israeli invasion and protracted conflict. 

It said sources claimed the group was returning to its roots in guerrilla warfare in south Lebanon.

“Operating in small units, fighters from the Iran-backed group are avoiding the use of communication devices that could be at risk of Israeli tapping and are rationing the use of key anti-tank rockets as they engage Israeli troops,” said the sources, familiar with Hezbollah military activities.

Michael also said that the “north of the country, toward the Haifa area, is under heavy bombing.”

IRAN’S ‘STUNNING STRATEGIC MISCALCULATION’ COULD ACCELERATE GULF TIES TO ISRAEL, EX-CENTCOM DIRECTOR PREDICTS

“Israeli citizens have to spend most of the time in the shelter rooms as Hezbollah and Iran deliberately target civilians and civilian facilities,” he said.

“Tel Aviv is still under an emergency routine, with sirens continuing and many people spending a lot of time in the bomb shelter rooms,” he added before highlighting that “Israel is a small country and will not be able to continue containing such asymmetry and this type of attrition war.”

As of Tuesday night local time, the IDF said it had launched a wave of airstrikes against Hezbollah infrastructure in Beirut’s southern suburbs. 

This came after the military reiterated its warning to evacuate the area, a Hezbollah stronghold known as the Dahiyeh.

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In a post shared on X, the IDF said: “This is what we’re operating against.”

Reuters sources also claimed much of Hezbollah’s fighting on the ground had been focused so far near the town of Khiyam, near the intersection of Lebanon’s border with Israel and Syria.

This is one area where Hezbollah believes any Israeli land invasion could begin. Hezbollah’s elite Radwan fighters, who withdrew from the south following the 2024 ceasefire, had also returned to the area, it said.

TRUMP SAYS IRAN IS ‘RUNNING OUT OF LAUNCHERS’ AS REGIME IS ‘BEING DECIMATED’

“Israel will no doubt take control over a wide territory in south Lebanon, from the international border to the Litani River, in order to establish a security buffer zone,” Michael said.

“This will prevent Hezbollah from attacking the Israeli villages and towns in the north of the country and will intensify the attacks against Hezbollah all over Lebanon,” Michael added.

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“We hope that President Trump will not stop or use the formula he used with the Houthis, declaring victory and leaving the wounded lion incapable of revenge and/or reconstituting itself.”

Meanwhile, an Israeli military official, speaking anonymously under army briefing rules, said Tuesday that roughly half of the projectiles Iran was launching toward Israel were now cluster bombs, The Associated Press said.

Lethal elite ‘black-clad’ kill squad guards Iran’s new Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei

An elite counterterrorism unit has been deployed to protect Iran’s newly appointed Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei, following the assassination of his father, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Fox News Digital has learned.

The force, known as NOPO — Iran’s black-clad Counterterrorism Special Force — was assigned to safeguard the leader after a U.S.-Israel strike on a Tehran compound on Feb. 28 killed the elder Khamenei amid the start of Operation Epic Fury.

“With Khamenei gone, NOPO will likely now be protecting Mojtaba Khamenei,” Ali Safavi, an official with the Foreign Affairs Committee of the Paris-based National Council of Resistance of Iran, or NCRI said.

The NOPO force, formed in 1991, had the 28th Ruhollah (Khomeini’s first name) Division as its “nucleus”, according to Safavi, and typically handles hostage rescue operations. “Its task was not to protect Khamenei,” he added.

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The history of the unit also includes deployments against internal security threats, and it has often been called on to suppress protests.

Iran’s Assembly of Experts elected Mojtaba Khamenei on March 8, 2026, elevating him as the third Supreme Leader of the Islamic Republic.

His succession comes amid ongoing war with the U.S. and Israel, but so far, Mojtaba Khamenei has not been heard from since the start of the conflict.

According to The Times of Israel, Iranian state television reported that Mojtaba Khamenei was wounded in the war, with the reports yet unconfirmed.

“NOPO is the Farsi acronym for Nirouyeh Vijeh Pasdaran Velayat, which translates into the Special Force to Protect the Supreme Leader,” Safavi further explained before clarifying that “Velayat is not necessarily the supreme leader, but the entirety of the regime.”

IRAN POSTPONES TEHRAN FAREWELL CEREMONY FOR KHAMENEI WHERE LARGE CROWDS WERE EXPECTED TO GATHER

Over time, NOPO has evolved into a highly specialized unit distinct from the broader Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), the military branch established in 1979 to defend the Islamic Republic and its leadership from internal and external threats.

“The NOPO is composed of six brigades only. Four are stationed in Tehran, one in Mashhad and one in Isfahan,” Safavi said.

“They are far more lethal, ruthless and well-trained than the IRGC,” he claimed before describing how the brigade’s loyalty was to the Supreme Leader.

“This force was used for the protection of Khamenei,” Safavi continued. “They are very well-equipped. Khamenei did not trust any other security force for his protection.”

Safavi also said that with battalions distributed in other provinces, some members of the unit are involved in protest suppression and the brigade is fully operational.

“Some of the NOPO are now involved in the suppressive and security measures the regime has also undertaken in recent days to prevent any outbreak of protests anywhere,” Safavi said.

The elite force’s activities extend beyond personal protection in times of crisis, Safavi added.

KHAMENEI’S DEATH OPENS UNCERTAIN CHAPTER FOR IRAN’S ENTRENCHED THEOCRACY

“But in times of crisis, such as what happened during the January uprising, they were heavily involved in opening fire on the protesters,” he said.

This comes amid reports that hundreds of NOPO members have also been widely deployed around prisons in Iran that are holding political detainees.

“Hundreds of suppressive forces are widely deployed around the prison. In Ghezel Hesar Prison,” the NCRI said in a statement.

On Tuesday, March 3, 2026, following the bombing of a military center near Mahabad Prison, prisoners whose ward doors had been locked protested and set fire to their blankets, demanding their release under wartime conditions.

“Suppressive forces responded by firing tear gas into the ward,” the NCRI reported.

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Reports also indicated NOPO had taken control of Evin Prison in Tehran following the flight of regular prison officials amid intensified conflict.

In 2021, the U.S. Treasury Department imposed sanctions on NOPO for its part in committing “serious human rights abuses against persons in Iran or Iranian citizens or residents, or the family members of the foregoing.”

Top Iranian cybercriminal on FBI most wanted list reportedly killed in US-Israeli strike

A top Iranian hacker long wanted by the FBI was killed last week following a joint Israeli strike on Iran, according to an Iranian media outlet.

Mohammad Mehdi Farhadi Ramin, an Iranian man accused of stealing the identities of American citizens and accessing national security data, died in the city of Hamadan, Iran International said, adding that his funeral was held on Monday.

Farhadi had been wanted by U.S. authorities since 2020 for his “alleged involvement in malicious cyber activity” dating back to at least 2013, according to the FBI. 

Among his alleged crimes, Farhadi reportedly targeted companies, universities, U.S. defense contractors, and nonprofits to access sensitive data. Authorities say he also stole credit card information and Social Security numbers belonging to U.S. citizens to fund illicit activities, while marketing some of the stolen data on the black market.

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Ramin was first indicted on Sept. 15, 2020, by a federal grand jury in Newark, New Jersey, for his alleged involvement in a massive, coordinated cyber intrusion campaign on behalf of the Iranian government.

Ramin and a co‑defendant reportedly vandalized websites with ideological messaging meant to project Iranian influence, including images of burning Israeli flags and threats that appeared to “signal the demise” of countries viewed as rivals to Iran, including the U.S., Israel and Saudi Arabia.

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“They brazenly infiltrated computer systems and targeted intellectual property and often sought to intimidate perceived enemies of Iran, including dissidents fighting for human rights in Iran and around the world,” the Justice Department previously said. 

“This conduct threatens our national security, and as a result, these defendants are wanted by the FBI and are considered fugitives from justice.”

Authorities alleged that the suspect also compromised email accounts by creating hidden automated forwarding rules that secretly sent all incoming and outgoing emails directly to him and his co-conspirators.

Officials emphasized that these actions allowed Iran to access a massive volume of stolen information, including hundreds of terabytes of data related to national security, foreign policy, civilian nuclear research, aerospace and unpublished scientific studies.

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Fox News Digital reached out to the Pentagon for more information.

US strike on key Iran oil hub would fit Trump’s ‘energy dominance doctrine,’ expert says

Kharg Island, which handles the bulk of Iran’s crude exports and was once floated by President Donald Trump as a potential target could spark broader regional instability and attacks on energy infrastructure if struck by the U.S., a leading energy security expert has warned.

Reports indicate the Trump administration is weighing options that could include a direct attack on Kharg Island.

Discussing the possibility of boots on the ground amid Operation Epic Fury on “The Claman Countdown,” retired Army Brig. Gen. Mark Kimmitt also told Liz Claman striking Kharg could be in the “offing.”

“I don’t think a significant number of boots on the ground, other than the chance of an assault on Kharg Island, is in the offing,” he said March 9.

TRUMP IS REALIGNING WORLD ENERGY MARKETS, AND THE IRAN STRIKES ARE ACTUALLY HELPING

Trump’s interest in the island dates back to a 1988 interview in which he reportedly suggested targeting Kharg in response to Iranian aggression, according to reports.

“I’d be harsh on Iran. They’ve been beating us psychologically, making us look like a bunch of fools,” Trump said. “One bullet shot at one of our men or ships, and I’d do a number on Kharg Island. I’d go in and take it.”

Sara Vakhshouri, a global energy analyst, said striking Kharg aligns squarely with Washington’s “energy dominance” doctrine and spoke as U.S. and Israeli military action in Iran rattles energy markets and disrupts oil flows through the Strait of Hormuz.

“Kharg currently acts as a strategic restraint point in the conflict,” Vakhshouri, founder and president of SVB Energy International, told Fox News Digital.

“Interrupting Iran’s main export terminal would likely trigger a major oil price spike, market instability and regional retaliation against energy infrastructure.”

TRUMP SAYS IT’S AN ‘HONOR’ TO KEEP STRAIT OF HORMUZ OPEN FOR CHINA AND OTHER COUNTRIES

Kharg’s significance is not only tactical but strategic, she added, arguing that it fits squarely within Trump’s long-touted doctrine.

The policy, central to Trump’s first term, prioritized maximizing U.S. oil and gas production, expanding exports and leveraging U.S. energy strength as a geopolitical tool.

“But when we talk about Kharg, the most important factor is that it fits within the U.S. energy dominance concept,” Vakhshouri said, suggesting that holding the island in reserve as a pressure point — rather than immediately striking it — may be a more strategic option.

Kharg sits in the northern Persian Gulf, roughly 15 miles off Iran’s mainland. Tankers leaving the terminal pass through the Strait of Hormuz, the narrow choke point that handles about one-fifth of global oil trade.

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Around 90% to 95% of Iran’s crude and petroleum exports pass through Kharg, making it the regime’s primary oil revenue hub.

“Roughly 15 to 20 million barrels may be in storage, with around 1.5 to 3 million barrels per day exported through the terminal during the sanctions, with export capacity up to 5 million barrels per day,” Vakhshouri said.

“If the export capability from Kharg were lost, this restraint could diminish, shifting the risk toward further strikes on regional energy facilities and, more importantly, prolonged disruption of oil flows and tanker traffic through the Strait of Hormuz,” she warned.

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“Putting a price ceiling on such a scenario would depend largely on Iran’s retaliatory actions,” Vakhshouri added.

“The certain outcome, however, would be prolonged volatility and uncertainty in the market, driven by fears of further retaliation or an extended cycle of disruption.”

Fox News Digital has reached out to the White House for comment.