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U.S. and Israel Launch Epic Fury Strikes on Iran, Targeting Hormuz Missile Sites

U.S. and Israel Launch Epic Fury Strikes on Iran, Targeting Hormuz Missile Sites
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U.S. and Israeli forces intensified their air campaign against Iran this week, unleashing 5,000‑pound “bunker‑buster” bombs on coastal missile batteries near the Strait of Hormuz as Tehran vowed further retaliation and promised to keep the vital waterway shut.nytimes +1 Oil prices have repeatedly jumped above $100 a barrel since the strikes began on Feb. 28, while rights groups say the civilian death toll inside Iran has passed 1,000.pbs +1

The operation, dubbed “Epic Fury” by Washington, has focused on Iran’s ballistic‑missile launchers, production plants and naval facilities, with U.S. officials claiming more than 15,000 “enemy targets” hit in just over two weeks.middleeasteye Iran has responded with waves of missile and drone strikes on Israel, U.S. bases and Gulf Arab cities, including barrages that shook Abu Dhabi and other capitals on the conflict’s first day.bbc The war’s most controversial incident so far has been a Feb. 28 strike on a girls’ elementary school in the southern city of Minab, where local officials say around 165 people, many of them children, were killed.longwarjournal

Military Aims vs. Escalation Risks

Pentagon leaders have argued that the campaign is rapidly degrading Iran’s ability to fire missiles and drones, with Secretary of War Pete Hegseth saying Iran’s missile volume is “down 90%” and drone attacks “down 95%” from prewar levels.middleeasteye Satellite imagery published by multiple outlets shows extensive damage at missile bases, naval ports such as Bandar Abbas and several hardened facilities, though analysts caution Iran’s dispersed, underground networks make total destruction unlikely.pbs

Iran’s leadership, shaken by the killing of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei on day one of the strikes, has promised “ferocious” retaliation through both its own forces and allied militias across Iraq, Lebanon, Syria and Yemen.bbc +1 The new supreme leader, Mojtaba Khamenei, has vowed to keep the Strait of Hormuz closed, directly threatening a chokepoint that handles roughly a fifth of globally traded oil.cbsnews Regional governments have appealed for de‑escalation even as they activate air defenses, with missiles and debris already causing casualties in several Gulf states.bbc

Civilian Toll and a School Strike Under Investigation

Human rights monitors say the air campaign has taken a heavy civilian toll, citing more than 1,100 noncombatant deaths across Iran since Feb. 28, a figure Iran’s government has also put in the high hundreds.cfr The worst single incident was the Minab school strike, where a blast obliterated the Shajareh Tayyebeh girls’ elementary school next to a former Revolutionary Guard naval base.longwarjournal Iranian state media put the death count between 150 and 170, with dozens more injured.longwarjournal

U.S. Central Command has opened a formal investigation into the attack after an internal assessment concluded a U.S. Tomahawk cruise missile was likely responsible, according to officials briefed on the probe.npr +1 “The onus is on the forces that carried out the attack to investigate it,” U.N. human rights office spokesperson Ravina Shamdasani said, urging a transparent inquiry into potential violations of the laws of war.jpost The White House has said it is awaiting the Pentagon’s findings while insisting that “the Iranian regime targets civilians and children, not the United States of America.”npr

The Bigger Picture

The confrontation has already cost the U.S. an estimated $11.3 billion in the first six days alone and injected a sizable geopolitical premium into global energy prices, with analysts warning of a sustained 10–25% uplift in oil if fighting continues around Hormuz.nytimes +1 While Washington frames Epic Fury as a decisive bid to neutralize Iran’s military and deter further regional attacks, experts stress that Iran’s capacity for recovery and proxy warfare means the conflict could settle into a grinding, destabilizing stalemate. For now, markets, civilians and governments from the Gulf to Europe are left bracing for a war whose endgame remains uncertain.

nytimes Firstpost / U.S. officials on strikes near Hormuz
newsnationnow NewsNation live updates
pbs New York Times satellite analysis; Reuters imagery package
cfr BBC citing HRANA rights group
middleeasteye U.S. Department of War briefings, Mar. 2 & 13
bbc Reuters, Feb. 28, 2026 missile barrages; BBC mapping strikes
longwarjournal BBC, Guardian, NBC on Minab school casualties
firstpost France 24; NPR on IRGC vows of retaliation
cbsnews NPR, Mar. 12, 2026 on Mojtaba Khamenei’s statement
npr Reuters, Mar. 6, 2026 on preliminary U.S. assessment
npr NPR, Mar. 11, 2026; White House statement via Reuters
jpost Reuters quoting UN human rights office
nytimes New York Times cost estimate; Reuters and Bloomberg on oil premium