Oil and gas crisis, key port in flames, Trump claims ‘victory’ coming (PHOTOS, VIDEOS)
RT’S LIVE COVERAGE OF THE US-ISRAELI WAR WITH IRAN HAS MOVED HERE
A major port in Oman is reportedly in flames after coming under drone attack as the US-Israeli military campaign against Iran continues to send shockwaves across global energy markets.
The International Energy Agency has agreed to release 400 million barrels of oil from strategic reserves and make them available on the global market after Brent crude shot past $100 per barrel on Sunday. Liquefied natural gas (LNG) exports from the Middle East are also looking increasingly precarious as Iran reportedly closed the Strait of Hormuz to shipping from non-friendly nations.
Meanwhile, US President Donald Trump has claimed that the Islamic Republic has already lost most of its military capabilities, and that the US-Israeli military campaign could end “any time I want it to end.”
Tehran, in turn, has claimed that its military has managed to overwhelm enemy air defenses, making Israel and US military installations in the Middle East more vulnerable to further strikes.
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi has branded the US-Israeli military campaign “Operation Epic Mistake,” a jab at Washington’s codename Operation Epic Fury.
Here are the latest developments as RT continues to report from across the Middle East:
- Iran’s new Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei is “safe and sound” despite earlier reports he was injured in US-Israeli strikes, government adviser Yousef Pezeshkian said. The New York Times previously reported Khamenei was wounded in the legs on the first day of the attacks.
- Iran says US and Israeli strikes have hit nearly 10,000 civilian sites nationwide. Bombing of oil facilities near Tehran has produced “black rain” of toxic oil and soot, with residents reporting breathing problems and the World Health Organization issuing warnings.
- Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni condemned the missile strike widely attributed to the US that hit a primary school in southern Iran on the first day of the conflict, killing 168 children, and called for those responsible to be identified.
- Thousands of mourners have gathered in Tehran for state funerals for senior military and political figures killed in the initial wave of airstrikes.
- Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan called for an end to the hostilities, warning the war must stop before it “engulfs the region in flames.” He said the conflict risks further loss of life, economic damage, and urged renewed diplomacy.
- Iran has threatened to strike US- and Israeli-linked banks in the Middle East after a missile hit an administrative building of state-owned Bank Sepah in Tehran, which handles payroll for the military and IRGC.
- Tehran has also urged residents across the Middle East to report the locations of US and Israeli forces to help make retaliatory strikes more precise and avoid civilian casualties.
Follow our live coverage below for continuous updates. You can also read our previous updates here and here.
- 21:01 GMT
The US will likely tap “a little bit” of its strategic petroleum reserve to help ease oil prices amid the war on Iran, President Donald Trump has announced.
“We’ll do that – and then we’ll fill it up. I filled it up once, and I’ll fill it up again. Right now we’ll reduce it a little bit, and that brings the prices down,” Trump told WKRC broadcaster.
- 19:22 GMT
Iran’s Press TV media outlet has published a video presumably showing the moment an Iranian air defense missile shot down a US MQ-9 Reaper drone in Kerman Province.
Iran’s Army air defense shot down another enemy MQ-9 drone in Kerman province.Follow: https://t.co/mLGcUTSA3Qpic.twitter.com/J8kCs70k5g
— Press TV 🔻 (@PressTV) March 11, 2026 - 19:10 GMT
Hezbollah has launched ‘Operation Devouring Sparrow’ against Israel, targeting its northern territories, Iran’s Fars News agency has reported.
Hezbollah missiles in the skies over northern occupied Palestine Follow https://t.co/B3zXG73Jympic.twitter.com/uGeePghOjj
— Press TV 🔻 (@PressTV) March 11, 2026The Israel Defense Forces has confirmed that several rockets had been fired from across the border. According to the IDF, Israeli warplanes are “striking additional launchers and infrastructure” belonging to Hezbollah. The IDF also reported impacts “in various areas in northern Israel.”
- 18:52 GMT
Russian President Vladimir Putin’s envoy, Kirill Dmitriev, is in Florida for talks with representatives of the Trump administration, a source has told RT. Dmitriev previously held negotiations with US officials about ways to kickstart bilateral economic relations.
- 18:26 GMT
Footage has been circulating on social media purportedly depicting the aftermath of a drone strike on the port of Salalah in Oman on Wednesday.
View from a cargo ship at the Omani port of Salalah this evening, surrounded by burning port facilities after an Iranian drone strike. pic.twitter.com/c7WJLRjpzw
— OSINTtechnical (@Osinttechnical) March 11, 2026Fuel tanks and other infrastructure were apparently set ablaze in what is a major maritime transportation hub.
- 18:12 GMT
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) has released footage purportedly showing an airstrike on Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) personnel in Iran.
צפו בתיעוד: חוסלו חיילים ממשטר הטרור האיראני שפעלו במפקדה של משמרות המהפכה https://t.co/T3s4Way3Cppic.twitter.com/s9L2fFy6E4
— Israeli Air Force (@IAFsite) March 11, 2026According to the Israeli military, the recent wave of attacks hit targets in Tehran, including the IRGC headquarters, as well as western Iran.
- 17:20 GMT
US President Donald Trump has claimed that Iran has “lost their navy, they’ve lost their air force, they have no anti-aircraft apparatus at all,” with all Iranian leaders presumably “gone.”
“We could do a lot worse,” Trump told reporters, adding that the US military has hit the Islamic Republic “harder than virtually any country in history that’s been hit.”
In a phone interview with Axios, the US president said that the US-Israeli campaign against Iran would end “soon” since there was “practically nothing left to target.”
“Any time I want it to end, it will end,” Trump concluded.
