Iran has been weighing its options in responding to its biggest security challenge since the 1979 revolution. A member of the Iranian Parliament's National Security Committee Presidium, Behnam Saeedi, told the semi-official Mehr news agency Iran could consider closing the Strait of Hormuz, through which 20% of daily global oil consumption passes.

Tehran has in the past threatened to close the strait. Shipping sources said on Wednesday that commercial ships were avoiding Iran's waters nearby.

Oil prices rose after Israel and Iran continued to exchange missile attacks overnight and Trump's stance on the conflict kept investors on edge.

Countries around the world are taking measures to evacuate their citizens from Israel and Iran and airspace in the region remains closed.
Earlier, the Israeli military said it targeted the Khondab nuclear site near Iran's central city Arak overnight, including a partially-built heavy-water research reactor. Heavy-water reactors produce plutonium, which, like enriched uranium, can be used to make the core of an atom bomb. Iran's atomic energy agency said the attack caused no casualties.

The Israeli military also said it attacked launch sites in western Iran after attempts to restore them were detected.

Israel, which has the most advanced military in the Middle East, has been fighting on several fronts since the October 7, 2023 attack on southern Israel by the Palestinian militant group Hamas triggered the Gaza war. It has severely weakened Iran's regional allies, Hamas in Gaza and Lebanon's Hezbollah, and bombed Yemen's Houthis.

The extent of the damage inside Iran from the week-old bombing campaign has become more difficult to assess in recent days, with the authorities apparently seeking to prevent panic by limiting information.

Iran has stopped giving updates on the death toll, and state media have ceased showing widespread images of destruction. The internet has been almost completely shut down, and the public has been banned from filming.

Arash, 33, a government employee in Tehran, said a building next to his home in Tehran's Shahrak-e Gharb neighbourhood had been destroyed in the strikes.

"I saw at least three dead children and two women in that building. Is this how Netanyahu plans to ‘liberate' Iranians? Stay away from our country," he told Reuters by telephone.

Source: Investing.com