Iran’s Revolutionary Guards said on Tuesday they would not allow “one litre of oil” to be shipped ​from the Middle East if U.S. and Israeli attacks continue, prompting a warning from President Donald Trump that the U.S. would hit Iran much harder if it ‌blocked exports from the vital energy-producing region.

Trump’s comments came after global financial markets seesawed on Monday on concerns that Iran’s security establishment was rallying behind new Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei and was not prepared to back down any time soon, Reuters reported.

Trump said the United States had inflicted serious damage on Iran’s military and predicted the conflict would end well before the initial four-week time frame he had laid out, though he has not defined what victory would look ​like.

Israel says its war aim is to overthrow Iran’s system of clerical rule. U.S. officials mainly say Washington’s aim is to destroy Iran’s missile capabilities and nuclear programme, but Trump ​has said the war can end only with a compliant Iranian government.

At least 1,332 Iranian civilians have been killed and thousands wounded since the ⁠U.S. and Israel launched a barrage of air and missile strikes across Iran at the end of February, according to Iran’s U.N. ambassador.

Trump warned that U.S. attacks could rise sharply if Iran ​sought to block tanker traffic through the Strait of Hormuz, which handles one-fifth of the world’s oil supply.

“We will hit them so hard that it will not be possible for them or anybody else ​helping them to ever recover that section of the world,” Trump said at a news conference on Monday.

IRAN SAYS IT WILL DETERMINE END OF WAR

Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps said it would not allow any oil to leave the region if attacks from the United States and Israel continue.

“We are the ones who will determine the end of the war,” a spokesperson said, according to state media.

In a later Truth Social post, Trump repeated his ​warning.

“If Iran does anything that stops the flow of Oil within the Strait of Hormuz, they will be hit by the United States of America TWENTY TIMES HARDER than they have been ​hit thus far,” he said.

The war has already effectively shut the Strait of Hormuz, leaving tankers unable to sail for more than a week and forcing producers to halt pumping as storage facilities fill.

Mojtaba Khamenei’s appointment ‌on Monday appeared ⁠to dash hopes of a swift end to the war, sending oil markets surging and share markets nosediving, before swinging in the other direction when Trump predicted a quick end to the war and reports of a possible ease in sanctions on Russian energy.

After speaking with Russian President Vladimir Putin, Trump said the United States will waive oil-related sanctions on “some countries” to ease the shortage. According to multiple sources, that could mean a further easing of sanctions on Russian oil, which could complicate efforts to punish Moscow for its war in Ukraine. Other options include a possible release of oil from strategic ​reserves or restricting U.S. exports, sources said.

Brent crude ​futures fell more than 10% on Tuesday ⁠after soaring by as much as 29% on Monday to their highest since 2022. Global stock markets also bounced.

The price of gasoline has particular political resonance in the United States, where voters cite rising costs as a top concern ahead of the November midterm elections, when Trump’s Republicans will try to ​keep control of Congress.

A Reuters/Ipsos poll released Monday found 67% of Americans expect gas prices to rise over the coming months, and only 29% ​approve of the war.

OIL REFINERY ⁠HIT

Tehran was choked in black smoke after an oil refinery was hit, an escalation in strikes on Iran’s domestic energy supplies. World Health Organization chief Tedros Ghebreyesus warned the fire risks contaminating food, water and air.

Turkey said NATO air defences had shot down a ballistic missile that was fired from Iran and entered Turkish airspace, the second such incident of the war. Iran did not immediately comment on the report.

Israel’s military ⁠said it ​had launched new attacks in central Iran and struck the Lebanese capital Beirut, where Israel has extended its campaign after ​the Iran-backed militia Hezbollah fired across the border.

In Australia, five Iranian women’s soccer team players were granted humanitarian visas after they sought asylum fearing persecution in their home nation. Canberra has also promised to send military surveillance aircraft to the Middle East and ​missiles to the United Arab Emirates to help them defend themselves against attacks from Iran.

Iran on Monday named Mojtaba Khamenei to succeed his father Ali Khamenei as supreme leader, signaling that hardliners remain firmly in charge, as the ​week-old U.S.-Israeli war with Iran pushed oil above $100 a barrel.

Mojtaba, a cleric with influence inside Iran’s security forces and vast business networks under his father, had been viewed as a frontrunner ‌in the lead-up to Sunday’s vote by the Assembly of Experts, a body of 88 clerics tasked with choosing Ali Khamenei’s successor, Reuters reported.

“By a decisive vote, the Assembly of Experts, appointed Ayatollah Seyyed Mojtaba Hosseini Khamenei as the third Leader of the sacred system of the Islamic Republic of Iran,” the Assembly said in a statement issued just after midnight Tehran time.

The position gives Mojtaba the final say in all matters of state in the Islamic Republic.

Mojtaba’s appointment will likely draw the ire of U.S. President Donald Trump, who said on ​Sunday that Washington should have a say in the selection. “If he doesn’t get approval from us, he’s not going to last long,” he told ABC News.

Israel, ahead of the announcement, threatened to target whoever was ​chosen.

In an interview with the Times of Israel after the new supreme leader was named, Trump declined to respond, saying only “We’ll see what happens,” according to the newspaper. ⁠Trump also said in the interview that ending the war would be a “mutual” decision with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Mojtaba’s father, Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, was killed in one of the first strikes launched against Iran more ​than a week ago.

Washington on Sunday ordered the departure of non-emergency employees at its embassy in Saudi Arabia, the latest drawdown of U.S. diplomats as Iran has struck U.S. facilities in the region.

The U.S. military reported a seventh American ​has died from wounds sustained during Iran’s initial counter-attack a week ago, a day after Trump presided over the return to the United States of the remains of the six others killed.

The U.S.-Israeli attacks have killed at least 1,332 Iranian civilians and wounded thousands, according to Iran’s U.N. ambassador.

OIL OVER $100 A BARREL

The expanding war has severely impacted the oil trade and surging prices sparked a fall in share futures in Asia on Monday, amid fears of rising living costs. The dollar rose sharply against the euro and the yen.

U.S. crude ​futures rose more than 20% in early trade on Monday, hitting their highest since July 2022, amid fears of tighter supply and prolonged disruptions to oil shipments through the Strait of Hormuz. Brent jumped 17% to $108.73 a barrel, ​having already soared 28% last week.

On Wall Street, S&P 500 futures shed 1.6%, while Nasdaq futures dived 1.7%.

Trump, in a social media post, said oil prices “will drop rapidly when the destruction of the Iran nuclear threat is over,” and said the price ‌hike was “a very ⁠small price to pay for U.S.A., and World, Safety and Peace.”

DEFIANCE FROM TEHRAN

Iranian state media said the leadership of Iran’s armed forces had pledged allegiance to Mojtaba Khamenei and the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps said in a statement they are ready to follow the new supreme leader.

The Assembly of Experts met on Sunday to elect a new supreme leader despite threats that the body would be targeted, Iran’s security chief, Ali Larijani, said on state TV after the announcement.

Mojtaba Khamenei could lead the country under the current sensitive conditions, Larijani said, calling for unity around the new leader.

Iran has launched strikes across the region in retaliation against U.S. and Israeli attacks. The U.S. State Department said on ​Sunday it had ordered non-emergency U.S. government employees and ​their family members to leave Saudi Arabia due to ⁠safety risks, days after the embassy in the Saudi capital was damaged in a drone attack blamed on Iran.

Early on Sunday, the Saudi Defence Ministry said that it had shot down a drone that attempted to target the Diplomatic Quarter, a calm tree-lined neighbourhood on the city’s western edge that hosts most foreign missions including the U.S. embassy.

The ​U.S. has already raised its warning level for Saudi Arabia and allowed some personnel to leave the country, and has ordered the departure of staff at embassies ​in Qatar, Kuwait, Jordan and ⁠Bahrain since the outbreak of the war.

Israel continued to target senior Iranian figures, including Abolqasem Babaian, the recently appointed head of the military office of the supreme leader, saying he was killed in a Saturday strike.

‘DANGEROUS NEW PHASE’

As fighting escalated on Sunday, day nine of the U.S.-Israeli campaign against Iran, thick black smoke hung over Tehran, residents said, after strikes on oil storage facilities had lit up the night sky with plumes of orange flame.

Iran’s foreign ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baghaei said the large-scale attack ⁠marked a “dangerous new ​phase” of the conflict and amounted to a war crime.

Israeli military spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Nadav Shoshani told reporters the depots were used to ​fuel Iran’s war effort, including producing or storing propellant for ballistic missiles. “They are a legal military target,” he said.

Netanyahu said his government would press on with the assault and strike Iran’s rulers “without mercy”.

“We have an organised plan with many surprises to destabilise the regime and enable change,” ​he said in a video statement.

The clerical body that will choose ​Iran’s next supreme leader, succeeding the slain Ayatollah ‌Ali Khamenei, has more or less reached a majority consensus, Assembly of Experts member Ayatollah Mohammadmehdi Mirbaqeri said ​on Sunday.

The Mehr news agency quoted him as ​saying “some obstacles” still needed to be resolved ⁠regarding the process, according to Reuters.

On Saturday, a senior cleric in ​the Assembly of Experts said its members would meet “within ​one day” to choose the leader.

Iranian media said the group had a minor disagreement over whether their final decision ​must follow an in-person meeting or instead be ​issued without adhering to this formality.

Ayatollah Mohsen Heidari Alekasir, another member ‌of ⁠the Assembly of Experts, said in a video released by Nournews on Sunday that an in-person meeting by the assembly for a final vote was ​not possible ​under current ⁠conditions.

He said a candidate had been picked, based on the late supreme leader’s ​advice that Iran’s top leader should “be ​hated by ⁠the enemy” instead of praised by it.

“Even the Great Satan (U.S.) has mentioned his name,” Heidari Alekasir said ⁠of ​the chosen successor, days after ​U.S. President Donald Trump said that Khamenei’s son, Mojtaba, was an “unacceptable” choice ​for him.