Star Metro - Iran vows to fight on and block all Gulf oil

Trump's argument that the war would be "ended soon" helped reverse the previous day's spike in oil prices, which have surged since Iranian attacks on shipping closed the strategic Strait of Hormuz in response to the US-Israeli strikes that killed its supreme leader.

The price increase also followed strikes on an oil depot in Iran, and after attacks on oil infrastructure in Saudi Arabia and Bahrain.

After Trump's optimistic comments, European gas prices opened 15 percent lower, and Asian stock markets recovered from Monday's slump, but concerns remain high.

Egypt increased the cost of fuels by up to 30 percent and Pakistan said it would provide naval escorts to commercial shipping.

And the Islamic republic's Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) mocked Trump's apparent bid to lessen the economic impact of the war, warning: "The Iranian armed forces... will not allow the export of a single litre of oil from the region to the hostile side and its partners until further notice."

"It is we who will determine the end of the war," the IRGC, seen as close to Iran's new supreme leader Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei said, in a statement carried by Iranian media. "The equations and future status of the region are now in the hands of our armed forces. American forces will not end the war."

And in a message directly to Washington, Iran's Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi told PBS News: "We are well prepared to continue attacking them with our missiles as long as needed and as long as it takes."

Tehran's top diplomat, who has remained in his post since Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei replaced his slain father as supreme leader, complained that the US had attacked Iran before while diplomatic talks were ongoing.

"I don't think talking with Americans anymore would be on our agenda," he said.

- 'Death, fire and fury' -

Iran's apparent confidence reflected that expressed by Trump, who gave a news conference in a Florida ballroom to declare of the war: "It's going to be ended soon, and if it starts up again they'll be hit even harder."

"We've already won in many ways, but we haven't won enough," Trump said.

But, in a later post on his social media platform, Trump warned that if Tehran continues to interfere with oil exports, the US military would bomb the country in such a way to "make it virtually impossible for Iran to ever be built back, as a nation, again."

"Death, Fire, and Fury will reign upon them — But I hope, and pray, that it does not happen!" he wrote.

Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu also predicted that the conflict would continue, expressing hope that the Iranian people would seize the opportunity to overthrow the Iranian government.

"Our aspiration is to bring the Iranian people to cast off the yoke of tyranny. Ultimately, it depends on them. But there is no doubt that, with the actions taken so far, we are breaking their bones, and we are not done yet," he said, during a visit to the National Health Command Centre.

On Monday, world oil prices swept past the symbolic level of 100 dollars a barrel and were briefly up 30 percent on the day, before falling back dramatically after Trump's intervention.

In a bid to calm prices, the president said he would waive some sanctions on oil, after a call with Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Iran has targeted vessels travelling through the Strait of Hormuz, through which nearly 20 percent of the world's crude oil usually transits from the Gulf to world markets, especially in Asia and Europe.

French President Emmanuel Macron said Monday his country and its allies were working on a "purely defensive" mission to reopen the strait, aiming to escort ships "after the end of the hottest phase of the conflict".

- 'American aggression' -

Turkey, meanwhile, said NATO was deploying a Patriot air defence system in the centre of the country after two ballistic missiles were intercepted in its airspace since the start of the war.

Four fighters from the Tehran-backed Kataeb Imam Ali group were killed on Tuesday in air strikes in northern Iraq, the armed faction announced.

The group said its fighters were killed in "American aggression" against their position in the Debs district of Kirkuk province.

The war has spiralled far beyond Iran's borders, dragging in not only its Gulf neighbours but also Lebanon, where Israel carried out fresh strikes on Tuesday.

burs/dc/ser

Y.X. Gagnon--SMC