Foreign Policy
Under Fire
Smoke and fire rise following an explosion in Esfahan, Iran, in a screen grab obtained from a social media video released on March 31.Social media via Reuters
U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth warned on Tuesday that the next few days of the Iran war will be decisive, just 24 hours after President Donald Trump vowed to obliterate Iran’s energy sector if Tehran does not reopen the Strait of Hormuz and agree to a peace deal by April 6.
But Iran does not appear deterred. Instead, the country’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) warned on Tuesday that Iranian forces will begin targeting U.S. companies in the Middle East on Wednesday. Seventeen major corporations were listed as targets: Cisco, HP, Intel, Oracle, Microsoft, Apple, Google, Meta, IBM, Dell, Palantir, Nvidia, J.P. Morgan Chase, Tesla, GE, Spire Solution, and Boeing. The Emirati company G42 was also listed.
Tehran said that the looming strikes are in retaliation for U.S. assassinations in Iran and for some of these companies’ involvement in U.S. defense contracts. The IRGC warned the companies’ employees and civilians within 1 kilometer of their facilities to evacuate and said that it would begin the strikes on Wednesday at 8 p.m. local time.
The threat comes amid a slew of major military operations on both sides. A U.S. official told the Wall Street Journal on Tuesday that U.S. forces bombed an ammunition depot in Esfahan, the city where one of Iran’s main nuclear facilities is located. The attack used 2,000-pound bunker-buster bombs, which are much smaller versions of the same type of weaponry that the United States used to strike the Esfahan nuclear site (along with two others) last June.
Also on Tuesday, U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff chairman Gen. Dan Caine confirmed that U.S. troops have begun flying B-52 bombers over Iranian territory for the first time since the war began. Using this strategic bomber—built by Boeing, one of the IRGC’s listed targets—suggests that Iran’s air defenses may be significantly degraded. According to Caine, the U.S. military has struck more than 11,000 targets inside Iran and is now focused on destroying supply chains that are vital to Tehran’s missile-, drone-, and ship-building facilities.
Meanwhile, Iranian forces set ablaze a fully loaded Kuwaiti oil tanker at a Dubai port on Tuesday. The attack was just the latest Iranian assault on merchant vessels and energy assets in and near the Persian Gulf. Since mid-March, Iran has effectively shut down traffic through the vital Strait of Hormuz, which connects the Persian Gulf to the Gulf of Oman; more recently, Tehran has transformed the strategic waterway into a “toll booth,” rerouting ships to an alternate path close to the Iranian coastline and even charging some ships as much as $2 million per transit.
All of this has caused an unprecedented disruption to global energy flows. U.S. gas prices exceeded an average of $4 a gallon on Tuesday for the first time since 2022, when Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine. And Brent crude prices continue to hover above $100 per barrel—up from roughly $70 before the conflict began on Feb. 28.
European Union energy ministers convened an emergency meeting on Tuesday to warn of prolonged turmoil in the energy sector, specifically for jet fuel and diesel supplies. “It will not be short because even if there was a peace tomorrow, there will still be consequences because energy infrastructure in the region has been ruined by war,” EU Energy Commissioner Dan Jorgensen said.
The bloc is considering reviving several crisis measures that were last used in 2022 to address the problem. They include potentially curbing grid tariffs and taxing electricity. But Trump has a different message for Washington’s European allies: “I have a suggestion for you: Number 1, buy from the U.S., we have plenty, and Number 2, build up some delayed courage, go to the Strait, and just TAKE IT. You’ll have to start learning how to fight for yourself, the U.S.A. won’t be there to help you anymore, just like you weren’t there for us