Iran Threatens to Eliminate Trump, As US Casualty Figure Stands at 7 Dead, 140 Injured

• UAE’s Ruwais oil refinery hit by drone 

•Hegseth: war won’t be endless, Iranian forces badly losing

Emmanuel Addeh in Abuja

Iran has warned United States President Donald Trump to “be careful not to be eliminated” after Trump said he did not believe the Iranian government’s new Supreme Leader could “live in peace”.

Trump told Iran to brace for “death, fire and fury” for keeping the Strait of Hormuz shut, before threatening its new leader, Mojtaba Khamenei.

He told Fox that the new Supreme Leader will be unable to “live in peace” and he was “not happy with the appointment”, having warned Iran he would have the final say over their leader.

But Iran’s security chief, Ali Larijani, dismissed Trump’s comments, saying Iran “is not afraid of your empty threats”.

Larijani added, “Even those greater than you could not eliminate the Iranian nation. Take care of yourself not to be eliminated!”

Larijani’s threat came just days after an Iranian operative was convicted for an assassination attempt against Trump during the 2024 presidential race.

Trump’s campaign was warned by national security officials that Iran was targeting him and had multiple kill teams inside the US.

Asif Merchant, a Pakistani national, who was trained by the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), was found guilty of the assassination plot on Saturday.

US casualty figure stands at 7 dead, 140 injured, as Attacks Intensify

Iranian strikes killed seven American troops, and injured 140 US service members overall, Pentagon said yesterday. Of that number, 108 had returned to duty, it added.

“The vast majority of these injuries have been minor,” Sean Parnell, the chief Pentagon spokesman, said in the statement. “Eight service members remain listed as severely injured and are receiving the highest level of medical care,” Parnel added.

On Sunday, Pentagon announced that a seventh American service member had died in the war with Iran. On Monday, Pentagon identified the service member as Army Sgt. Benjamin Pennington, 26, of Glendale, Ky.

Pennington was seriously injured on March 1 when Iran struck a Saudi military base where American troops were stationed, US Central Command said. He died from his injuries on Saturday night while military health officials were preparing to transfer him to a US military hospital in Germany for more advanced care, officials said.

He was assigned to the Space Battalion last June, the New York Times reported.

At the weekend, Trump witnessed the return of the bodies of the first six Americans killed in the war, at a solemn ceremony at Dover Air Force Base in Delaware. The six Army Reservists were killed after an Iranian drone strike Sunday at the Shuaiba port in Kuwait.

Hegseth: War Won’t Be Endless

US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth said Tuesday was the “most intense” day of strikes inside Iran, adding that the country “stands alone, and Iran is badly losing”. He also said in the last 24 hours, Iran had fired the lowest number of missiles since the start of the war.

On the ground, Iranians in Tehran described how they were left “in total darkness” following heavy strikes overnight.

Meanwhile, Ali Larijani, a top Iranian security official, said his country was not scared of what he called “worthless threats” by Trump.

During a Tuesday morning US defence department update on the operation in Iran, Hegseth said US goals included destroying Iran’s missile stockpiles, their missile launchers, and their defence industrial base; destroying Iran’s navy; and permanently denying the country nuclear weapons.

Chair of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Gen Dan Caine, said during the news conference that Iranian ballistic missile attacks continued to trend downwards.

They are “90 per cent from where they started, and one-way attack drones have decreased 83 per cent since the beginning of the operation”, he said. Hegseth did not give a timeline on the conflict ending, telling reporters that “our will is endless” but it was up to the president on how long it lasts. He also said this would not be a repeat of the past, when the US became involved in drawn-out conflicts in the Middle East.

“This is not 2003,” he said. “This is not endless nation-building under those types of quagmires we saw under Bush or Obama. It’s not even close. Our generation of soldiers will not let that happen again, and nor will this president who very clearly ran against those kinds of never-ending, nebulous scoped missions.”

Trump: Iran Will Be Hit Hard If It Disrupts Movement in Strait of Hormuz

Trump, on Tuesday, warned Iran over any possible use of mines along the Strait of Hormuz, saying there would be severe military consequences, though he stated that the US had no reports of this happening.

He also said the US had hit “and completely destroyed, 10 inactive mine laying boats and/or ships”, without offering more details. The BBC’s US partner, CBS News, reported that US intelligence assets believed Iran was preparing to possibly deploy naval mines in the Strait of Hormuz.

On the ground in Iran, people continued to try to survive the barrage of US-Israeli strikes. At least 1,230 people have been killed across the country since the start of the attacks by US and Israel, according to the humanitarian organisation, the Iranian Red Crescent.

UAE Shuts Ruwais Oil Refinery After Drone Attack

Abu Dhabi state oil giant ADNOC shut its Ruwais refinery in response to a fire at a facility within the complex following a drone strike, a source with knowledge of the situation said on Tuesday, marking the latest energy infrastructure disruption due to the US-Israeli war on Iran.

The complex is the site of Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC) facilities that can refine up to 922,000 barrels of oil a day and serves as the central hub for the emirate’s downstream operations, including significant chemical, fertilizer and industrial gas plants.

The attack marked the latest since Tehran launched strikes on several of its neighbours in response to the U.S.-Israeli assault on Iran. The attacks have forced several countries to cut production as shipping in the vital Strait of Hormuz oil transit chokepoint, carrying roughly a fifth of global oil flows, ground to a near halt.

The refinery was shut as a precautionary measure, the source told Reuters, adding that all other operations at the complex are continuing normally.