Iran war rages as Pentagon says about 140 U.S. service members wounded overall

By Tucker Reals, Eleanor Watson, James LaPorta

What to know as the U.S. and Israel's war with Iran intensifies

• Approximately 140 U.S. service members were wounded in the first 10 days of the war with Iran, the Pentagon said Tuesday.

• U.S. officials told CBS News that Iran may be getting ready to deploy naval mines in the Strait of Hormuz, the key waterway for global oil shipments. The Pentagon later said the U.S. destroyed 16 mine-laying boats near the Strait of Hormuz.

• Iran continues its attacks on petroleum producing Gulf Arab countries, showing defiance in the face of Mr. Trump's suggestion that the war is likely to end "very soon" and is already "very complete, pretty much."

• U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said Tuesday would be the most intense day of strikes on Iran to date, but he said the administration's war objectives were quickly being met, claiming Iran's missile launch capacity had been degraded by 90% during the war.

  
  

4:01 AM

6 of 7 Iranian soccer players granted asylum in Australia staying, officials say

Two more members of the Iranian women's soccer team were granted asylum in Australia before their teammates departed, but one of the woman later changed her mind and will return to Iran, Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke told reporters Wednesday.

He said the two were reunited with five players who were granted humanitarian visas a day earlier.

One of the women later changed her mind and will return home. The rest of the team left Sydney to return to Iran late Tuesday.

Read more here

By The Associated Press

3:53 AM

Trump says Iran "welcome to compete" in World Cup, FIFA chief says

President Trump has said Iran is "welcome" to take part in the upcoming World Cup in North America, despite the ongoing war in the Middle East, FIFA chief Gianni Infantino said Wednesday.

During a meeting to discuss preparations for the competition, "we also spoke about the current situation in Iran," the head of the world soccer governing body wrote on Instagram.

"During the discussions, President Trump reiterated that the Iranian team is, of course, welcome to compete in the tournament in the United States," he wrote.

CBS News has reached out to the White House for comment.

CBS/AFP

2:48 AM

Iran's new supreme leader "safe and sound" despite war injury reports, president's son says

Iran's new supreme leader Mojtaba Khamenei is "safe and sound" despite reports of an injury during the war with Israel and the United States, the son of the Iranian president said Wednesday.

"I heard news that Mr Mojtaba Khamenei had been injured. I have asked some friends who had connections. They told me that, thank God, he is safe and sound," said Yousef Pezeshkian, who is also a government adviser, in a post on his Telegram channel.

State television had called Khamenei a "wounded veteran of the Ramadan war" but never specified his injury.

The new supreme leader is the son and successor of the Islamic republic's longtime ruler Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who was killed in US-Israeli strikes on Iran on February 28 that triggered a war across the Middle East.

The 56-year-old Mojtaba Khamenei, a discreet figure who has rarely appeared in public or spoken at official events, has not addressed the nation or issued a written statement since he was declared supreme leader on Sunday.

In a Wednesday report, The New York Times quoted three unnamed Iranian officials as saying Khamenei "had suffered injuries, including to his legs, but that he was alert and sheltering at a highly secure location with limited communication."

By AFP

 2:24 AM

Cargo ship on fire, crew evacuating after strike by projectile in Strait of Hormuz

A projectile hit a cargo ship in the Strait of Hormuz, setting the vessel ablaze after the United States targeted Iranian mine-laying vessels that could focus on the narrow waterway at the mouth of the Persian Gulf.

The United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations center, run by the British military, said the vessel had been hit Wednesday just north of Oman in the strait. It said the crew was evacuating.

Iran didn't claim that it carried out the attack, though it has been targeting ships in and around the strait vital to the global oil and natural gas trade.

The UKMTO earlier reported on another attack targeting a vessel just west of the strait, off Ras al-Khaimah in the United Arab Emirates.

CBS/AP

 1:00 AM

Iran's police chief has ominous warning for any would-be protesters

Iran's top police officer warned protesters who support the positions of the country's enemies that they would be treated as such by authorities, according to footage posted by state broadcaster IRIB late on Tuesday.

"If anyone comes forward in line with the wishes of the enemy, we will no longer see them as merely a protester, we will see them as an enemy. And we will do to them what we do to an enemy. We will deal with them in the same way we deal with enemies," said national police chief Ahmad-Reza Radan in comments aired by IRIB.

"All our forces are also ready, with their hands on the trigger, prepared to defend their revolution."

Mass anti-government protests roiled Iran in January until a government crackdown crushed the demonstrations.

President Trump said in a news briefing last month that 32,000 people were killed during the protests, a far higher death toll than has previously been reported. Mr. Trump didn't offer a source for that death toll.

Two sources, including one inside Iran, told CBS News last month that at least 12,000, and possibly as many as 20,000 people were killed throughout Iran in the demonstrations.

CBS/AFPKerry Brean contributed to this report  

 12:05 AM

Container vessel damaged in strike near Strait of Hormuz, U.K. says

The U.K. Maritime and Coastguard Agency said early Wednesday local time that it had received reports that a container vessel had been hit in a strike just west of the Strait of Hormuz.

The vessel's captain reported that it "had sustained damage from a suspected but unknown projectile" about 25 nautical miles north of Ras Al-Khaimah, a United Arab Emirates port city, the MCA said.

The crew was investigating the extent of the damage, the agency added. The exact nature of the strike was unclear. The MCA did not disclose if there were any reported injuries.

There was also no word on what the vessel was carrying, and what its destination was.  

According to the U.S. Energy Information Administration, about 20% of the world's oil supply goes through the strait. 

By Faris Tanyos