Iran warns of 'faster, heavier' response as US-Iran conflict enters second week

Iran's parliament speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf warned on Sunday that the United States will face a faster, heavier, and more painful response to its attacks, as hostilities between Washington and Tehran sharply intensified entering their second week.

His comments came a day after US Central Command said it had struck Iranian oil tankers in response to earlier Iranian attacks on American warships. Iran also claimed to have targeted an American remote-controlled vessel trying to enter the Strait of Hormuz, though US military spokesman Captain Tim Hawkins dismissed the report as a total lie.

Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth reinforced the American position: if Iran shoots at US ships, we will destroy and sink their oil tankers, he wrote on social media. The 60-day ceasefire between the US and Iran expired last month, and fighting resumed almost immediately, spreading to US partner nations in the UAE, Bahrain, Kuwait and Jordan.

The Strait of Hormuz, through which around a third of the world's seaborne oil trade normally passes, has been effectively closed since the war began in February. The US military says it is helping ships navigate an alternative southern route, with Energy Secretary Chris Wright reporting that approximately 9 million barrels of oil per day are now transiting the waterway.

The economic impact has been severe. The average price of a gallon of diesel in the United States reached $5.85 on Friday, compared with $3.71 a year ago. With midterm elections scheduled for November, President Trump is facing mounting pressure over the war's cost to American consumers. Trump has repeatedly said the conflict will not last too long, though six months of negotiations have yielded no lasting diplomatic settlement.