Iran is fighting back but is no tougher than the US military expected before the war, the leading US general says, as ‌the Pentagon promises its most intense day of strikes in the 10-day-old conflict.

As Iran’s Revolutionary Guards threaten to block oil shipments from the Gulf, the Pentagon renewed threats ‌to hit Iran harder unless shipments can flow through the Strait of Hormuz off Iran’s coast.

It said it was striking Iranian mine-laying vessels and mine storage facilities.

“Today will be yet again, our most intense day of strikes inside Iran: the most fighters, the most bombers, the most strikes, intelligence more refined and better than ever,” US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth told a Pentagon briefing on Tuesday (local time).

He said the US would not relent until “the enemy is totally and decisively defeated,” and President Donald Trump “gets to control the throttle”.

The Pentagon said the number of Iranian strikes had fallen sharply from the start of the war, as the US bombed weapons inventories and targets the country’s more limited number of missile launchers.

Asked if Iran was a stronger adversary than he expected when the US military drew up its war plans, General Dan Caine, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of ⁠Staff, said the fight was no harder than forecast.

“I think they’re fighting, and ‌I respect ​that, but I don’t think they are more formidable than what we thought,” Caine said.

“[US Central Command] continues today to hunt and strike mine-laying vessels and mine storage facilities.”

Trump said on ‌March 3 that the US would protect oil tankers sailing through the strait. However, the Pentagon has yet to announce any plan for that.

Caine said the US military had started looking at ways to potentially escort ships through the Strait of Hormuz, should it be ordered to do so.

“We’re looking at a range of options there,” he said.

Still, Hegseth echoed Trump’s threats ​to ​heavily strike Iran if it shut down the critical waterway, ​saying “death, fire, and fury will rain upon them”.

But the war has already effectively halted shipments through the Strait, where a fifth of global oil and liquefied natural gas normally passes along Iran’s coast. In addition, Middle East oil producers have run out of storage and stopped pumping.

The Strait of ‌Hormuz would either be a ‌waterway of peace and ‌prosperity for all or one of defeat and suffering for “warmongers”, Iranian security ‌chief Ali ⁠Larijani said in ​a post on X on Tuesday.

Iran launched more attacks on Tuesday at Israel and Gulf Arab countries as it kept up pressure in the war started by Israel and the US.

In Bahrain, authorities said an Iranian attack hit a residential building in the capital Manama, killing a 29-year-old woman and wounding eight people.

Saudi Arabia said it destroyed two drones over its oil-rich eastern region and Kuwait’s National Guard said it shot down six drones.

In the United Arab Emirates, firefighters battled a blaze in the industrial city of Ruwais — home to petrochemical plants — after an Iranian drone strike, officials said.

No injuries were reported.

Sirens also sounded in Jerusalem, and sounds of explosions could be heard in Tel Aviv as Israel’s defence systems worked to intercept barrages from Iran.

Hegseth said the US was focused on striking Iranian military capabilities, and stressed the war would not be like the years-long conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan.

On Saturday, Trump said Iran would be “hit very hard” and that the country was already “being beat to hell” by ongoing US and Israeli attacks.

The US had struck more than 5000 targets since the war began on February 28, destroying or damaging more than 50 Iranian naval vessels, Caine said.

“We will ​not relent until the enemy is totally ⁠and decisively defeated. But we do so … on our timeline,” Hegseth said.

-with DPA and AP