WASHINGTON, March 10 (Reuters) - Iran is fighting back but is not tougher than the U.S. military expected before the war, the top U.S. general told reporters on Tuesday, as the Pentagon promised 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 and 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," U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth told a Pentagon briefing.
Iran has refused to bow to Trump's demand that it let the United States choose its new leadership, naming hardliner Mojtaba Khamenei as supreme leader to replace his father, who was killed on the war's first day.
Iran has launched retaliatory strikes against U.S. military bases and diplomatic missions in Arab Gulf states but also hit hotels, closed airports and damaged oil infrastructure.
The Pentagon says the number of Iranian strikes has fallen sharply from the start of the war, as the Pentagon bombs Iran's weapons inventories and targets Iran's more limited number of missile launchers.
Asked if Iran was a stronger adversary than he expected when the U.S. military drew up its war plans, General Dan Caine, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told reporters the fight was not harder than expected.
"I think they're fighting, and I respect that, but I don't think they are more formidable than what we thought," Caine told the Pentagon briefing.
US MAY ESCORT SHIPS THROUGH THE STRAIT
U.S. President Donald Trump said on March 3 that the U.S. would provide protection through the Strait for oil tankers. But the Pentagon has yet to announce any plan to do that while fighting rages.
The U.S. military has started looking at ways to potentially escort ships through the Strait of Hormuz, should it be ordered to do so, Caine said.
"We're looking at a range of options there," Caine told reporters at the Pentagon.
Still, Hegseth echoed Trump's threats to heavily strike Iran if it shuts down the critical waterway, saying "death, fire, and fury will rain upon them."
"We have capabilities that no other nation on Earth has," Hegseth said.
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, and Middle East oil producers have run out of storage and stopped pumping.
Hegseth said the United States was focused on striking Iranian military capabilities, and stressed the war would not be like the years-long conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan.
So far, the United States has carried out strikes against more than 5,000 targets since the war began on February 28, destroying or damaging more than 50 Iranian naval vessels, the Pentagon said.
"We will not relent until the enemy is totally and decisively defeated. But we do so ... on our timeline," Hegseth said.
(Reporting by Phil Stewart, Idrees Ali, Susan Heavey, Katharine Jackson, editing by Michelle Nichols and Nick Zieminski)
