Stocks on Wall Street lost ground again Wednesday as the price of crude oil climbed back above $100 a barrel amid further escalation in the U.S. war with Iran.

The S&P 500 index fell 0.5%. The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 0.8%, and the Nasdaq composite gave up 0.6%. The indexes are each on track for a weekly loss.

The losses were broad, with retailers among the companies that pulled the market lower. Amazon fell 1.8%, Starbucks lost 1.9% and Home Depot dropped 1%. Every sector within the benchmark S&P 500 declined except for energy, which rose as oil companies notched gains. Exxon Mobil rose 2.2% and Chevron added 1.9%.

Oil prices drove much of the action on Wall Street. The U.S. destroyed five Iranian tankers on Tuesday . The conflict that began in February has essentially shut down traffic in the Strait of Hormuz, where a fifth of the world’s oil supply passed before the war began.

The price of Brent crude, the international standard, rose 3.4% to settle at $101.21 a barrel. It marks the first time .

�ճ���� is likely going to keep oil prices elevated at least through the U.S. midterm elections in November,��

The jump in oil prices over the course of the war has fueled already high inflation. Gasoline prices in the U.S. are up about 32% from a year ago to $4.22 per gallon. Higher fuel prices cut into household budgets directly when it comes to the cost of driving, but they also indirectly raise prices for goods because of higher shipping costs.

The price of diesel, which can have an outsized impact on consumers because it is used in shipping and production, hit an  and has continued to climb since. The average price for a gallon reached $5.94 overnight and is now 9 cents higher than it was Friday.

Inflation was already stubbornly high when the U.S. started its war against Iran because of the ongoing U.S. trade war with much of the world. That trade war is also heating up, especially between 

Wall Street will get more updates this week on inflation, starting with a look at prices at the wholesale level on Thursday with the release of the Producer Price Index for August. It measures prices businesses pay for goods before they reach customers. That report will be followed up Friday with the release of the Consumer Price Index, or CPI, for August, which shows the more direct price impact for households.

The latest reports are expected to show that the rate of inflation remains above 3%. That has been an issue for the Federal Reserve, which is aiming to hold inflation at a target rate of 2%. The central bank has been holding rates steady, but Wall Street is leaning toward a 62% chance that it will raise its benchmark interest rate at its meeting next week, according to data from CME Group.

Higher interest rates make borrowing more expensive. The goal of raising interest rates is to slow the economy and cool inflation.

Rising Treasury yields in the bond market were also weighing down stocks on Wall Street Wednesday.

The U.S. Treasury Department on Wednesday said it would buy back up to $6 billion in long-term debt. That follows an  previewing plans for an unusually large buyback in an effort to contain rising yields, which make it more expensive for U.S. companies to borrow money and also weigh down other investments, such as stocks.

Bond yields had been holding steady prior to the announcement, but gained ground shortly after.

“The simplest version here is that market interventions have a long history of not working very well,” said Guy LeBas, chief fixed income strategist at Janney Montgomery Scott.

The yield on the 10-year Treasury, which tends to impact mortgage rates, rose to 4.85% — its highest point since late October of 2023 — before easing to 4.84% from 4.80% late Tuesday. The yield on the 2-year Treasury, which tends to track expectations for Fed moves on interest rates, rose to 4.43% from 4.39% late Tuesday.

Bond yields have an inverse relationship to prices. Yields rise as bond prices fall. Rising yields signal that investors are demanding a higher return from Treasurys.

Elsewhere on Wall Street, shares of  rose 6.6% as the parent company of Instagram and Facebook launched a personal , Muse, for people 18 and over who are looking for help with day-to-day tasks like schedules and shopping.

All told, the S&P 500 fell 37.16 points to 7,636.36. The Dow dropped 405.41 points to 52,380.66, and the Nasdaq gave up 168.07 to close at 26,253.34.

Markets in Europe fell while markets in Asia closed mixed.

AP Business Writers Yuri Kageyama and Michelle Chapman contributed to this report.

NEW YORK (AP) — Oil prices shot past $100 a barrel Wednesday as fighting between the U.S.  escalated, threatening to increase costs for consumers and businesses worldwide.

Brent crude, the international standard, climbed into triple digits for the first time since July and . U.S. benchmark crude was close behind, finishing at $96.05 a barrel a day after  on oil facilities and ships in the Middle East raised the risk of further disruptions to global supplies already constrained by war.

New developments in the Middle East, prospects of both peace and renewed hostilities, have caused market whiplash throughout the . Oil returning to the $100 mark raises concern because experts have warned that a prolonged period of steep prices would worsen the economic fallout.

Crude is the main ingredient of widely used fuels like gasoline and , both of which have become more expensive in recent weeks. Higher energy prices ripple through the global economy, adding to  of everything from producing and transporting food, medicines and household goods to daily commutes and air travel.

“Brent breaking above $100 is a major psychological milestone for markets, but the bigger concern is what this means for inflation,” Lukman Otunuga, market research head at global broker FXTM, noted.

Political ramifications could pile up in the meantime. U.S. President Donald Trump, who has  the war he co-launched, said Wednesday that oil prices likely  November’s midterm elections.

Here’s what we know.

What’s driving the latest surge in oil prices

Crude oil prices shot up shortly after Israel and the U.S. began their war with Iran in late February. The fighting halted most shipping through the , a narrow waterway where roughly a fifth of the world’s oil supply passed before the conflict.

Prices have fluctuated considerably over the last six months. Brent surged in the early days of the war and briefly reached  a barrel. Prices sometimes swung widely day by day, but the benchmark stood above $100 for a full month in the spring.

Hopes for a lasting peace agreement and a plan to move oil safely out of the Persian Gulf caused the market to cool in the early summer, when prices fell closer to prewar levels of around $70 a barrel. Instead, new attacks mounted, talks between the U.S. and Iran crumbled and oil went up again, albeit with some volatility.

Before Wednesday, Brent last settled above $100 on one day in July but had not dropped below $90 since the end of August.

Oil prices rose further Tuesday as hostilities intensified around the Persian Gulf, with U.S. forces destroying five Iranian oil tankers and An Iranian-backed Houthi rebel group striking oil facilities .

Recent attacks by  could constrain global oil supplies even more because they targeted an  that Saudi Arabia has relied on to transport oil during the war.

Renewed pain at the pump and other costs for consumers

One of the most immediate consequences of higher oil prices is the cost of fuel. Drivers see and feel the impact when they fill up their tanks. More expensive diesel, jet fuel and bunker fuel add to  for goods hauled on trucks, trains, airplanes and ships.

The effects have reached  in much of the world. Countries in Asia and Africa that rely more heavily on imports from the Middle East have experienced some of the starkest shocks over the course of the war.

In Nigeria, diesel prices are more than 90% higher and gasoline prices are up nearly 58%, according to the latest data from energy tracker Global Petrol Prices. Countries including Indonesia (diesel up 87% and gas up 38%) and Lebanon (diesel up 80% and gas up 46%) have also seen steep spikes.

In the U.S., the average price for a gallon of regular gasoline rose to $4.22 Wednesday, nearly 42% more than the national average of $2.98 before the war began, according to motor club AAA. Meanwhile, American diesel keeps setting ; the average price for a gallon on Wednesday hit $5.94, another all-time high without accounting for inflation and a 58% increase from the start of the war.

The cost of diesel can have an outsize impact because the fuel powers long-haul trucks and farm equipment. Shoppers may see transportation and production costs show up on supermarket shelves, particularly for perishable products that need to be restocked frequently. Tractor-trailers that move parcels between distribution hubs also run on diesel, and some costs have been passed on to consumers in the form of added fees for �����Ի���.

Many airlines have cut flights while  in response to rising jet fuel prices. More expensive oil could drive up costs for a long list of , including things made with rubber and clothes made with synthetic fabrics.

The Strait of Hormuz also is a major route for liquefied natural gas, a key ingredient in the production of . With gas supplies constrained like oil, the United Nations has said the war could reduce agricultural yields and increase world hunger.

What $100 a barrel could mean for the road ahead

It can take time for all energy shocks to trickle through the supply chain — meaning that squeezes even from earlier in the war  that still haven’t been fully realized yet. And the return of $100 Brent may only add to those costs.

Otunuga, of FXTM, noted Wednesday that a big question boils down to how long prices stay elevated.

“This time feels different,” Otunuga wrote, pointing to rising tensions. He added that a solid close above $100 “confirms this isn’t just a headline spike” and potentially opens the door toward $110 — although there’s still the possibility for momentum to fade.

Analysts at Bank of America also said this week that additional refinery outages in Russia, reduced refining activity elsewhere and sharply declining inventories have pushed diesel and gasoline prices sharply higher globally.

They increased their oil price forecast for the second half of the year to $83 a barrel “in light of more persistent disruptions to Hormuz,” but said they still expected shipping through the strait to gradually pick up. If attacks keep a chokehold on traffic, prices could reach $95 to $120 a barrel, while damage to major energy infrastructure could produce spikes of up to $150 a barrel, the analysts wrote.

The prospect of reaching a durable deal before the U.S. midterms looks “increasingly unlikely” and “could remain elusive even beyond that,” the analysts added. The upcoming elections are now just 8 weeks away.

Steep energy costs heading into November could prove particularly challenging for Trump’s Republican Party, with many voters  on his management of the economy. Trump himself said Wednesday that  before the midterms — but would come down “right after.”

Grantham-Philips reported from Philadelphia. AP Business Writer Rio Yamat in Las Vegas contributed.

KUHESTAK, Iran (AP) — Women with their children were gathered in the house and yard, waiting for the bride and groom to arrive to kick off a wedding celebration in this small town in southern Iran. Then an explosion turned the scene to carnage.

The town of Kuhestak is still reeling from ���ٳ󲹳��� during an American bombardment of southern Iran on Tuesday evening. Lampposts at the entrance to the town displayed large posters of four of the dead — a 4-year-old boy, a 16-year-old and two women. Another woman, one of more than 60 people wounded in the blasts, died Thursday at a hospital.

On Friday, an Associated Press team made a rare visit to the town on the coast overlooking . Within a densely built neighborhood of houses and unpaved alleys stood the compound of the Mallahi family, which was struck as relatives celebrated their daughter’s wedding.

A U.S. weapons expert who reviewed images from the scene said the evidence suggests the strikes were carried out with American guided bombs.

Blast left a gaping hole in the roof

Ali Mallahi, a cousin of the bride, pointed to a gaping hole in the roof of a room that took a direct hit in one of the compound’s four houses. Big cracks ran through walls decorated with floral designs. Windows were shattered, and twisted sections of roofing and metal framework lay across the courtyard, among carpets and household appliances that the family had pulled out of other damaged rooms.

�վ������� aired in Iranian media showed colorful decorations and palm fronds strewn across the ground.

Weddings in the area are traditionally segregated by gender, and on Tuesday evening, roughly 150 women were gathered in the house, while the men held a separate celebration in another building about 50 meters (yards) away, Mallahi said.

A strike hit the room where the women were due to be served dinner, but at the time, celebrations were only just getting started, Mallahi said. The bride and groom had not yet arrived.

“Thank God, the casualties were not higher,” he said. The father of the bride, his uncle, is also named Ali Mallahi.

Sasan Zarei, a neighbor, said she rushed to the Mallahis’ home and helped people out of the rubble. “Most of the injured were kids. The scenes were very heartbreaking.”

Vance says US is investigating

U.S. Vice President JD Vance said Thursday that he was briefed on the wedding attack. “We’re investigating it very fully,” he said. He said the U.S. never targets civilians in combat but added, “Sometimes things happen.”

Residents described to the AP how a series of heavy explosions shook Kuhestak, lighting up the night sky. The blasts came amid  of American bombardment in southern Iran that the U.S. military said targeted air defenses, radar systems and maritime assets.

Also hit was a communications tower by Kuhestak’s port, just over 100 meters (yards) from the Mallahi’s home. AP footage showed the tower toppled and heavy damage to the neighboring building that houses the town’s telecommunications department.

Hassan Sayadi, a technician with the department, said the tower had provided telephone and internet connections across the area. The Hormozgan provincial telecommunications department said Wednesday that U.S. attacks had disrupted landlines and mobile phone service in multiple locations, including Kuhestak, and that it was working to restore services. On Friday, mobile phones and data services were operating.

Town is not far from site where US hit a primary school

Kuhestak is about 30 kilometers (18 miles) from the town of Minab, where  in an American missile strike that hit a primary school on Feb. 28, the opening day of the war launched by the U.S. and Israel.

Following Tuesday’s strikes, residents and Iranian media showed fragments of munitions found at the scene, including a thermal battery unit, a segment of a control fin and part of the exterior body of the munition.

Weapons experts told the AP that they believe imagery of fragments found at the site points to an American guided munition. Trevor Ball, a former U.S. Army explosive ordnance disposal technician and an analyst at Armament Research Services, said the imagery shows remnants of both a JSOW and GBU-39, which are types of guided, air-delivered glide bombs.

The images were “being evaluated to determine if one of these munitions, or another model, was responsible,” he said.

Videos released by U.S. Central Command of its operations that night in Iran show aircraft heading on missions, including an F/A-18E loaded with a JSOW.

The AP could not immediately determine where the remnants were collected or whether they all came from the wedding venue or also from the communication tower.

Associated Press reporters Mohsen Ganji in Kuhestak, Iran, Sarah El Deeb in Beirut and Lee Keath in Cairo contributed to this report.

CHICAGO (AP) — Diesel hit a record price in the U.S. on Friday, soaring to an average of $5.85 a gallon for the first time as the  war with Iran disrupts the world’s .

Because diesel is used for many freight and delivery networks, higher diesel prices mean higher transportation costs for a long list of everyday goods. Some businesses have already passed on costs to consumers in the form of added fees on �����Ի���. And shoppers may see more and more sticker shock trickle down to store shelves.

One of the most immediate strains is being felt in the grocery aisle, particularly with produce, meat and other perishable foods that need to be hauled in and restocked frequently — or even harvested using diesel-powered farm equipment. It can take time for all of those costs to trickle down.

Still, experts warn that price hikes could mount the longer diesel remains expensive. A  are also transported by diesel trucks, trains and boats, including clothing, cosmetics and furniture.

This could add to Republicans’ political challenges ahead of November’s midterm elections, with many voters already sour on President  management of the economy and fallout of the war he launched.  this summer showed 2 out of 3 U.S. adults disapproved of how Trump is handling the economy.

The price for regular gasoline has also been going up, although not as fast as the price of diesel. The average price was $4.15 a gallon, compared with $3.20 at this time last year, according to motor club AAA, which says gas has never been above $4 a gallon on Labor Day.

What����ap driving the latest jump for diesel

American diesel prices are now nearly 56% more expensive than they were before the U.S. and Israel launched their war against Iran in late February, when the national average sat at about $3.76 per gallon per AAA. Prices quickly climbed as the cost of crude oil — the main ingredient in diesel,�� — soared amid supply chain disruptions across the Middle East, notably with most tanker traffic bottlenecked in the key .

Despite prices cooling some during  earlier in the summer, oil has now renewed its climb as fighting  between the U.S. and Iran. Brent crude, the international standard, was trading at more than $95 a barrel Friday, up from roughly $70 before the war. Prices at the pump always follow closely behind.

The last time businesses and drivers saw sky-high fuel prices was , when diesel reached nearly $5.82 a gallon on average months after the Ukraine war began and world leaders imposed sanctions against Russia, a leading oil producer.

When adjusted for inflation, however, prices have been higher in the past. Ahead of the 2008 financial crisis, for example, diesel hit about $4.74 a gallon — equivalent to $7.20 in 2026, according to the government����ap latest data. And 2022’s record of nearly $5.82 would be about $6.56 this year when accounting for inflation.

That doesn’t take the pain away from today’s steep prices, which are already bringing ripple effects for the economy and wider costs of living. Drivers are feeling the pain with gasoline, too.

The average $4.15 for a gallon of regular unleaded is up from $2.98 before the Iran war (an over 39% jump), although still well below  of nearly $5.02 a gallon nationwide.

Diesel has been more expensive than gasoline in the U.S. for decades, and its price has risen at a faster pace before. Some reasons include less flexibility in demand and diesel’s position in global commerce overall. Individual households may find ways to drive less when gas prices are high, for example, but there’s fewer immediate substitutes for networks that rely on diesel to haul goods worldwide.

All eyes on food

Diesel is integral to every part of the food supply chain. It powers farm equipment and fishing boats as well as the trains and trucks headed to grocery stores.

Fuel accounts for roughly 15% to 30% of the total cost of food, according to the Independent Grocers Alliance, a grouping of 7,500 global supermarkets. So higher diesel costs often result in more expensive groceries, although it can take a while for energy shocks to wind their way through the supply chain.

Items that need to stay refrigerated while they’re transported are often the first to see prices rise, according to David Ortega, a professor of food economics and policy at Michigan State University. In July, for example, overall U.S. grocery prices were up 2.7% compared to a year prior, but seafood prices were up 7% and fresh fruit prices were up 4.9%.

Ortega cautioned other factors can be at play, too. Lettuce also faced higher transportation costs in July, but a drop in demand due to the  caused prices to fall.

Still, consumers could feel more of a squeeze the longer diesel prices remain high.

“Early on, much of the cost increase gets absorbed along the supply chain through existing freight contracts and retailer margins,” Ortega said. “But as contracts reprice and fuel surcharges take hold, more of that cost makes its way to the grocery store.”

More fuel shocks

Back in April, e-commerce giant Amazon rolled out  on some third-party sellers. ,�� and the  also moved to add fees on some of the packages they ship earlier in the war, citing rising costs for fuel overall.

Ajesh Kapoor, CEO and founder of trucking technology company SemiCab, said trucking and transportation can adapt to rising diesel prices — but at some point there is a limit.

“Diesel price has a very, very direct impact on everything that moves on pretty much any mode,” Kapoor said.

The ramifications extend beyond consumer goods. Some public transit buses and trains  run on diesel. And diesel generators are often used for backup  power, if not  in some remote parts of the world.

Experts warn the consequences could continue to deepen, particularly  countries, which rely more on Middle East imports and have already been hit the hardest by energy shocks.

According to the latest data from Global Petrol Prices, diesel prices in Nigeria have surged 90% since late February — followed by nearly 87% in Indonesia and 77% in Lebanon. Price tags vary widely between countries, due to factors ranging from fuel taxes to local economic conditions more broadly. Diesel prices in Nigeria ended August at $4.91 per gallon (1,730 naira per liter) on average. Meanwhile, the highest sticker price reported by Global Petrol Prices was in Hong Kong, where diesel costs have jumped over 25% during the war and averaged at $17.73 a gallon (nearly 37 Hong Kong dollars per liter) Monday.

At a weekly briefing with Lloyd’s List Intelligence, Neil Atkinson, energy analyst and senior fellow at the National Center for Energy Analytics, said products like diesel are becoming more expensive while physical stocks dwindle. He pointed to the strain on the global refining system.

“This cannot go on forever,” he said.

Associated Press writers Dee-Ann Durbin in Detroit, Mae Anderson in New York and Bill Barrow in Atlanta contributed to this report.

CAIRO (AP) — A U.S. missile hit a home  where dozens were gathered to celebrate the wedding of a fisherman’s daughter, according to a rights group and Iranian media.

Iranian state media said four people — two women and two children — were killed and more than 60 were wounded. The rights group said one of the children, a teenager, was killed by another strike on a nearby communications tower.

Heavy explosions shook the coastal town of Kuhestak on the  on Tuesday, and security footage carried by Iran’s semiofficial Fars news agency showed fireballs lighting up the night sky. It came amid  of American bombardment in southern Iran that the U.S. military said was targeting air defenses, radar systems and maritime assets.

Kuhestak is one of a string of small towns that dot the barren coastline along the Strait of Hormuz, the chokepoint that has become a central front in the six-month war. Kuhestak is located about 30 kilometers (18 miles) from the town of Minab, where  in a U.S. missile strike that hit a primary school on Feb. 28, the opening day of the war launched by the U.S. and Israel.

U.S. Central Command spokesman Capt. Tim Hawkins said the U.S. military was looking into the reports of the strike on a wedding. He would not say if the military had launched a formal investigation.

Little information has come out of the remote area. This is what we know so far.

A missile smashed into the wedding party

At least one missile hit the home of Ali Mallahi, a fisherman who at the time was celebrating the wedding of his daughter, state media said.

“The missile completely destroyed the ceiling of the house,” Mallahi said in an interview with state TV as he pointed to the hole. He said a neighboring house that shares the same yard was hit by another missile. Like most of the town’s population, Mallahi belongs to Iran’s Baluch ethnic minority.

There was no immediate video footage of the moment of impact. But videos aired by Iranian media showed a crater, and walls and the roof of the building heavily damaged, with a smashed car nearby and debris — including wedding guests’ shoes — scattered around.

Four people were killed and dozens wounded, according to state media

The state news agency IRNA and state TV said two women and two children, aged 4 and 16, were killed, and at least 68 were wounded. Just after the strike, Ahmad Nafisi, the province’s deputy governor, had told Iranian state television that five people were killed. There was no explanation for the change.

At the hospital in Minab where wounded people were taken, Iranian media showed at least two girls and a woman in bandages. One of the children looked like she was still in shock.

A man at the hospital with bandages on his head and arm said he was heading to the wedding when he heard jets overhead. The explosion hit as he arrived.

“Blocks were falling and hitting people’s heads. And many small children and women that were there were terribly injured. So many,” he said in a video posted by the Iranian Red Crescent, which did not identify him.

The nearby port was also targeted

Also hit in the round of strikes was a communications tower at Kuhestak’s port, about 100 meters (yards) from Mallahi’s house, according to state media.

At least two missiles hit the communications tower and another hit a pier at the port, Moein Arjomand, director of the Balochistan Human Rights Documentation Network, told the AP, citing witnesses who spoke to his group.

The group, which maintains contacts with Baluch communities in Iran, said the 16-year-old was killed by shrapnel as he rode his motorcycle near the communications tower, rather than at the wedding as reported by Iranian media.

Separately, Iran has said four members of its paramilitary Revolutionary Guard and 10 members of the Guard’s volunteer Basij forces were killed in the latest round of U.S. attacks. A total of 108 people were wounded, according to state media.

Expert says fragments point to a U.S. weapon

A weapons expert told The Associated Press that images of fragments of ordnance that Iranian media said was used in the strike on Mallahi’s home, indicated that it was an “American air-delivered guided weapon.”

N.R. Jenzen-Jones, director of Armament Research Services, initially identified the weapon as a SLAM-ER cruise missile, an air-launched missile that can be retargeted in flight by a human operator. But after examining further imagery, he said it was more likely to be a JSOW, a type of guided bomb, though he did not rule out a SLAM-ER and said multiple weapons may have hit the site.

U.S. Central Command declined to comment on the analyst’s findings.

El Deeb reported from Beirut. Associated Press writers Amir-Hussein Radjy in Zurich, Fatma Khaled in Cairo and Konstantin Toropin in Nuremberg, Germany, contributed to this report.

It has been touted by the manufacturer as the ballistic missile of the future: lethal, long-range, and pinpoint. Lockheed Martin’s Precision Strike Missile has the U.S. military investing billions to update its arsenal.

But a close look at what is believed to be its first use in combat — on — highlights the potential peril of deploying this weapon near population centers because it appears to spray pellets over a wide area, according to a and interviews with weapons experts and former defense officials.

Three missiles that on Feb. 28 killed civilians as far as 164 feet from where they detonated, and caused damage more than three times farther away, Airwars found. The missiles detonated above a sports complex and two residential neighborhoods, Airwars found. The blasts killed at least 21 civilians, including seven children, according to Iranian officials.

Airwars is the first to map the damage radius of the strikes in Lamerd and estimate the lethal range of the weapon used.

The PrSM is designed to explode midair and propel tens of thousands of dense metal pellets at high speed in all directions. Photos, videos and satellite images of the Lamerd strikes’ aftermath analyzed by Airwars and verified by The Associated Press show buildings, streets and vehicles were heavily pockmarked in a blast pattern that experts say is consistent with the PrSM’s capabilities.

The U.S. military has confirmed firing PrSMs into Iran, but has denied attacking Lamerd.

It is unclear who or what was the intended target in Lamerd. An Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps compound is located nearby, but satellite images showed no damage there.

Six weapons experts, including two who are former military officials, told AP they believe PrSMs struck Lamerd — and they said it was unlikely that Israeli or Iranian weapons were used. All said militaries should avoid firing the PrSM at targets near civilian areas.

“You would be hard-pressed to find a reason to use the PrSM in a densely populated area,” said Michael Meier, a former U.S. Army adviser on the laws of war.

How Airwars reached its conclusions

Airwars, a London-based nonprofit, was founded more than a decade ago to track reports of civilian deaths from U.S. airstrikes in Syria and Iraq, and it has also monitored conflicts in Gaza, Ukraine and elsewhere. It relies on publicly available material, such as photos, videos, satellite images, social media and news reports, and uses geolocation software and other tools to help it analyze this evidence.

Airwars used these methods to investigate the strikes on Lamerd. It mapped the approximate locations of the missiles’ detonations, where civilians were reported killed and where damage was visible and consistent with blast patterns. It then measured the distances between the positions to estimate the blast radius.

AP verified Airwars’ blast radius estimate by measuring the distance between where civilians were killed, based on Iranian media reports, and where the missiles detonated midair, based on security camera and other videos. AP also examined satellite images, photos and videos of damage from the attack sites.

Lockheed Martin, which did not respond to a request for comment, has not said how wide the missile’s impact is. It has released modeling a PrSM blast.

US touted use of PrSMs in Iran, but denied attacking Lamerd

In on March 1, the day after Lamerd was struck, U.S. Central Command included what munitions experts say was an image of the PrSM being fired during the Iran operation. Three days later, that PrSMs — in a “historic first” — had been used in Iran, though not where.

Several weeks later, as reports about the strikes in Lamerd garnered media attention, a spokesperson for Central Command that U.S. forces did not launch PrSMs or any weapons into Lamerd on Feb. 28, and that they do not target civilians. The spokesperson said footage of one of the strikes suggested it was an Iranian Hoveyzeh cruise missile.

Weapons experts said a missile seen in security camera video from Lamerd does not match that Iranian model, which has a rounded engine.

The Israeli military told AP it did not strike anywhere in Iran as far south as Lamerd on the first day of the war, and experts said Israel’s military is not known to have missiles that detonate midair.

When asked about Airwars’ and AP’s findings, U.S. Central Command reiterated its denial of responsibility, saying that was based on an earlier review of what happened there. Its commander, Adm. Brad Cooper, also told Congress in May that they were only — a strike on an Iranian school in Minab.

What the PrSM is meant to do

The new missiles are meant to replace the Army Tactical Missile System used for decades, according to .

While the ATACMS can travel approximately 186 miles, the PrSM can hit targets over 310 miles away, Lockheed Martin says.

The PrSM differs from its predecessor in another key way. Where ATACMS shatter into steel fragments or small bomblets over their target area, an exploding PrSM fires tens of thousands of pellets made of tungsten in all directions, Airwars and weapons experts say.

Because of tungsten’s high density and melting point, the pellets retain their shape after detonation. That makes them extremely lethal, capable of piercing soft armor, according to defense journals.

Missiles in Lamerd caused damage far from where they exploded

Airwars found footage of a school in Lamerd that was damaged by the missile detonated over the Shahid Naimi Sports Hall about 557 feet away.

That blast killed seven civilians, mostly children, Iranian state media reported. Airwars says it used open-source material to confirm the deaths. Among them were three teenage girls playing volleyball and a woman smoking a hookah in front of her house.

A separate blast over the Tal-e Khandagh neighborhood killed 2-year-old Avina Barzegar, who was playing in her yard. Airwars estimates the pellet that struck Barzegar traveled about 164 feet from the blast site. It reached that conclusion by geolocating her house, based on a video showing its front gate, and measuring the distance from the house to the site.

Neither Airwars nor AP could find any reports indicating that military or security personnel were killed in the strikes, or that military infrastructure was hit.

The US, UK and Australia are committed to buying more PrSMs

Since the Lamerd strikes, the Pentagon signed a contract worth over $4 billion with to quadruple PrSM production. The U.K. said in June it had set aside $177 million to procure the weapon. Australia bought the missiles in 2025 and in April invested billions of dollars into the PrSM program.

Weapons experts say the PrSM provides valuable new capabilities, but it should be used carefully.

“Its proper use should be reserved for things like large concentrations of enemy personnel with hard and soft armor,” said Wes Bryant, a former Pentagon adviser on precision warfare and civilian harm mitigation.

Trevor Ball, a former explosives expert for the U.S. Army, also urged caution.

“It will kill people outside their homes who aren’t protected by walls,” he said.

Associated Press writers Konstantin Toropin and Collin Binkley in Washington contributed.

WASHINGTON (AP) — President  arrives at an awkward moment for his presidency on Friday as the U.S.-Israel �����𲹳������� a notable milestone for a conflict that the Republican leader repeatedly assured Americans would be a  lasting a matter of weeks.

The war isn’t over, though Trump claims that through bombs and blockade, he has already devastated , military .

And this week his administration said it would turn its focus to  — rather than military action — to try to finish off Iran. The shifting strategy centers on threats to punish any country or entity that continues to .

The turn to using sanctions as the cudgel of choice comes as the administration weighs diminished munitions stockpiles after months of war, sparking concerns that the prolonged conflict could 

As the conflict grinds on, Trump’s talk of finding a quick end to the war also appears to be fading. He stressed this week that he’s  to get Iran , and he continues making the case that the 

“They’re not paying their troops. They’re in deep trouble. They have very little capacity,” Trump told reporters Thursday. “We don’t want to speak to them. We’re not looking to meet or anything,” he said.

It’s unclear how — or if — Trump will address the six-month anniversary of a conflict that has already cost the United States �����Ի��� ahead of critical November elections for his party. The president is spending Friday in Houston, where he’ll honor the  NASA crew for their 10-day mission around the moon earlier this year.

Trump is declaring ‘mission accomplished’ — a phrase that hurt a Republican predecessor

On its face, the moment is complicated for the “America First” leader who fiercely criticized his White House predecessors for wasting American taxpayer money and U.S. troops’ lives in Middle East conflicts and  on the campaign trail to keep the military out of “endless wars.”

But Trump has bristled at suggestions that this war — in which no American troops have deployed into Iran — can be compared with the yearslong wars in Iraq and Afghanistan in which more than 7,000 Americans were killed.

His Republican predecessor, President , was widely mocked for a 2003 speech aboard the USS Abraham Lincoln beneath a White House-produced banner that read “Mission Accomplished.” It came to symbolize a premature declaration of victory for the Iraq War, which would go on for nearly nine more years. More than two decades later, there are still U.S. troops stationed in Iraq.

Trump’s war has stretched on far longer than he told Americans it would. It didn’t stop him from sharing a social media post this week declaring “MISSION ACCOMPLISHED 2026.” The AI-generated image features Trump against a backdrop of U.S. fighter jets, a warship and American flags above smaller images of Bush and former Iranian Supreme Leader ,�� in the opening salvos of the war.

Trump has consistently emphasized that the U.S. and Israel campaign  for Iran’s navy and air force. Iranian officials have said the  $270 billion in direct and indirect damage. Israeli military strikes in the first weeks of the war wiped out much of the theocratic government’s leadership structure, including .

But Iran has found leverage through its own strikes in the critical , where relatively few vessels carrying oil and liquefied natural gas are risking passage. Trump again declared Thursday that the “Strait of Hormuz is open,” saying 24 vessels passed through a day earlier. That’s a fraction of the roughly 130 vessels that passed through the vital waterway daily before the war began.

Trump is showing little interest in talks

Mediators Qatar and Pakistan  from the two sides. Qatar’s prime minister, Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani, was in Tehran on Thursday to discuss a proposed plan between Iran and Oman to boost traffic through the Strait of Hormuz.

But in Washington, Trump has shown little interest in getting back to the  that aimed to reopen the strait and launch talks about Iran’s nuclear program. That deal fell apart within weeks after Iran started attacking ships.

At the same time, Trump says the U.S. effort to  is working, with a U.S. naval blockade preventing Iranian oil from making it to market as the trickle of vessels carrying oil from other Gulf nations pass through.

“We have control and we have the blockade,” Trump said. “Iran is not getting anything. Nothing is going through.”

Iran is badly battered, but has a history of showing resilience

There’s no doubt that the strikes combined with decades of international sanctions have battered Iran, said Aarathi Krishnan, a geopolitical risk analyst at RAKSHA Intelligence Future.

But as Trump tries to turn to a new chapter in the war, Krishnan argues the Republican may be misguided in concluding that more pressure on Tehran — which has spent decades adapting to international economic sanctions — will produce the political outcome he wants.

Indeed, Iran’s economy in the run-up to the start of the war was mired in surging inflation, according to the International Monetary Fund. National income per person had fallen from about $8,000 in 2012 to $5,000 in 2024, according to World Bank data.

But Tehran has also shown resilience, selling discounted oil and establishing opaque shipping and financial networks, Krishnan said.

“This administration has completely underestimated the Iranian resolve,” Krishnan said. “This is not new to the Iranian regime.”

Trump must decide how far he’s willing to go with sanctions

Richard Goldberg, who served as a senior adviser on Iran at the National Security Council during Trump’s first White House term, argues that Iran now finds itself in “uncharted waters” if the administration follows through with a truly biting campaign to pressure Iranian trade partners.

“What we should be seeing is an attempt to seal off every escape hatch the regime has left,” said Goldberg, who is now at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, a hawkish Washington think tank. “Use the economic power of the United States to layer a naval blockade with an air and land embargo while dropping the hammer on anyone who gives the regime access to hard currency — whether that����ap in the Middle East, China or even Europe.”

But it remains to be seen how far the administration is willing to go.

Treasury Secretary  this week unveiled a campaign the White House calls “Operation Economic Outcast,” but  to cut trade and has yet to announce any secondary sanctions. Bessent told reporters the administration wanted countries to have a chance to shift away from Iran before it was too late — and acknowledged there was economic risk to the U.S., too, in moving ahead.

The Treasury Department announced on Friday that it was taking steps that could lead to eventually severing  from the U.S. financial system. The department accused the bank of serving as an economic lifeline to Tehran’s leadership.

China, which is Iran’s biggest trade partner and oil buyer, responded earlier this week to the Trump administration’s broad threats of going after countries and firms that still do trade with Iran by expressing its opposition to 

Pressed Thursday about why he wasn’t already sanctioning Chinese banks, Trump offered a cryptic response.

“Who said I’m not? You don’t know if I’m doing it,” Trump said. “I don’t have to announce everything, do I?”

Associated Press writer Farnoush Amiri in New York and Fatima Hussein contributed to this report.

NEW YORK (AP) — Nearing the six-month mark of the Iran war and facing , the Trump administration is touting  against Tehran, promising an “economic D-Day” against a country that has withstood nearly five decades of punishing American sanctions.

With sparse details, President Donald Trump announced this week that the U.S. would be imposing an “unprecedented” level of economic warfare and isolation on Iran, aiming to  to cave to demands to end its nuclear program and fully reopen the crucial  to oil and natural gas tankers.

It reflects the dire reality Trump faces with ������� just months before pivotal midterm elections that will decide whether his Republican Party keeps control of Congress. Whether out of desperation or strategy, the president is refocusing America’s might on bringing Iran to its knees through an accelerated sanctions campaign against one of  in the world.

In response to the threat, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi posted Friday on X the history of U.S. sanctions against Iran, saying, “We have seen this movie before. Same bull. Different bullies.”

The immediate reaction from Iran hawks has been praise and a call for patience as it plays out, while other analysts warn that Trump is refusing to learn the lessons of his predecessors.

In an interview Thursday on CNBC, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent offered a small glimpse of what may be ahead, threatening secondary sanctions on nations and companies that conduct business with Iran.

He did not reveal who would be targeted as part of this next phase of the administration’s , which earlier had focused on entities and people who buy oil from or bank with Iran. China and India, however, are major buyers of Iranian oil.

“If you insist on doing business with them, then the U.S. Treasury and U.S. government will put its full might and force against you,” Bessent said. “It����ap time for our allies and the rest of the world to make a decision.”

Some experts see ‘uncharted waters’ that could force Iran’s hand

Despite decades of U.S. sanctions against Iran, the Trump administration is arguing that it����ap only a matter of time and that striking the right economic target would get Tehran to its breaking point.

Richard Goldberg, who coordinated efforts to put diplomatic pressure on Iran in Trump’s first term, said the consequences of  last year, the war this year and the American naval blockade on Iranian ports have created the perfect storm for capitulation — one that didn’t previously exist.

“I think we’re watching a strategy, whether it takes a short time or a long time, that is very much about fundamentally changing the future of the world by seeing the end of this regime,” said Goldberg, who is now at the hawkish Washington think tank Foundation for Defense of Democracies, or FDD.

“I caution everyone — including myself, who has worked on sanctions, who’s worked on financial warfare — to have the humility to admit that we are in uncharted waters,” he said.

He said the decision this week by the United Arab Emirates — once one of Tehran’s most important trading partners — to  over an alleged missile attack will only further isolate the government.

Beyond trade in domestically produced goods, the Emiratis had helped the country absorb some of the shocks caused by sanctions through its re-export hub.

Targeting allies and partners comes at a price

With nearly all of Iran’s energy, financial and transportation sectors already covered by U.S. sanctions, Trump’s aim appears to be to apply secondary sanctions on countries, including allies and partners, that have not cut all ties with Iran to starve the country of any remaining income it may still be receiving.

In many ways, it is a redux of Trump’s first-term , which he has ramped up during his second term to include military action.

But as Trump and his allies discovered during his first administration, it can be difficult to enforce secondary sanctions without harming U.S. interests and provoking reciprocal measures. There were numerous instances of the administration granting sanctions waivers to countries, particularly those that rely on Iranian oil for their energy needs.

“Trump’s strategy now rests on targeting Tehran directly by impeding its touch points and access to the formal financial system and international economy,” said Behnam Ben Taleblu, senior director of the FDD’s Iran program. “This will require making the Iran issue more important in U.S. bilateral relations with countries in Europe and Asia.”

Iran doesn’t see an ‘open door’ at the end of the sanctions campaign

Iranian officials and analysts have accused the Republican president of flip-flopping with his latest pivot to economic pressure against Tehran. Trump has long derided past leaders who used sanctions to limit Iran’s ability to pay for its military and nuclear development.

In a post last week on X, Esmail Baghaei, a spokesman for Iran’s Foreign Ministry, wrote that Washington’s pattern of retreating to sanctions when it doesn’t want to pursue diplomacy has proven to be futile.

“Iran has demonstrated over decades that it will not be strangled by these exhausted refrains,” he said. “The real risk is that American politicians, clinging to this bad habit, will instead strangle their own remaining chances of a less humiliating exit from a crisis of their own making.”

Ali Vaez, Iran director at the International Crisis Group, said the Trump administration’s decision to take its own maximum-pressure policy to new heights with military action seems to ignore years of U.S. foreign-policy lessons that show Iran does not respond well to pressure.

If anything, he says, the latest economic campaign has only “hardened Iran’s position.”

“I think (Trump’s) blind spot is the fact that the only thing that the Iranian regime views as more dangerous than suffering from U.S. sanctions is surrendering to U.S. terms,” Vaez said.

Plus, the past year of start-stop diplomacy has only worsened the already fragile dynamic between the longtime adversaries, Vaez says, adding that Iranian officials’ lack of trust in Trump and his mediators has created an untenable foundation.

“They believe that even if they capitulate to U.S. terms under economic duress, Trump would move the goalposts and ask for more,” he said. “And this is really the fundamental problem: Pressure without an open door is an exercise in futility.”

Associated Press writers Matthew Lee and Fatima Hussein in Washington contributed to this report.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The aircraft carrier is now operating in the Middle East, the U.S. military said Thursday, following reports of mental health challenges and supply shortages aboard while it was supporting .

U.S. Central Command, which oversees military operations in the Middle East, that the carrier arrived in the region Wednesday. It was not clear when the USS Abraham Lincoln would arrive back in the U.S. or whether it would make a port stop along the way, but the journey takes just over a month.

The Washington arrived as concerns have grown about , which has included a record-setting uninterrupted time at sea of more than 250 days, and about reports of crew stress and poor mental health, as well as supply shortages, including food and hygiene products.

Several Democratic lawmakers have pressed the Department of Defense for accountability over conditions aboard the Lincoln, which Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has said were “completely misrepresented.”

Hegseth spoke with the Lincoln’s crew last week, and Adm. Brad Cooper, head of U.S. Central Command, visited this past weekend. In an editorial published Sunday by The Wall Street Journal, Cooper said the crew “delivered a performance for the ages, and now you are going home.”

Extended deployments of carriers wear on service members who are away from home for long periods and increase strain on the ship and its equipment. While renewed hostilities between the U.S. and Iran calmed in recent weeks, the Navy is enforcing a in the Strait of Hormuz, and the Trump administration has offered no clarity on .

Hegseth has said the U.S. can maintain the blockade “indefinitely.”

President Donald Trump this week downplayed reports about conditions on the Lincoln, which left its homeport in San Diego in November and arrived in the Middle East in January. Trump called the nearly nine months at sea that the sailors endured a “good period of time” but added that “over the years, we’ve had them out there much longer.”

Trump told reporters Monday that he spoke with a retired admiral over the weekend who recounted being on ships for “much longer.” Trump said the admiral assured him that the Lincoln is “beautifully maintained and beautifully taken care of.” Trump did not name the admiral.

In a statement Sunday after visiting the Lincoln, Cooper praised the carrier’s leaders for prioritizing mental health and resilience.

“History will record this deployment as one of the most operationally intense and consequential of the modern era,” Cooper said.

The Washington joins the USS George H.W. Bush in the Middle East, leaving Asia without an American carrier strike group at a time when China has shown more signs of aggression.

The lack of a U.S. carrier in the Pacific may be short-lived if the Navy deploys another in the next couple of months. But it shows how the are running some American sailors ragged, analysts say, while the Trump administration further retreats from the Asia-Pacific region and .

NEW YORK (AP) — �ճ���� that swept  just a day earlier disappeared on Thursday as oil prices, worries about high �����Ի��� kept rising. That helped knock the U.S. stock market to its worst day in three weeks, and  led the way on concerns about its upcoming profits.

The S&P 500 fell 0.9% for  in the five days since setting  last week. The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 703 points, or 1.3%, and the Nasdaq composite sank 1%.

The bond market remains the center of the action after yields charged higher through the summer. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent  that brought some temporary relief. His department said it will at least double the size of its planned purchases of longer-term Treasurys from Sept. 9 through Nov. 4.

That helped push yields down after the 10-year Treasury’s yield hit its highest level in more than a year and the 30-year yield got back to where it was in 2007. It was a big deal because high yields slow the economy by , companies and the government, and they can undercut prices for stocks and other investments.

But analysts had cautioned the effect may be short lived, given how small the purchases are relative to the overall size of the Treasury market and how they don’t fix the fundamental concerns that had driven up yields. Plus, more signals arrived quickly to keep those concerns high.

�ճ���� topped $40 trillion on Wednesday, a staggering record that arrived just months after the national debt first blew past the $39 trillion mark in April, because Washington continues to spend far more money than it brings in.

And on Thursday, the price for a barrel of Brent crude climbed 2.4% to $93.78 as uncertainty continues about when the  will allow oil tankers to freely exit the Persian Gulf again. President Donald Trump  with “the MOST CRUSHING ECONOMIC OPERATION EVER TAKEN AGAINST ANY COUNTRY” late Wednesday but provided few details.

That helped push the 10-year Treasury yield up to 4.70% from 4.65% late Wednesday. It����ap almost back to its 4.71% level from late Tuesday, before the Treasury Department made its announcement.

A couple encouraging reports on the U.S. economy also helped raise longer-term Treasury yields, which move with investors’ expectations for the economy and inflation in coming years. One said  last week than economists expected, while another said manufacturing in the mid-Atlantic region appears to be much stronger than expected.

On Wall Street, Walmart was the heaviest weight on the S&P 500 and fell 9.2% for its worst loss in four years even though it reported stronger profit and revenue for the latest quarter than analysts expected. Investors focused instead on an important underlying measure of revenue growth, which slowed again. Its forecast for profit in the current quarter also fell short of analysts’ expectations.

Given its massive size, Walmart offers a look at how shoppers are doing across the United States. A  on sales at U.S. retailers overall last month had raised worries that shoppers may be succumbing to pressure from high inflation and a .

Advance Auto Parts tumbled 24.5% for its worst loss in three years after the retailer reported weaker revenue for the latest quarter than analysts expected, even though its profit topped expectations. CEO Shane O’Kelly said that “tighter household budgets constrained spending more than we anticipated, especially during the last four weeks of the quarter.”

Spending by U.S. consumers is the main engine of the economy, and a pullback by them could exacerbate  in growth for the economy.

A pullback could also mean a double-whammy for travel companies, which would see fewer bookings when they have to pay higher prices for fuel. Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings fell 3.4%, while United Airlines sank 3.5% and American Airlines lost 2.5%.

Helping to keep Wall Street����ap losses in check was Deere, which reported stronger profit and revenue for the latest quarter than analysts expected. It rose 6.9% as the company said order trends indicate the agriculture equipment business looks set to accelerate after this year.

All told, the S&P 500 fell 66.82 points to 7,641.16. The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 703.84 to 52,759.21, and the Nasdaq composite sank 263.92 to 26,067.17.

In stock markets abroad, indexes were mixed in Europe following a stronger finish in Asia.

South Korea’s Kospi soared 5.9% for one of the world’s biggest moves after the two tech titans that dominate its market, Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix, jumped. Such swings have become more common for Seoul’s market, which has borne the brunt of rising and falling worries that winning stocks in the  boom may have shot too high.

AP Business Writers Chan Ho-him and Michelle Chapman contributed to this report.