The US said Wednesday that it is “accelerating” its war on Iran, as the scope of the conflict widened.

NATO shot down an Iranian ballistic missile headed toward Turkey, a US submarine sank an Iranian warship in the Indian Ocean, and European countries deployed military assets to the Middle East. Concerns are mounting about the conflict’s impact on the global economy, as are questions over Washington’s endgame. The White House pushed back on criticism over its conflicting messages, saying the goal is to “guarantee that Iran can never obtain a nuclear weapon.”

While President Donald Trump is considering a US role in post-war Iran, he told reporters Wednesday: “Everybody that seems to want to be a leader, they end up dead.”

The US government said Wednesday it would introduce a series of measures to stabilize oil trade in the Gulf, as Washington sought to ease rising concerns of a potential energy shock amid the Iran conflict.

The announcement came as traders remained skeptical and confused about President Donald Trump’s pledge to insure and protect oil tankers passing through the Strait of Hormuz, the critical energy chokepoint that Iran has effectively closed. One shipping association called it “unrealistic,” while Gulf insurance costs jumped 12-fold.

Trump’s plan signals an acknowledgment that the conflict could erode the pillars of his economic agenda, a geopolitics analyst argued: “He is trying to buy more time. He needs the oil market to cooperate.”

The US military is leveraging Anthropic’s Claude in its expanding campaign against Iran, despite a bitter feud with the AI startup.

The Pentagon deployed the powerful tool during its attack on Iran within hours of banning it, and is reportedly still using it, underscoring the government’s challenge in giving Claude up even as it threatens to blacklist its maker.

The threat has led some defense tech firms to switch to other AI models, and many of Anthropic’s investors have remained silent, Semafor’s Reed Albergotti reported.

But Anthropic’s stance over the use of its tech in warfare is a public relations victory for the company, Albergotti wrote; employees at Google and OpenAI are now pushing for guardrails around the military’s use of AI.

The EU unveiled a series of measures on Wednesday to kickstart its sluggish manufacturing and reduce reliance on cheap Chinese imports.

Brussels’ “Made in Europe” push targets the strategic sectors of clean tech, auto manufacturing, and energy-intensive industries like aluminum and steel.

The plan effectively “tightens the screws on Beijing’s future investments” in the EU, Euronews wrote, as the bloc races to stem a projected loss of 600,000 automotive jobs over the next 10 years.

The proposals reveal Europe’s anxiety over its ability to compete with cheap Chinese products, along with heightened security concerns linked to Chinese investments, “and a new-found urgency to do something about both,” the South China Morning Post wrote.

President Donald Trump on Tuesday threatened to sever trade with Spain over its Iran stance.

Spain’s leader has condemned the US and Israeli strikes on Iran and restricted Washington’s access to its military bases. Trump also criticized the UK for not fully backing his military campaign. His remarks came after meeting Germany’s chancellor, who acknowledged the war was damaging European economies. With energy prices climbing at a blistering pace, the prospect of an expanding Middle East conflict risks derailing the European economy’s recovery, which was enjoying low inflation and better-than-expected growth.

But the continent has “struggled to find a united voice” on the conflict, BBC’s Europe editor argued, appearing “at best uncoordinated, if not fractured and decidedly without leverage.”

The dollar surged as the war in the Middle East panicked investors and stoked US inflation fears.

Stock markets tumbled and oil prices spiked after the US assault on Iran, with even traditional haven investments such as gold falling. The market was further rattled by President Donald Trump warning that the conflict could continue for some weeks, CNBC reported.

The news is good for dollar holders, but likely only in the short term: While inflation could stave off rate cuts, which would make dollar-denominated assets less attractive, in the longer run that same inflation would reduce the currency’s value. If the dollar has got “its mojo back,” Reuters’ finance editor noted, it is “only by default.”