President Donald Trump announced he was sending US forces into war with Iran on February 28, kicking off a multidimensional regional conflict -- and a series of contradictory declarations on the American mission's scope and timeline.

He has argued "Operation Epic Fury" aims to eliminate Iran's military installations, or push regime change, or that he was acting to mitigate the country's nuclear threat -- despite boasting that US forces had "obliterated" Iran's nuclear program with a punishing air raid last year.

US President Donald Trump has built a potential off-ramp by suggesting the Iran war could end soon, but the world is still guessing about whether he will take it -- and whether Tehran will let him.

With surging oil prices threatening the global economy and his political fortunes at home, Trump's tone appeared to shift abruptly on Monday as he called the war "very complete" and a "short-term excursion."

By Patricia Zengerle

WASHINGTON, March 10 (Reuters) - The U.S. Senate confirmed General Joshua Rudd on Tuesday to lead the National Security Agency and the nation's Cyber Command, filling a position that had been vacant since President Donald Trump abruptly fired his predecessor in a national security purge.

The Senate voted 71-29 to confirm Rudd, making him a four-star general.

Trump nominated Rudd, then a lieutenant general and No. 2 at the military's Indo-Pacific Command, for the so-called dual-hat position in December.

By Phil Stewart and Idrees Ali

WASHINGTON, March 10 (Reuters) - As many as 150 U.S. troops have been wounded so far in the war with Iran, two people familiar with the matter told Reuters on Tuesday.

The figure has not been previously reported and is far higher than the Pentagon's publicly disclosed figure of 8 seriously wounded U.S. forces.

The Pentagon did not immediately comment.

(Reporting by Phil Stewart and Idrees Ali, Editing by Franklin Paul)

WASHINGTON, March 10 (Reuters) - U.S. Secretary of Energy Chris Wright on Tuesday deleted a post on X in which had said the U.S. Navy successfully escorted an oil tanker through the Strait of Hormuz "to ensure oil remains flowing to global markets."

It was unclear why Wright deleted the post.

Commenting on Wright's remarks, a spokesperson for Iran’s Revolutionary Guards denied an oil ship had been escorted by U.S. army through the Strait of Hormuz.

A UK warship Tuesday left port in southern England en route to the eastern Mediterranean to "bolster British defences in the region" amid the US-Israeli war with Iran, the Royal Navy said.

The HMS Dragon's departure from its base in Portsmouth follows criticism from opposition politicians and the Cypriot government for a perceived slow reaction to a drone attack on Britain's Akrotiri base in southern Cyprus on March 1.

An Iranian-made drone hit the runway of the Royal Air Force (RAF) base at Akrotiri.

The head of the Iranian Football Federation on Tuesday cast further doubt on his country's participation in this summer's World Cup, saying women playing in the Asian Cup in Australia had been coerced into defecting.

"If the World Cup is like this, who in their right mind would send their national team to a place like this?" Mehdi Taj asked on Iranian state television.

The men's World Cup will be hosted by the United States, Mexico and Canada, but Iran is scheduled to play all three group games in the United States, two in Los Angeles and one in Seattle.

The standstill in the Strait of Hormuz caused by the Middle East war could hammer some of the world's most vulnerable people, the United Nations warned Tuesday.

The strait is the only sea passage from the Gulf towards the Indian Ocean, through which nearly a quarter of the world's seaborne oil supplies pass, as well as a significant amount of cargo.

Iran has all but blocked the waterway following the launch of the February 28 US-Israeli airstrikes on the country that triggered the war.

As thumping techno music reverberated around a basement in downtown Tel Aviv, some 200 Israeli twentysomethings danced through the night despite the war with Iran upending life above.

While missile alerts and piercing sirens have become a regular occurrence for Israelis since the conflict started 11 days ago, a few happy revellers have been getting the party started in bomb shelters converted into night clubs.

"Dancing in difficult times is a relief. It gives us strength," said Ruben Chekroun, one of the organisers of these semi-clandestine dance nights.

The United States has not escorted any oil tanker through the Strait of Hormuz, the White House said Tuesday, after the energy secretary's social media account posted and deleted a claim that it did so.

The shift in narrative caused markets to swing, with oil dropping sharply after Energy Secretary Chris Wright's initial post.

Oil prices pared back some losses after Wright's post on X was deleted -- just minutes after publication.