The United States was responsible for a Tomahawk missile strike on an Iranian school because of a targeting mistake, The New York Times reported on Wednesday.

Iran's military on Wednesday said any ships belonging to the United States, Israel or their allies passing through the strategic Strait of Hormuz will be targeted.

"Any vessel whose oil cargo or the vessel itself belongs to the United States, the Zionist regime or their hostile allies will be considered legitimate targets," said the military's central operational command, Khatam Al-Anbiya, in a statement carried by state TV.

The war raging in much of the Middle East must be stopped before it engulfs the entire region at increasing cost to the global economy, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Wednesday.

Iran's new supreme leader Mojtaba Khamenei is injured but "safe and sound", the son of the president said Wednesday, offering the first official explanation for why the 56-year-old has not been seen since his appointment at the weekend.

"I heard news that Mr Mojtaba Khamenei had been injured. I have asked some friends who had connections," Yousef Pezeshkian, who is also a government adviser, wrote in a post on his Telegram channel.

Iran attacked commercial ships on Wednesday across the Persian Gulf and targeted Dubai International Airport, escalating a campaign of squeezing the oil-rich region as global energy concerns mounted and American and Israeli airstrikes pounded the Islamic Republic.

Two Iranian drones hit near Dubai International Airport, home to the long-haul carrier Emirates and the world's busiest for international travel. Four people were wounded but flights continued, the Dubai Media Office said.

While Iran hits back against U.S. and Israeli attacks with missiles and drones, it is also fighting a propaganda war with a Lego-style animation video complete with toy renditions of Donald Trump, bombs and warplanes.

Iran's state-run Revayat-e Fath institute released its video on state television following the February 28 U.S.-Israeli attacks that killed supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and triggered the Middle East war.

Iran vowed on Tuesday that not one liter of oil would be exported from the Gulf while its war with the United States and Israel continues, in a stark rebuke to President Donald Trump's boast that the conflict was all but over.

Trump's argument that the war would be "ended soon" helped reverse the Monday's spike in oil prices, which have surged since Iranian attacks on shipping closed the Strait of Hormuz in response to the U.S.-Israeli strikes that killed its supreme leader.

Iran launched new attacks on Tuesday at Israel and Gulf Arab countries as it kept up pressure on the Middle East in a war that has sent oil prices surging and stunned global economies. Five pro-Iranian militiamen were killed in an airstrike in northern Iraq.

Incoming missile sirens sounded early in the morning in Dubai in the United Arab Emirates, and in Bahrain, while Saudi Arabia said it had destroyed two drones over its oil-rich eastern region and Kuwait's National Guard said it had shot down six drones.

Russia's President Vladimir Putin and U.S. President Donald Trump on Monday discussed the Iran war and Ukraine conflict during a "frank and constructive" telephone call, the Kremlin said.

U.S. President Donald Trump said Monday in an interview with CBS that the war with Iran was "very complete" and that the United States was far ahead of his initial timeline of around a month.

U.S. stocks jumped higher and oil prices sank in after-hours trading following Trump's comments, despite the fact that there were no immediate signs of the conflict abating.