US President Donald Trump has said the United States is far from finished with Iran and warned the US military target could be an underground nuclear complex known as Pickaxe Mountain.
Pickaxe Mountain is a deeply buried nuclear site near Natanz where Western intelligence suspects Iran is building an undeclared enrichment facility.
"We'll be hitting that area pretty soon, and very heavily," Mr Trump said, adding that he would not normally announce targets but "there's not a thing they can do it."
Mr Trump estimated it would take Iran more than 20 years to rebuild from current damage, addressing reporters during a White House meeting with Lebanese President Joseph Aoun.
"If we left right now, it would take Iran 20, 25 years to rebuild. Okay, and we're not finished at all … we're not leaving right now."
Iran stepped up its strikes in the Middle East, two weeks after its war with the United States resumed, with Jordan, Kuwait and Bahrain coming under attack.
Last night, US forces bombed targets in southern Iran overnight after President Trump said Iran would pay dearly for the deaths of American soldiers.
It comes as Iran targeted US sites in Bahrain, Kuwait and Jordan and a tanker was hit in the Strait of Hormuz.
The exchanges came a day after Yemen's Iran-aligned Houthis said they would impose a naval blockade on Saudi Arabia, opening a potential new front in the war and raising the threat to global energy supplies and trade beyond the Gulf.
Despite the escalating cycle of attacks that has all but wrecked an interim peace agreement signed last month, signs that Tehran and Washington want to resume diplomacy kept oil prices in check.
US Central Command said it had completed its latest round of strikes on Iran, saying it hit Iranian military command centers, maritime capabilities, missile and drone launch sites, and air defence systems.
Explosions were heard around the city of Shiraz in southern Iran, while Konarak and Chabahar on the southern coast also came under attack, according to state media.
Iran responded with renewed attacks across the Gulf, where recent strikes on desalination facilities have raised concerns water shortages and underscored the growing threat to civilian infrastructure.
Iran's Revolutionary Guards said they targeted infrastructure in Bahrain belonging to US tech company Amazon in retaliation for what they described as a US strike on the construction site of Iran's planned Darkhovin nuclear power plant.
Iranian state media reported that Iranian forces also targeted accommodation facilities used by US military personnel at Bahrain's Sheikh Isa Air Base. There was no immediate from the US military, Bahrain or Amazon on the reported incidents, which Reuters was unable to verify.
The Iranian army said it launched drone attacks against three US military bases in Kuwait. The Revolutionary Guards said they attacked a US military site in Jordan, and Jordan said its forces intercepted and destroyed five Iranian drones.
We need your consent to load this rte-player content We use rte-player to manage extra content that can set cookies on your device and collect data your activity. Please review their details and accept them to load the content. Manage Preferences
The United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations agency said a tanker in the strait reported being struck by an unknown projectile, forcing its crew to abandon the vessel and board a lifeboat.
Iran's Revolutionary Guards said two oil tankers had caught fire after explosions while attempting to transit the southern route of the Strait of Hormuz. It was not immediately clear when those incidents took place.
Iran had been pressing the Houthis to close the Bab el-Mandeb gateway to the Red Sea if the US continued to attack Iranian power infrastructure - putting two of the world's most vital energy arteries at risk.
A full closure of Bab el-Mandeb would reduce global oil supply by 7% as it would leave most Saudi oil exports unable to leave the region. The disruption would add to the huge cut to oil flows from the war in the Gulf, which has already reduced shipments by 10% of global supply.
After the Houthis announced their blockade, the Saudi-led coalition in Yemen said it began implementing protection measures for its ships moving through the Bab el-Mandeb Strait.
Oil markets weighed the threat to shipping against reports of diplomatic efforts to contain the conflict, with benchmark Brent crude prices LCOc1 easing slightly in early trading.
A senior Iranian official told Reuters yesterday that Tehran had received a proposal from mediators for a 10-day ceasefire in efforts to salvage the interim deal, intended to pave the way to a lasting agreement to end the war that began on 28 February with US-Israeli attacks on Iran.
Iranian Interior Minister Eskandar Momeni had asked Pakistan to resume its mediation role in the conflict. He later arrived in Islamabad for further talks.
The latest phase of fighting has proved to be among the deadliest of the conflict for US forces. US troop deaths rose to 17 over the weekend.
Mr Trump, under mounting pressure at over rising gasoline prices since the war began, said the latest US strikes on Iran were honoring the deaths of American service members.
"Every time Iran kills an American Soldier they will pay for that killing many times over! This directive has been passed on to Secretary of War, Pete Hegseth, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Daniel Caine, and every Leader in the Military," Mr Trump wrote on Truth Social yesterday.
The war has killed thousands of people, mostly in Iran and Lebanon. Parts of Lebanon remain under Israeli occupation following attacks on Israel by Hezbollah fighters, who said they were acting in solidarity with Tehran.
Lebanese President Joseph Aoun is due to meet Trump at the White House today to present a plan on how to disarm Iran-aligned Hezbollah and secure an Israeli withdrawal.
Latest Middle East stories
The full story
This article is one source in a clustered incident — the cluster page carries the summary, timeline and every other outlet covering it.
