Speaking at a ceremony in Jerusalem on Wednesday evening, Israel Katz, the Israeli defence minister, said the campaign against Iran was “far from over” and warned that if Iran attacks Israel again, “it will suffer a severe blow.”
The comments came before the US began striking Iran for a second day.
Israel and Iran traded fire earlier this week for the first time in two months, but halted their attacks on each other after an appeal from Donald Trump to “immediately stop shooting”.
Hours before the US launched this new wave of attacks on Iran, US defense secretary told reporters that the strikes would be “strong” and “clear”.
He also raised the prospects of further round of strikes for tomorrow: “If they have to happen tomorrow night, they will be strong and they will be clear.”
Speaking to reporters after being briefed by commanders at US central command headquarters in Florida, Hegseth said the Thursday strikes would hit targets that “improve the environment for us to operate in and undermine the capabilities that Iran wants to have.”
They’re going to have tap, tap, tap bombs dropping on key facilities in Iran from the United States of America.”
Iranian state media is claiming that US ships near the strait of Hormuz have been targeted by missiles and drones launched by Iran’s armed forces.
Earlier, Iranian media reported “clashes” at sea between Iranian and US forces.
The US currently has a large contingent of naval forces stationed in the gulf of Oman, enforcing their blockade on the strait of Hormuz. There has been no confirmation from the US side of any attacks on their forces.
Iranian media are also reporting strikes on the port city of Bandar Abbas, with claims that explosion have been heard near the airport and airbase.
Bandar Abbas is a strategically important port city on the strait of Hormuz and home to Iranian naval forces. The city serves as the main southern naval command centre, and many of the operations to disrupt shipping in the strait are thought to originate from there.
The US struck Bandar Abbas a number of times on Wednesday, making Thursday’s strikes the fourth time it has been targeted during the ceasefire.
Iranian media are reporting that explosions on the islands of Qeshm and Hengam in the strait of Hormuz were caused by projectile hits.
Sirik, on the southern coast of Iran, has also been hit by “enemy projectiles”, Iran’s Press TV is reporting.
Many of these locations were targeted by US strikes yesterday, and are said by American officials to be radar sites and command centres.
Today so far
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The US launched another assault on Iran, sending airstrikes at “multiple targets” at about 5:15 p.m. EST Wednesday, marking the second consecutive day of strikes that began in response to a military helicopter crash off the strait of Hormuz that Donald Trump said Iran had downed. Today’s strikes come after both Donald Trump and US defence secretary Pete Hegseth said that the US military was planning on striking Iran again. “We hit them hard yesterday and we’re going to hit them again hard today,” Trump said. Iranian state media reported hearing explosions in the port cities of Gorgan and Bandar Abbas.
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Yesterday’s strikes hit two water reservoirs in southern Iran, leaving 20,000 without drinking water. Iran on Wednesday said the attack on the reservoirs were a “calculated war crime”, with a spokesman for Iran’s ministry of foreign affairs accusing the US of “deliberately targeting the lifeblood of the Iranian people”. The Iranian president, Masoud Pezeshkian, said that threats to target infrastructure are not a show of strength but “a sign of desperation”, adding that Iran will stand firm against any pressure or threat.
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Even as he spoke of the US launching more airstrikes on Iran, Trump maintained that the US was “really close” to reaching a deal. Hegseth echoed Trump’s statement, but told reporters “if we need to negotiate with bombs, we’ll negotiate with bombs”.
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Trump also announced on Wednesday that the US military carried out ‘secret mission’ to help move more than 100 million barrels of oil through the strait of Hormuz. Hegseth said this announcement proved the US blockade to be “ironclad” and that ultimately, the US controls the waterway.
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In more Hormuz news, US Central Command (Centcom) posted on X that US forces fired upon a Palau-flagged oil tanker in the Gulf of Oman that was “attempting to transport oil from Iran” in violation of the US blockade. According to Centcom, US forces have disabled a total of eight non-compliant vessels since the blockade began on 13 April, in addition to redirecting 134 ships that had complied and allowing 42 humanitarian aid vessels to pass.
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Israeli military operations have continued in Lebanon, with the the Lebanese health ministry on Wednesday updating the total death toll to 3,696 people have been killed in Israeli attacks since the fighting began on 2 March. In addition to the fatalities, 11,413 people have been injured, the health ministry said.
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United Nations chief Antonio Guterres has warned of the risk of return to “full war” in the Middle East after Iran and the United States traded strikes. “We should not minimise the risks of a lesser fire becoming full fire, or in another word – full war,” secretary-general Guterres said at a meeting of the UN Security Council on the situation in the region.
Iranian state media is reporting explosions in the port cities of Kangan and Bandar Abbas, according to Reuters.
Updated
US military begins launching more airstrikes at 'multiple targets' in Iran
US Central Command (Centcom) forces have begun launching more strikes at “multiple targets” in Iran, it said said in a post on X.
The strikes began at 5.15pm EST on Wednesday – after midnight on Thursday local time – “at the Commander in Chief’s direction”.
“The strikes are in response to Iran’s unwarranted and continued aggression,” Centcom said.
Updated
Hegseth says the US controls the strait of Hormuz
The US defence secretary, Pete Hegseth, addressed the announcement that Donald Trump made earlier on social media that the US military carried out a “secret mission” last month to help move more than 100m barrels of oil through the strait of Hormuz.
“So, if our blockade is ironclad, which it is, and we’re able to move commercial shipping in and out of the strait of Hormuz – who controls the strait of Hormuz?” Hegseth said. “President Trump said it, and he’s right: the United States of America controls the strait of Hormuz. We’re able to bring oil in and out and other things with partners, and have done so now for weeks and weeks in ways the Iranians don’t want to acknowledge.”
Updated
Hegseth: 'If we need to negotiate with bombs, we'll negotiate with bombs'
While the US is prepared to strike Iran again tonight, Iran also still has the option to negotiate with the US and sign a peace deal, the US defence secretary, Pete Hegseth, said on Wednesday.
“President Trump, he’s willing to go back and fight as necessary, but has given Iran an open hand to make this deal. It’s right there, they have that chance, they’re choosing to play games, they’re choosing to tap,” Hegseth said.
He continued: “If they want to tap, then the president will turn to the war department. If we need to negotiate with bombs, we’ll negotiate with bombs, and we’re very good at it. Nobody better in the world.”
Updated
The US defence secretary, Pete Hegseth, bristled when asked by a reporter if the US is committing a war crime in potentially targeting civilian infrastructure.
“That’s precisely the kind of disingenuous question that I’m used to from the media, impugning the motives of the folks on our side who are incredibly professional and incredibly effective,” Hegseth said.
He continued: “We will hit them hard on our terms on the targets that improve the environment for us to operate in and undermine the capabilities that Iran wants to have.”
Updated
Hegseth: US will be 'hitting Iran hard' tonight
US Central Command “will be busy tonight” the US defence secretary, Pete Hegseth, told reporters on Wednesday, adding that the US “will be hitting Iran hard” and that strikes tonight will be “strong” and “clear”.
“Ultimately, what we do tonight is going to advance our military interests and enhance our diplomatic position,” he said.
Updated
US defence secretary Pete Hegseth is speaking to reporters in Florida now. Stay tuned for more details.
Trump the unreliable narrator fails to force reality to match his story on Iran
As the story of the US-Iran war is written direct to social media, Donald Trump may be the genre’s premier unreliable narrator.
Since the war began, Trump has again and again threatened Iran with fearsome consequences if Tehran doesn’t come to the table and sign a peace deal that the US president said was imminent weeks ago. And he has also repeatedly claimed that an Iran deal is “close” – without any result. (A CNN tally put the number of times he’s claimed it at 38.)
Never mind that the US has already claimed “complete victory” in the conflict and Trump has attacked reporters who have questioned the wisdom of the intervention, particularly as the strait of Hormuz remains closed to more than 20% of global oil traffic.
Even so, he continues to seek to have it both ways: both declaring Iran vanquished and painting the country’s stubbornness as the reason why he can’t sign a peace deal and end the conflict.
Report: Defence industry leaders preparing for 'ugly' meeting with Trump as concerns grow over shrinking US missile supply
The leaders of roughly seven defence companies have been preparing to meet with Donald Trump at the White House later this week in what is expected to be a contentious discussion amid mounting concerns over the dwindling US supply of missiles, NBC News reports citing two people familiar with details of the meeting.
Trump is expected to press the companies to find ways to swiftly increase their production of weaponry for the Pentagon, the people and one other person familiar with the upcoming meeting told NBC News. Deputy defence secretary Stephen Feinberg is also expected to attend, two of the people said.
In public, Trump has boasted that the US has a “virtually unlimited supply” of weapons, but the president has expressed anger and frustration to aides and allies over thinning American stockpiles, the people added. One of the people told NBC News they anticipate the meeting is “going to be ugly”.
Indeed, as Trump threatened to resume bombing Iran again today, the US military has already burned through missiles and interceptors at a rate that has alarmed some defense officials.
Last month, the Associated Press reported that US military contractors will need at least three years to replenish stockpiles of three key weapons systems used heavily in Trump’s war against Iran – a timeframe that has become a major concern.
Iran accuses US of 'calculated war crime' for attack on water reservoirs
Esmaeil Baghaei, a spokesman for Iran’s ministry of foreign affairs, on Wednesday accused the US of “deliberately targeting the lifeblood of the Iranian people” when it struck two reservoirs in the Bemani area of Sirik in southern Iran.
The attack has left 20,000 people without drinking water.
“This is not collateral damage — it is a calculated war crime and a flagrant violation of human rights and international humanitarian law,” Baghaei said in a post on X. “The US must be held accountable for committing such systematic brutal attacks on civilian life-sustaining infrastructure.”
Report: Iranian airstrikes damaged Ramat David Israeli airbase
An Iranian missile attack this week caused some damage to Ramat David airbase in northern Israel, an Israeli military official told AFP on Wednesday.
The official did not say what exactly was damaged or if the base took a direct hit.
“We confirm that there was an impact at the base but at a non-critical area,” the official told AFP.
“We are investigating whether it was caused by a shrapnel or it was a direct impact. It was most likely a large piece of shrapnel but there was no damage caused to equipment or personnel.”
The ministry of foreign affairs of Saudi Arabia on Wednesday condemned Iran for targeting US bases in Jordan, Kuwait and Bahrain, calling the attacks “flagrant violations” of territorial sovereignty.
In a post on X, the ministry of foreign affairs reiterated its solidarity with Jordan, Kuwait and Bahrain and said that Iran’s continued strikes threaten “regional and international security and undermine efforts aimed at de-escalation and the restoration of security and stability in the region”.
Updated
Here are some images coming out of Lebanon today:
Trump: US military carried out 'secret mission' to help move 100 million barrels of oil through Hormuz Strait
The US military carried out a “secret mission” last month to “support oil tankers and other commercial ships through the Strait of Hormuz,” according to Donald Trump.
In a Truth Social post on Wednesday, Trump said that the effort, which he said he directed, “resulted in more than 100 million barrels of oil” moving through the crucial chokepoint and “into the open market.”
Trump described the effort as “wildly successful,” adding that the "United States of America controls the Strait of Hormuz, not Iran.”
Trump’s latest comments mark a pivot away from his words last month in which he repeatedly said during a cabinet meeting: "Nobody’s going to control” the Strait of Hormuz. He added that “it’s international waters.”
In that same meeting, Trump threatened to bomb Oman upon being asked whether he would accept a short term deal that would allow Iran and Oman to control the strait, saying: “It’s international waters and Oman will behave just like everybody else or we’ll have to blow them up.”
Lebanese health ministry updates death toll to nearly 3,700 killed since March
The Lebanese health ministry said on Wednesday that 3,696 people have been killed in Israeli attacks since the fighting began on 2 March, according to the state-run National News Agency.
In addition to the fatalities, 11,413 people have been injured, the health ministry said.
US Centcom: US forces disable oil tanker in Gulf of Oman
US Central Command (Centcom) posted on X that US forces fired upon a Palau-flagged oil tanker in the Gulf of Oman that was “attempting to transport oil from Iran” in violation of the US blockade of the strait of Hormuz.
A US military aircraft fired munitions into the engine room of the ship M/T Settebello after “the crew repeatedly failed to comply with directions from American forces” Centcom said.
According to Centcom, US forces have disabled a total of eight non-compliant vessels since the blockade began on 13 April, in addition to redirecting 134 ships that had complied and allowing 42 humanitarian aid vessels to pass.
Pezeshkian: Iran will stand firm against any pressure or threat
The Iranian president, Masoud Pezeshkian, posted on X shortly after Donald Trump told reporters that the US was going to hit Iran hard again today that threats to target infrastructure are not a show of strength but “a sign of desperation”.
Pezeshkian added that Iran – relying on the knowledge and capabilities of its specialists, national unity and solidarity – will stand firm against any pressure or threat.
The day so far
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US president Donald Trump has said that the United States is going to attack Iran “very hard” if no peace deal is finalised. “We’re going to be attacking them, attacking them very hard,” Trump told reporters at the White House, citing Iran’s downing of an Apache helicopter in the strait of Hormuz.
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Trump said the US was “really close” to reaching a deal with Iran but accused the Middle Eastern country of “playing us for suckers”. Speaking to reporters, he said: “So we’ll see what happens. But we hit them hard yesterday and we’re going to hit them again hard today.”
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United Nations chief Antonio Guterres has warned of the risk of return to “full war” in the Middle East after Iran and the United States traded strikes. “We should not minimise the risks of a lesser fire becoming full fire, or in another word – full war,” secretary-general Guterres said at a meeting of the UN Security Council on the situation in the region.
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Iran’s ambassador in Vienna on Wednesday called a new resolution passed by the UN nuclear watchdog demanding access to Tehran’s nuclear sites “counter-productive” and an obstacle to talks with Washington. Ambassador Reza Najafi told AFP the International Atomic Energy Agency resolution was “politically motivated” and “legally flawed”.
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A US attack on two water reservoirs in the Bemani area of Sirik in southern Iran, located on the shores of the strait of Hormuz, has left 20,000 people without drinking water, according to an Iranian water utility company. Hormozgan province water and wastewater company, or Abfa Hormozgan, said the reservoirs were “targeted and completely destroyed” this morning by US military fire, according to a statement on its website.
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India has summoned a top US diplomat in Delhi over a strike on a tanker off the coast of Oman where three Indians are missing, two Indian sources with direct knowledge of the matter told Reuters on Wednesday. India has lodged a “strong protest” with the US deputy chief of mission to the country, Jason Meeks, the sources said.
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Qatari negotiators travelled to Tehran to address remaining differences between the US and Iran, a diplomat told AFP on Wednesday, as talks between the warring sides appeared stalled. “Following consultations with the US, Qatari negotiators travelled to Tehran this morning to meet with the Iranians in an effort to bridge the remaining gaps,” the diplomat with knowledge of the situation said on condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive talks.
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The effective closure of the strait of Hormuz has led to global energy disruptions “never seen before”, said Wael Sawan, CEO of oil company Shell. Speaking at a summit of business leaders hosted by the Wall Street Journal, he said more than 10% of global oil production has been removed from the market since the start of the US-Israeli war against Iran.
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The UN rights chief said he would send a mission to Lebanon to collect evidence on alleged rights abuses since the war began between Hezbollah and Israel. “I have agreed with the government of Lebanon to conduct an impartial and independent assessment mission in the country,” Volker Turk told journalists.
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The Turkish president, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, said Israel’s attacks on Lebanon and Syria have reached a point where they also pose a threat to Turkey, Reuters reports. Speaking to members of the Turkish parliament, he called for an end to Israel’s “aggression”, which he said is a threat to the entire world.
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More than 460 former European leaders and senior officials have called on the EU “to stop turning a blind eye” to Israel’s conduct in Palestine and impose sanctions. In an op-ed released to European newspapers, the group urge the EU to suspend preferential trade with Israel, prevent exports from the illegally occupied West Bank entering the bloc and impose sanctions on Israeli ministers
An Israeli drone strike in the southern Lebanese city of Sidon hit a car with two people inside it, killing them both, according to local media.
Footage shows multiple cars ablaze after the strike as firefighters battled to put out the flames.
India has summoned a top US diplomat in Delhi over a strike on a tanker off the coast of Oman where three Indians are missing, two Indian sources with direct knowledge of the matter told Reuters on Wednesday.
India has lodged a “strong protest” with the US deputy chief of mission to the country, Jason Meeks, the sources said.
Trump: US going to hit Iran 'hard' today after peace talks break down
Trump said the US was “really close” to reaching a deal with Iran but accused the Middle Eastern country of “playing us for suckers”.
Speaking to reporters, he said:
So we’ll see what happens. But we hit them hard yesterday and we’re going to hit them again hard today.
In case you missed it, in case you don’t turn on your television set and… we’ll see what happens with the deal.
We were we were really close to a deal. But they keep tapping us along. They keep playing us for suckers.
He added:
I’ve been working with Iran for a number of months, and they should sign that deal. It’s a good deal.
It doesn’t give them the right to have a nuclear weapon. In fact, it totally prohibits them from ever having a nuclear weapon.
Updated
Trump threatens more strikes on Iran after US helicopter collision with Iranian drone
US president Donald Trump has said that the United States is going to attack Iran “very hard” if no peace deal is finalised.
“We’re going to be attacking them, attacking them very hard,” Trump told reporters at the White House, citing Iran’s downing of an Apache helicopter in the strait of Hormuz.
He added:
I guess we have the right to do that. You know, they shot down a very, very incredible, actually an incredible machine. And, at first they said they didn’t do it. Then they admitted they did it.
Updated
Iran’s ambassador in Vienna on Wednesday called a new resolution passed by the UN nuclear watchdog demanding access to Tehran’s nuclear sites “counter-productive” and an obstacle to talks with Washington.
Ambassador Reza Najafi told AFP the International Atomic Energy Agency resolution was “politically motivated” and “legally flawed”.
The vote “cannot help and, would be indeed counterproductive to the current situation,” he added. “It further complicates, the volatile, situation, volatile ceasefire, and the unfinished negotiations between Iran and the US.”
The UN nuclear watchdog’s governing board on Wednesday approved a western resolution demanding that Iran immediately provide information on its uranium stockpile and production facilities.
Iran’s nuclear sites have been targeted in US-Israel attacks and Iran has suspended access for International Atomic Energy Agency inspectors.
The resolution, drawn up by Britain, France, Germany and the United States, said it is “essential and urgent” that Iran “without delay” provides the IAEA with “complete information on nuclear material inventories and design information for facilities”.
The resolution – passed by 21 votes to three with 10 abstentions – also demanded that Iran “grant the agency all access it requires to verify this information”, said diplomats. One country on the 35-member board did not vote.
United Nations chief Antonio Guterres has warned of the risk of return to “full war” in the Middle East after Iran and the United States traded strikes.
“We should not minimise the risks of a lesser fire becoming full fire, or in another word – full war,” secretary-general Guterres said at a meeting of the UN Security Council on the situation in the region.
Smoke rises in southern Lebanon following an explosion, as seen from the Israeli side of the Israel-Lebanon border, in northern Israel today.
The effective closure of the strait of Hormuz has led to global energy disruptions “never seen before”, said Wael Sawan, CEO of oil company Shell.
Speaking at a summit of business leaders hosted by the Wall Street Journal, he said more than 10% of global oil production has been removed from the market since the start of the US-Israeli war against Iran. He added that about 20% of global liquefied natural gas (LNG) production is offline.
When asked for his thoughts on the prospect of reopening the strait of Hormuz, he replied: “It’s very difficult to call. What is clear is that the nature of the disruption to the global energy system is something like we have never seen before.”
He added that the blockade has been “particularly acute in Asia”, with countries such as Vietnam, Indonesia and Thailand resorting to rationing fuel while Pakistan and the Philippines have implemented four-day working weeks.
“It has been disproportionately painful in Asia,” Sawan said.
Here are some of the latest images from southern Lebanon and northern Israel, as the Israeli military said it would continue its military campaign against Hezbollah.
Lebanon’s official National News Agency reported an airstrike on a village east of Tyre killed at least six people, while an Israeli drone strike on a car in the southern city of Sidon killed two others.
Updated
Here is a video released by Iran’s Revolutionary Guards (IRGC) purporting to show missiles being fired at US military bases in the Gulf:
The Jordanian military said it had intercepted five Iranian missiles after the IRGC claimed to have targeted the Muwaffaq Salti airbase, which is known to host US F-35 fighter jets and other aircraft. Bahrain’s armed forces said it had shot down several Iranian drones and missiles, while the Kuwait army reported its air defences intercepted hostile targets.
In a subsequent post on Truth Social, Trump denounced “The Fake News Media” for refusing to report “how EFFECTIVE the US Naval BLOCKADE is”, describing it as “the most successful Blockade in the history of Naval Warfare”.
He wrote:
NOTHING GETS THROUGH unless we want it to. IT IS A STEEL WALL! Iran is doing ZERO business, not paying their military, or any of their bills, and quickly becoming a FAILED NATION! Lots of oil is getting out. Praise be to Allah!
It is a notable shift in tone after Trump expressed optimism yesterday that a deal could be reached with Iran in “two or three days” and that the strait of Hormuz would reopen “immediately” after.
Qatari negotiators travelled to Tehran to address remaining differences between the US and Iran, a diplomat told AFP on Wednesday, as talks between the warring sides appeared stalled.
“Following consultations with the US, Qatari negotiators travelled to Tehran this morning to meet with the Iranians in an effort to bridge the remaining gaps,” the diplomat with knowledge of the situation said on condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive talks.
The diplomatic effort came after Iran and the US exchanged fire following the downing of an American helicopter, further straining a ceasefire that took effect in April.
The future of peace talks in the Middle East have been thrown into question after Iran’s foreign ministry said it needed to “reassess” its participation, while Donald Trump said Iran would have to “pay the price” after the two countries traded fire overnight, drawing neighbouring states back into an on-and-off war that has consumed the region since late February.
The US launched strikes against Iran in the early hours of Wednesday morning in retaliation for what it said was Iran’s downing of a US army helicopter near the strait of Hormuz. Iran then launched a wave of retaliatory airstrikes claiming hits on US bases in Kuwait, Bahrain and Jordan.
The tit-for-tat attacks were the most severe escalation since a ceasefire was established in early April. Talks to turn the ceasefire into a durable peace have been stalling for weeks, with periodic flare-ups as both sides launched limited strikes and traded blame for violating the truce.
Iran’s foreign ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baqaei said US strikes jeopardised ongoing ceasefire negotiations. He accused the US of undermining diplomacy with its attacks and contradictory messages. He said that Israel was also harming the diplomatic process by continuing to violate the ceasefire in Lebanon.
“Following overnight events, we need to reassess … Any diplomatic process requires a minimum stable environment,” Baqaei said.
Trump, for his part, said Iran had taken “too long to negotiate a deal that would have been great for them” and would now pay a price.
The UN rights chief said he would send a mission to Lebanon to collect evidence on alleged rights abuses since the war began between Hezbollah and Israel.
“I have agreed with the government of Lebanon to conduct an impartial and independent assessment mission in the country,” Volker Turk told journalists, adding:
I will soon be deploying a team to collect information and evidence on alleged violations and abuses of international human rights law, and violations of international humanitarian law and related law committed by the parties to the armed conflict in the country since 2 March.
Trump considers strikes on Iran's power plants and bridges - report
Fox News, citing a phone interview with the US president, reported Trump is “getting close to ordering new strikes against Iranian power plants and bridges” in response to Iran reportedly dragging its feet on the negotiating table.
Bombing civilian infrastructure could constitute a war crime. As Peter Beaumont writes in his analysis on the issue:
Under article 52 of the first additional protocol to the Geneva conventions of 1977, “civilian objects”, such as infrastructure, are defined not in themselves but by what they are not: military objectives whose destruction offers no definite military advantage.
At the heart of the question of what may – or may not – be attacked is the overarching principle of distinction between civilians and combatants. Rule 10 of the customary rules of international humanitarian law – relating to both international and internal armed conflicts – explicitly states: “Civilian objects are protected against attack, unless and for such time as they are military objectives.
That places a requirement on all parties: attackers must avoid targeting civilian objects and the party under attack must avoid “mingling” the military and civilians.
Codified in international law, the statute of the international criminal court makes it explicit that it is a war crime to intentionally direct attacks against civilian objects if they “are not military objectives”.
You can read more of that analysis here:
Updated
The Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, also posted a message on social media around the same time as Trump, again insisting that Iran could never have a nuclear weapon and defending Israel’s decisions to attack the country.
In a separate post on X, Netanyahu took aim at the Turkish president, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, calling him an “antisemitic tyrant”. This is likely a response to Erdoğan’s earlier remarks condemning Israel’s “aggression” (see post at 11:52).
Updated
US and Iran must move beyond state of 'neither war nor peace,' says Iranian president
The Iranian president, Masoud Pezeshkian, said Tehran and Washington must move beyond “this state of neither war nor peace”, according to Iran’s semi-official Mehr news agency.
His statement came after the US and Iran traded fire last night in the biggest escalation since a ceasefire was agreed on 8 April. The back-and-forth strikes have raised questions over whether the truce remains intact, and threatens to derails diplomatic efforts to bring an end to the war.
Pezeshkian said the Iranian former supreme leader Ali Khamenei, who was killed in a bombing on the first day of the war, had “repeatedly said that the situation was neither war nor peace, and the issue had to be resolved”, suggesting that the only way to move forward is to negotiate.
He added:
At that time, we discussed with him that if we wanted to resolve the situation of neither war nor peace, what should we do? What should we do if we did not negotiate? And it was on this basis that the leader allowed the talks to continue.
We must come out of this situation with neither war nor peace. War is definitely not in the country’s interest, but it is not the case that if they want to violate our dignity, our soil, and our land, we will surrender or back down. They dream of such a thing. This is not something we want to back down from.
Trump: 'Iran has taken too long to negotiate a deal, now it will pay a price'
US president Donald Trump said Iran has “taken too long to negotiate a deal” and that it will “have to pay the price” as a result.
He did not clarify what action he intended to take, but the US military has been striking Iranian targets, including air defences and radar sites, near the Gulf. It is also not clear what this means for the ongoing diplomatic efforts to end the war, with Trump previously insisting that a deal could be reached.
In a post on Truth Social, Trump said:
Iran’s Military is a complete and total mess. Much of it, like their Navy and Air Force, doesn’t even exist anymore - They have been completely defeated. Iran is all talk and no action. The Bully of the Middle East is DEAD!!! They’ve taken too long to negotiate a deal that would have been great for them, now they will have to pay the price!!!
The Turkish president, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, said Israel’s attacks on Lebanon and Syria have reached a point where they also pose a threat to Turkey, Reuters reports.
Speaking to members of the Turkish parliament, he called for an end to Israel’s “aggression”, which he said is a threat to the entire world.
Erdoğan also claimed that there are initiatives, led by Israel, to destabilise the Mediterranean region. He vowed a “clear and forceful” response from Ankara to any action that violates the rights of Turks and Turkish Cypriots.
Updated
Asian stocks have fallen sharply after Iran and the US exchanged their biggest round of fire since a ceasefire was agreed in April.
Japan’s Nikkei index dropped 2%, while the tech-heavy South Korean Kospi slumped by about 6% – although it is still up by more than 70% in the year to date.
However, oil prices have actually fallen a bit this morning, with Brent crude – the international benchmark – down 0.2% to $91.28 a barrel.
Jim Reid at Deutsche Bank suggests that while investors are preoccupied with the conflict in the Middle East, “markets are also swinging between 1999-style AI exuberance and 2000-type tech crash fears”.
On the former, Brent briefly fell below $90 for the first time since April 17th yesterday before partially rebounding after Trump vowed retaliation following Iran shooting down a US helicopter. On the latter, the Philly Semiconductor Index fell by as much as -8.62% intra-day before recovering to -1.93% by the close.
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Two crew members missing after fire erupts on tanker off Oman coast, UKMTO says
The UK Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO) said it has received a report of a fire on a tanker off the coast of Oman, with one crew member injured and two others missing.
The incident happened this morning 20 nautical miles northeast of the Omani port city of Sohar, according to the agency. It did not say what caused the fire.
The UKMTO said:
Local authorities have reported a tanker has experienced a fire in their engine room and are on the scene assisting with the evacuation of the crew. The vessel is reporting 1 casualty and 2 crew members missing. No environment impact reported.
Authorities continue investigating.
Updated
Analysis: Iran weighs future of US talks amid exchange of fire
The future of talks between the US and Iran are under review in the wake of the exchange of fire between Iran and the US overnight, the Iranian foreign ministry spokesperson Esmail Baghaei said.
His remarks suggest discussions are under way at senior level whether to continue the military exchanges.
Iran seemed to regard it as significant that Donald Trump reportedly initially did not want to respond militarily to the downing of the US Apache helicopter since that response was taken as a sign that Trump is eager for a peace deal, and does not want to disturb the diplomatic climate so close to a possible agreement.
Iran claims it hit 70% of its targets in Jordan and Bahrain, including the F35 fighter jet hangars at the airbase and the command and control centre of the US base in Al-Azraq, Jordan.
Iran has given various accounts of why the Apache helicopter was downed, but settled on an accidental collision between the helicopter and an Iranian drone.
A tweet by a senior Iranian parliamentarian praising the attack has caused some consternation within Iran since it suggests the helicopter was downed deliberately.
Ebrahim Rezaei, who is the spokesperson for the Iranian parliament’s national security and foreign policy commission, tweeted in Persian and English sentences that indicate approval of Iran’s military action.
He wrote: “We kiss the hand of the fighter who dealt another slap to the devil by shooting down an American helicopter in the strait of Hormuz (like martyr Nader Mahdavi), we will celebrate him as a hero.”
He later asked how the US took less than two days to conclude that the attack on the helicopter had been carried out by Iran, but after three months of investigation was still unable to say if the US was responsible for an attack on a school in Minab at the start of the war that led to the death of more than 156 people, including 120 schoolchildren.
Overall, the tone of Iranian official remarks in the wake of the overnight exchange of fire was to project a firmness of purpose, but without enthusiasm to escalate.
A US attack on two water reservoirs in the Bemani area of Sirik in southern Iran, located on the shores of the strait of Hormuz, has left 20,000 people without drinking water, according to an Iranian water utility company.
Hormozgan province water and wastewater company, or Abfa Hormozgan, said the reservoirs were “targeted and completely destroyed” this morning by US military fire, according to a statement on its website.
The company’s CEO, Abdolhamid Hamzehpour, said the reservoirs provided drinking water to the city of Kohstak and 10 surrounding villages. There are not enough groundwater resources for immediate replacement in this area, Hamzehpour said in a statement carried by the Iranian judiciary’s Mizan news agency, adding that conditions for residents have become “difficult and critical” as temperatures exceed 45C (113F).
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Iran says US strikes 'harming diplomatic process by violating ceasefire'
Iran’s foreign ministry spokesperson, Esmaeil Baghaei, accused the US of “harming” diplomatic efforts to end the war through repeated ceasefire violations, shifting positions and contradictory messages, while also blaming Israel of the same with its military operations in Lebanon.
The biggest exchange of fire between the US and Iran since a ceasefire was announced on 8 April has cast doubt on efforts to bring an end to the war and Donald Trump’s claims that a deal can be reached.
In a statement carried by Iranian media, Baghaei said:
The diplomatic process does not happen in a vacuum. To advance any negotiation or diplomatic process, you need a minimal space to be able to advance the work of diplomacy.
Unfortunately, the United States is harming this process with contradictory messages, frequent changes in positions and demands, and frequent violations of the ceasefire. The Zionist regime is also harming this process with frequent violations of the ceasefire in Lebanon.
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More than 460 former European leaders and senior officials have called on the EU “to stop turning a blind eye” to Israel’s conduct in Palestine and impose sanctions.
In an op-ed released to European newspapers, the group urge the EU to suspend preferential trade with Israel, prevent exports from the illegally occupied West Bank entering the bloc and impose sanctions on Israeli ministers
The op ed is signed by 18 former senior politicians, including former prime ministers Leo Varadkar of Ireland, Robert Golob of Slovenia and Stefan Löfven of Sweden.
Notably it is also backed by leaders from countries that have hitherto declined to support trade sanctions against Israel, such as the former Italian prime ministers, Romano Prodi and Massimo d’Alema, and German former vice-chancellor Sigmar Gabriel.
In an implicit rebuke to EU leaders – Ursula von der Leyen at the European Commission and foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas – the group calls on the EU to show leadership.
They write:
Alarmingly, today, the EU’s credibility in the eyes of its own citizens and voters – and most of the world – is being undermined by its failure to show moral and political leadership in upholding international law.
The letter highlights that Israel’s onslaught on Gaza has killed at least 73,000 people, including more than 21,500 children, since the “heinous” Hamas attacks on 7 October 2023 that ignited the conflict. More than 900 Palestinians in Gaza have been killed since Donald Trump declared a ceasefire last October and conditions in the strip remain catastrophic, with the UN agency UNRWA and NGOs having warned that vital supplies are impeded by Israel.
Also in the spotlight are state-backed attacks by violent settlers on Palestinians in the West Bank, despite an opinion from the International Court of Justice in July 2024 stating that all settlements were illegal and should be dismantled.
The demands to suspend Israel’s preferential trade and expand sanctions on Israeli government ministers raise pressure days before EU foreign ministers meet in Brussels for talks on the Middle East.
EU officials insist that there is no majority to suspend preferential trade with Israel or take other measures, while saying the proposals remain on the table. In the absence of a majority, the Commission has declined to prepare a proposal to ban trade with occupied territories.
Russia and China, both allies of Iran, have urged restraint after violence broke out anew in the Middle East
“Various relevant parties should maintain calm and exercise restraint, stop intensifying the conflict and escalating the situation, take concrete measures to ease and cool down tensions,” Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Lin Jian said.
Russia’s foreign ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova later weighed in, saying: “We are extremely concerned about the new round of US-Iranian armed confrontation, which began with the unprovoked US-Israeli aggression against the Islamic Republic of Iran.
“We call on both sides to exercise restraint and to immediately cease military attacks.”
Iran’s semi-official Mehr news agency reported explosions near Qeshm, an Iranian island in the strait of Hormuz.
The news agency said: “The exact nature of these sounds is still unknown, given the volume of the sound, the source of the explosion may have been a relatively large distance from the city of Qeshm or related to movements in the strait of Hormuz.”
State media, citing Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), reported US attacks on Qeshm island earlier this morning.
Thirty-two charities in England and Wales have donated at least £28m to Israeli settlements that are illegal under international law, an MP has said.
Labour’s Melanie Ward said that if gift aid were claimed against the donations in the usual way, it would mean taxpayers had subsidised illegal settlements to the tune of £5.6m, a situation she described as deplorable. The foreign secretary, Yvette Cooper, announced on Tuesday that the Charity Commission has been tasked with investigating UK charities’ links to settlements.
Ward, formerly the chief executive of Medical Aid for Palestinians, set out the details of their recent activities in a letter to the commission in which she urges the regulator to take action by investigating them and removing them from the charity register.
She writes: “The existence and growth of Israeli settlements in the state of Palestine is globally recognised as one of the major impediments to peace. Any activity which supports the maintenance and the expansion of Israeli settlements – such as that funded by these 32 ‘charities’ – is extremist and not of benefit to the UK public.”
Read more:
Meanwhile in Lebanon, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) has issued several warnings this morning urging people in three southern Lebanese towns and villages to flee their homes ahead of strikes.
The forced evacuation orders were issued for Ansariyeh, Ghassaniyah and Houmine el-Faouqa, warning people to stay away from the towns and villages and move north of the Zahrani River.
Earlier, the Israeli military said it had launched several strikes in the city of Tyre and other areas in southern Lebanon over the past day, claiming to target Hezbollah infrastructure.
Cargo ship exchanges fire with gunmen on small boat off Yemen coast, says UKMTO
The UK Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO) said it has received a report of a cargo ship exchanging fire with gunmen on a small boat off the coast of Yemen.
The guards on the cargo ship were able to fend them off, according to UKMTO. The incident occurred 88 nautical miles southwest of the Yemeni port town of Balhaf this morning, the agency added.
In its warning, the UKMTO said:
A cargo vessel has reported being approached by one craft with 6 armed persons onboard. There was an exchange of fire between the small craft and the cargo vessels Armed Security Team resulting in the small craft turning away.
Authorities are investigating.
No group immediately claimed responsibility for the attack, but the Associated Press reported that the Houthi rebels in Yemen have said they will resume their attacks against Israeli-affiliated ships passing the Red Sea.
Iran’s foreign minister, Abbas Araghchi, has held calls with his counterparts in Turkey and Saudi Arabia, Iranian media is reporting.
According to state media, Araghchi used the call to condemn the overnight attacks on Iran as a “violation of sovereignty and affirmed Iran’s right to respond in legitimate defense”.
If the US genuinely wants a deal it will have to engage with Iranian demands on sanctions relief, says Danny Citrinowicz, the former head of the Iran branch of Israeli military intelligence.
Today’s exchange of strikes shows how easily both Iran and the US can slide towards another round of escalation, says Citrinowicz, who is now a nonresident fellow at the Atlantic Council.
He adds that regardless of how much pressure is applied, Iran has shown it will not abandon its current position and reach a deal without “meaningful economic relief”.
If Washington is unwilling to accept that reality, it should recognize the likely alternative: continued confrontations with Iran that could eventually spiral beyond anyone’s control and lead to military conflict under less favorable conditions.
Even a limited military campaign designed to weaken Iran would not fundamentally alter Tehran’s negotiating position. It has not happened in the past, and there is little reason to believe it would happen now. Iran emerges from the latest exchange of blows convinced that it can absorb pressure and respond to attacks.”
Iran’s foreign ministry has warned that its neighbours in the Gulf have a “legal and moral responsibility” to prevent American and Israeli strikes.
In a statement released hours after the exchange of fire between the US and Iran, the foreign ministry said there is a:
Legal and moral responsibility of all countries in the region (especially those located along the southern shores of the Persian Gulf) to prevent the US military and Israel from using their territory or facilities to plan, organise, execute, or support hostile actions against Iran.
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Donald Trump has addressed the most recent exchange of strikes between the US and Iran – by posting a 26-year-old clip from the NBC show The West Wing.
Replying to the US military’s announcement of “self-defense strikes” on Iran, Trump posted a 1.33 minute clip from the programme, which sees the fictional president, Jed Bartlet, and his aides debate the approach to take after a US military plane is shot down over Syria.
“What is the virtue of a proportional response?” Bartlet, portrayed by Martin Sheen, asks his chief of staff and military advisers.
After becoming angry at their answers he demands that they engage in a “disproportional response”.
Let the word ring forth from this time and this place, gentlemen – you kill an American, any American, we don’t come back with a proportional response. We come back with total disaster.”
It is not entirely clear what message Trump is trying to convey – but he is perhaps unaware of how the episode ends. After the military presents Bartlet with a plan that would lead to hundreds of civilian casualties, the fictional president reluctantly picks the initial, proportional response.
Despite its final episode airing more than 20 years ago, The West Wing has remained a cultural touchstone to many Americans, with some calling it a “bittersweet comfort watch” in the age of Trump.
In 2016, as Trump secured his grip on the Republican party and launched his campaign for the presidency, pop-culture journalist Brian Moylan wrote in the Guardian: “The West Wing shows us a world where the political system works.”
It reminds us of a time, not too long ago, when people in political office took their jobs very seriously and wanted to actually govern this country rather than settle scores and appeal to their respective bases.
You can watch the clip that Trump posted here:
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The Wall Street Journal has reported that Donald Trump was not convinced of the need to retaliate against Iran after the Apache Helicopter went down earlier on Tuesday. He spent much of the day playing down the incident, telling reporters that it wasn’t a big deal.
But according to the WSJ, his mind was changed after a briefing from defense secretary, Pete Hegseth, and chairman of the joint chiefs of staff, Dan Caine.
The Associated Press has reported that the Apache helicopter that crashed went down after colliding with an Iranian drone. It is not clear whether the collision was intentional, but US officials reportedly told the president that the attack merited a response nonetheless.
Trump would then go on to say that Iran shot down the helicopter, in a post on Truth Social, and declared that the US must “respond to this attack.” Hours later the US began the strikes on Iran.
The precarious US-Iran ceasefire explained
Wednesday’s strikes by the US on Iran are just the latest in a series of ceasefire breaches that have escalated considerably in the last two weeks.
After weeks of conflict, the US and Iran agreed to a ceasefire on 8 April and entered into protracted negotiations to reopen the strait of Hormuz and resolve the issue of Iran’s nuclear program.
Since then the US and Iran have exchanged strikes on at least four occasions, but in every instance both sides have characterised their actions as “measured” and “limited”, and stressed the importance of maintaining the ceasefire.
The ceasefire faced its biggest test on Sunday, when Iran launched missiles at Israel in response to Israeli strikes on Beirut’s southern suburbs. The Israeli military launched airstrikes on Iran in retaliation; the first exchange of fire between the two countries since the ceasefire was reached.
Fears of a return to a full-scale regional war in the Middle East eased on Monday, with Israel and Iran saying they had halted attacks on each other after an appeal from Donald Trump to “immediately stop shooting”.
The breaches of the ceasefire fly in the face of Trump’s continued claims that a longterm deal with Iran is close. The US president is reportedly very close to agreeing to a series of Iranian demands that would allow the strait to reopen to traffic, and begin the process of a new round of nuclear negotiations. However Trump has for weeks promised that a deal is close, but failed to follow through on those promises.
US House speaker Mike Johnson is among the many senior American officials who have been playing down the significance of the strikes.
He called the strikes on Iran “targeted”, “proportional” and “defensive in nature.”
Johnson said he spent several hours earlier in the situation room with Trump, the vice-president, JD Vance, secretary of state, Marco Rubio and defense secretary, Pete Hegseth, discussing the Iran war and other matters.
“We lament that has become necessary,” he said.
But he said after Iran struck US assets and personnel in the region, “We can’t allow that.”
Nearly all the missiles and drones launched by Iran over the last few hours were intercepted, a US officials has told the Reuters news agency.
The US official said that the military was not aware of any reports of harm to US personnel, or known damage to US locations at this time.
According to the official, the US struck nearly 20 targets in Iran on Wednesday morning.
We’ll bring you more on this when we have it.
Jordan says Iranian missiles shot down before they reached their target
Jordanian armed forces said on Wednesday they intercepted and shot down five missiles launched from Iran toward the al-Azraq area in Jordan.
The military said that debris from the interception operation fell on Jordanian territory but caused no injuries or material damage.
Earlier Iran’s Revolutionary Guards said they had launched a missile attack at an airbase in Jordan hosting US forces, after also targeting Kuwait and Bahrain. The missiles targeted the Muwaffaq Salti airbase, which is known to host US F-35 fighter jets and other aircraft.
As the US launched several waves of strikes on Iran, Asian share markets fell and oil prices surged.
Escalating tensions in the Middle East have unsettled markets, dimming hopes for an end to the months-long war that has pushed commodities higher and stoked inflation worries.
Japan’s Nikkei fell 0.9% while the tech-heavy South Korean KOSPI slumped 2%.
Oil prices climbed about 1% in early trade, moving away from a seven-week low touched in the previous session. Brent futures rose 0.9% to $92.29 a barrel, while US West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude climbed 0.8% to $88.97.
“Oil holding around $90 despite fresh Iran headlines suggests markets are not pricing a sustained supply disruption. That leaves room for a bigger repricing if energy infrastructure, shipping routes or U.S. involvement escalate,” said Charu Chanana, chief investment strategist at Saxo in Singapore.
US investor will be focused on inflation data, which is set to be released later on Wednesday. The report – covering the last 12 months through to May – will gauge the impact of the war, with a Reuters survey of economists predicting that inflation likely increased 4.2% in the perdiod.
Opening summary
Welcome to our live coverage of the crisis in the Middle East.
Iran says it has launched a missile attack at an airbase in Jordan hosting US forces, after also targeting Kuwait and Bahrain. The Revolutionary Guards said missiles have targeted the Muwaffaq Salti airbase, which is known to host US F-35 fighter jets and other aircraft.
Neither Jordan nor the US has acknowledged any attack, but if confirmed it would likely be the first time that Iran has targeted Jordan since the start of the ceasefire in April.
The US strikes on Iran followed the downing of a US Apache helicopter over the strait of Hormuz, from which two crew members were rescued in a stable condition. In a post on social media Trump said the US “must” respond to the helicopter crash.
Here is the latest:
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The US launched multiple waves of strikes on Iran in response to a military helicopter crash off the strait of Hormuz that Donald Trump said Iran had downed. The Associated Press reported that the Apache helicopter that crashed went down after colliding with an Iranian drone, but it was not clear whether the collision was intentional.
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US strikes were reported across Iran’s southern coast, on the strait of Hormuz. After more than three hours of military action, US central command (Centcom) said strikes were “completed”, adding that the US remained ready to defend against “unjustified Iranian aggression.”
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Soon after, Iran launched retaliatory attacks against the US, according to the countries state media, which said American bases in the region and the US fifth fleet in Bahrain were targeted with drones. Kuwait and Bahrain issued air raid alerts and reported that air defences were active in repelling attacks. Iran also claimed it had targeted a US base in Jordan with long range missiles.
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Iran’s foreign minister, Abbas Araghchi, said no attack would go “unanswered”, soon after the US launched strikes on Iran. Posting an image of the strait of Hormuz with the label, “Forever Persian Gulf”, Araghchi says that “despite its defeats on the battlefield, the U.S. opted to test our determination.”
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Five hours before the airstrikes, Trump had posted on social media that the US “must” respond to the helicopter crash, from which two crew members were rescued in stable condition. Before his social media post, however, Trump appeared to downplay the crash, telling the Wall Street Journal in a phone interview that it “wasn’t a big deal” and that “the pilot is fine.”
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Iranian state media reported that no air military operations have taken place in the strait of Hormuz over the past 24 hours, according to Reuters.
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Lebanon’s health ministry said 11 people were killed in Israeli airstrikes on the southern city of Tyre on Tuesday. The state-run National News Agency (NNA) had reported the first strike taking place not long before Israel’s military issued an evacuation warning for the entire city and surrounding areas ahead of strikes there.
