Trump says US ‘locked and loaded’, vows more Iran strikes while hinting at talks
A 13th night of strikes post-ceasefire triggers counter-attacks across the Gulf, with crude spiking as Hormuz shipping grinds to a near-halt
US missiles struck targets across Iran on Friday and President Donald Trump vowed “major military punishment” for Tehran and its Houthi allies in Yemen, though he once again left open the door to a diplomatic deal with Iran.
Separately, the US military said it had fired on and disabled a tanker ship after it was “repeatedly warned” and “didn’t comply” with the American blockade on Iranian ports.
Two weeks after the collapse of an interim truce meant to end the war, Iranian armed forces responded by firing at US bases in neighbouring Arab countries and warning that they could strike non-military buildings there used by US personnel.
Trump has threatened in recent days to widen targets to Iran’s energy plants and bridges, send ground forces to seize its oil hub of Kharg Island, and bomb a deep-underground nuclear-linked site known as Pickaxe Mountain.
On Friday, he said he had not yet made a decision on new major strikes, however.
“We are talking to them,” Trump told reporters at the White House. “I think they’re being serious. I think … they are being by far the most serious that we’ve seen them, but that doesn’t mean we get there.”