US missiles hit Iran as path towards de-escalation uncertain
The US President says he's not yet decided on new major strikes, leaving the door open to a diplomatic deal with Iran
President Donald Trump has vowed "major military punishment" for Tehran and its Houthi allies in Yemen, as US missiles struck targets across Iran on Friday.
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Two weeks after the collapse of an interim truce to end the war, Iranian armed forces fired at US bases in neighbouring Arab countries, warning that they could strike non-military buildings used by US personnel there.
Mr Trump has recently threatened 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.
But on Friday, he said he had not yet decided on new major strikes, once again leaving the door open to a diplomatic deal with Iran.
"We are talking to them," Mr 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."
Asked what the exit strategy was for the Iran war, he said, "There's a military exit where we just keep going just the way we are, and we can even make it a heavier dose, and it's knocking out everything they have. Or there's a smarter strategy that you make a deal."
But he added, "We're locked and loaded. We're ready to go."
Later in the day, Mr Trump said Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu would visit the United States next week.
The two leaders are expected to meet on Tuesday as the US-Israeli war on Iran completes five months.
The key waterway of the Strait of Hormuz, the entrance to the Gulf, has so far been the focus of a war that has killed thousands in almost five months, stoked global inflation and fanned fears of an economic downturn.
The Houthis, who control northern and western Yemen, have also declared a naval blockade of Saudi Arabia, which has diverted millions of barrels of oil by pipeline each day to the Red Sea to skirt Iran's near-total blockade of Hormuz.
After the Houthis said they had struck two Saudi tankers in the Red Sea on Thursday, Mr Trump said he would hold Iran accountable for any further attacks by the fighters.
A Saudi vessel sustained minor hull damage from an attack in the Red Sea on Friday, state news agency SPA said.
The Saudi-led coalition in Yemen said it struck Houthi military sites there, saying they were used to threaten commercial shipping.
The US military launched air strikes on Iran late on Thursday and early on Friday, racking up 13 consecutive nights of attacks.
In a statement on X, the Iranian health ministry said 59 people had been killed and 666 wounded since the resumption of clashes with US forces in late June.
Iranian media cited the head of Iran's top joint military command as saying Iran would kill a member of the US forces for every Iranian killed.
The war has killed 18 US service members. The Pentagon has said 100 service members had been injured since July 7. Officials say that more than 500 US troops have been injured so far.