US strikes on Iran continue for 11th night as Tehran warns of wider reprisals

WASHINGTON/TEHRAN: The United States carried out strikes on Iran for an 11th consecutive night, with Iranian air defences activated in Tehran on Wednesday as President Donald Trump said the campaign was far from over and Tehran warned that any further escalation could widen the conflict.

The latest attacks came after fighting over the Strait of Hormuz derailed a preliminary agreement, broadening the war to another major oil transit route in the region. The US military said it had targeted sites including military logistics infrastructure in an effort to reduce Iran’s capacity to threaten commercial shipping in the Strait of Hormuz. Iranian state media reported strikes in several parts of the country, including Bushehr, home to a nuclear power plant.

Iranian state television said air defence activity was heard in multiple parts of the capital. It posted on Telegram “News sources reported minutes ago that air defence activity was heard in the west, east and northeast of Tehran”.

Trump, facing political pressure at home as the war approaches the five-month mark and November legislative elections near, said the conflict had already cost the United States $37.5 billion. That figure was also cited by Pentagon Chief Pete Hegseth on Tuesday while defending a request for tens of billions of dollars in additional military funding. Trump said Iran would need more than two decades to recover from the damage already inflicted.

Speaking about the campaign, Trump said “If we left right now, it would take Iran 20, 25 years to rebuild”, and added “We're not finished at all... we're not leaving right now”.

Diplomacy and threat of escalation

Even as military exchanges continued, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said in Manila that Washington remained open to a negotiated outcome. Rubio, speaking at a Southeast Asia ministers’ meeting, said “The problem we are currently facing is that they are not taking the negotiations seriously”.

Iranian foreign ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baghaei said diplomatic contacts with Washington were continuing through mediators.

Trump had also said a possible next target could be Pickaxe Mountain, an underground nuclear-related site near Natanz that Western intelligence suspects is being used for an undeclared enrichment facility. In response, Iran’s Khatam Al-Anbiya military command said it would “consider it as an expansion of war in the region”.

If such an attack took place, according to state-run broadcaster IRIB. The command also threatened attacks on “all the interests of America, the allies and supporters”.

Gulf attacks and Houthi warning

Iran’s retaliation has spread to US-allied Gulf states. Kuwait’s army said on Wednesday that its air defences were engaging Iranian drone attacks. Bahrain said a day earlier that it had intercepted Iranian attacks as warning sirens sounded repeatedly, while Kuwait and Jordan also reported intercepting drones and missiles.

The Iranian army said it had targeted US assets in Kuwait and Bahrain, including air defence systems, radar sites and administrative buildings. Iran’s Revolutionary Guards said in a statement carried by IRNA.

“With this radar sweep, the enemy should prepare for even more decisive and powerful waves of drone and missile attacks”, the statement added.

Another potential front has emerged around Saudi oil exports after Yemen’s Houthis threatened on Monday to blockade Saudi ports. Trump said he would “take care of” the Houthis if they acted on that threat.

It remains unclear how such a blockade would be enforced. However, maritime intelligence company Vanguard Tech said a Singapore-flagged tanker and a Liberia-flagged tanker reversed course in the Red Sea after taking on crude at the Saudi port of Yanbu. If the threat is carried out, it could undermine Saudi Arabia’s ability to route some oil exports away from the Strait of Hormuz.

Saudi Arabia and the Houthis exchanged fire last week for the first time in years, putting a 2022 truce under strain, although the group has mostly stayed on the sidelines since the United States and Israel attacked Iran in late February.

The Revolutionary Guards said on Tuesday that two tankers trying to pass through the Strait of Hormuz “were hit by explosions, resulting in massive fires that brought them to a standstill”.

Earlier, the UK Maritime Trade Operations agency reported that an unknown projectile had hit a tanker off the coast of Oman.