US President Donald Trump said he could “have dialogue” with Iranian leaders, but added, “I don’t want to do a cease-fire…You don’t do a cease-fire when you’re literally obliterating the other side.” The Pentagon is sending three warships and thousands of additional Marines to the Middle East, in the second deployment of Marines to the region in the past week.
As the war neared the three-week mark, Iran projected defiance, with the new supreme leader declaring that “safety must be taken away” from the country’s enemies and its armed forces vowing to pursue them even in tourist spots.
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Israel said it had killed the Basij militia’s intelligence chief in an earlier strike that also killed the group’s commander.
NATO withdrew all its personnel from Iraq and moved them to Europe.
Global benchmark Brent oil prices settled at their highest close since 2022, $112.19 a barrel, after touching $119 in intraday trading Thursday.
The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps denied that U.S. and Israeli airstrikes have crippled Iran’s ability to produce missiles.
Gulf countries intercepted drones and missiles, as Muslims around the region celebrated the Eid al-Fitr holiday.
U.K. police arrested an Iranian man who attempted to enter a nuclear missile base in Scotland.
Trump: NATO, Asian Countries Should Help Open Strait of Hormuz
Earlier, President Trump said that China and Japan along with NATO allies should help with efforts to re-open the Strait of Hormuz, which Iranian threats have effectively closed to commerce.
“It would be nice if the countries, including China, if the countries that use it…would get involved,” Trump said before boarding Marine One to leave the White House for the weekend.
“We don’t use the strait,” Trump said. “We don’t need it. Europe needs it. Korea, Japan, China, a lot of other people, so they’ll have to get involved a little bit on that one.”
Trump downplayed Iran’s position at the moment. “From a military standpoint, all they’re doing is clogging up the strait,” Trump said. “They’re finished” from a military standpoint, he said.
