Wars 2026 02/28 Israel-Iran War 3.0

[Saif]

US war in Iran has cost $25b so far: Pentagon official

The United States' war in Iran has cost $25 billion so far, a senior Pentagon official said on Wednesday, providing the first official estimate of the military's price tag for the conflict.

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US war in Iran has cost $25b so far: Pentagon official
Reuters
Washington

A cleric walks near a residential building damaged by a strike on March 4, in Tehran, Iran, 14 April 2026.

A cleric walks near a residential building damaged by a strike on March 4, in Tehran, Iran, 14 April 2026.Reuters
The United States' war in Iran has cost $25 billion so far, a senior Pentagon official said on Wednesday, providing the first official estimate of the military's price tag for the conflict.

With just six months before mid-term elections in which Trump's Republicans may face an uphill battle to keep their House majority, Democrats are riding high in public opinion polls as they attempt to link the unpopular Iran war with affordability.

Jules Hurst, who is performing the duties of the comptroller, told lawmakers on the ⁠House Armed Services Committee that most of that money was for munitions.

Hurst did not detail what that cost estimate included and whether it took into account the projected costs of rebuilding and repairing base infrastructure in the Middle East damaged in the conflict.

Rep. Adam Smith, the top Democrat on the House Armed Services Committee, responded to Hurst: "I'm glad you answered that question. Because we've been asking for a hell of a long time, and no one's given us the number."

The United States started carrying out strikes against Iran ⁠on Feb.28 and the two sides are currently maintaining a fragile ceasefire. The Pentagon has poured tens of thousands of additional forces into the Middle East, including keeping three aircraft carriers in the region.

Thirteen U.S. troops have been killed in the conflict and hundreds wounded.

Disruptions in shipments of ⁠oil and natural gas since the war started have caused a run-up in U.S. gasoline prices and agricultural products such as fertilizers, on top of the long list of other high consumer ⁠prices.

Trump's popularity has taken a beating since the U.S. and Israel launched a war against Iran on February 28 that has led to a surge in gasoline ⁠prices.

Just 34 per cent of Americans approve of the U.S. conflict with Iran, down from 36 per cent in mid-April and 38% in mid-March, a recent Reuters/Ipsos poll found.​

 

[Saif]

Iran war could push 30m people into poverty: UN

The US-Israeli war on Iran, which has sent the price of energy and fertiliser soaring, could plunge more than 30 million people into poverty, the head of the UN Development Programme said Wednesday. "It's development in reverse," Alexander De Croo told AFP on the sidelines of a G7 development...

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Iran war could push 30m people into poverty: UN

AFP
Paris, France
Published: 29 Apr 2026, 20: 49

The United Nations File photo

The US-Israeli war on Iran, which has sent the price of energy and fertiliser soaring, could plunge more than 30 million people into poverty, the head of the UN Development Programme said Wednesday.

"It's development in reverse," Alexander De Croo told AFP on the sidelines of a G7 development meeting in Paris.

"It took decades to build stable societies, to develop local economies, and it took only several weeks of war to destroy that," he added.

"We did a study after six weeks of war and estimated that even if the conflict ended at that point, 32 million people would be pushed into precarity in 160 countries," said De Croo.

The war has led to closure of the Strait of Hormuz, through which a fifth of the world''s oil and liquefied natural gas flows in peacetime.

Gulf nations are also important for many oil products and feedstocks to make fertiliser.

A shortage of supplies and high prices has led to countries in Africa and Asia imposing a range of measures that include fuel rationing and shortening the work week to reduce consumption. Other countries have reduced fuel taxes to cushion the impact on consumers.

The UNDP says the war will have a profound impact on Sub-Saharan African countries as well as certain countries in Asia such as Bangladesh and Cambodia.

Developing island nations will also be particularly hard hit.

High "energy costs, a lack of fertiliser, will have an enormous impact in the months to come" on people in these countries, said De Croo, a former prime minister of Belgium.

He also warned of "political instability and a drop in remittances from abroad because a lot of people working in the Gulf countries send money home".

To avoid poverty taking hold, the UNDP estimates that around $6bn "is needed in subsidies to support those most vulnerable to high food and energy prices", he added.

De Croo said discussions were already underway within the IMF and World Bank.

"You can say that six billion dollars is a lot -- the war cost nine billion dollars per week," he added.

The crisis comes as development aid is at a historic low, having dropped by more than 23 percent last year, primarily due to cuts by major donors led by the United States.​

 

[Saif]

Iran's supreme leader says US suffered 'disgraceful defeat'

The message by Khamenei came on the annual national celebration of "Persian Gulf" day in Iran

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Iran's supreme leader says US suffered 'disgraceful defeat'

AFP
Published: 30 Apr 2026, 18: 27

Iranians wave Irans national flags during a rally to show their solidarity and support to the new Iranian supreme leader Ayatollah Mojataba Khamenei in Tehran, on April 29, 2026. AFP

Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei said in a written message on Thursday that the United States had been defeated in its war with the Islamic republic, as the Iranian leadership defied President Donald Trump's warnings of a prolonged blockade.

"Today, two months after the largest military deployment and aggression by the world's bullies in the region, and the United States' disgraceful defeat in its plans, a new chapter is unfolding for the Persian Gulf and the Strait of Hormuz," said Khamenei in the message read on state television.

The message by Khamenei, who has yet to appear in public since his appointment on March 9 as Iran's new supreme leader, came on the annual national celebration of "Persian Gulf" day in Iran.

Mojtaba Khamenei became supreme leader after the US and Israel launched a massive campaign of strikes on Iran on February 28, killing his father and predecessor Ali Khamenei.

Last week, the New York Times citing several unnamed Iranian officials said the younger Khamenei was "gravely wounded" in the strikes but has remained "mentally sharp."

In his Thursday message, he said US bases in the region "lack even the capacity to ensure their own security, let alone provide any hope of securing their allies."

He hailed what he called Iran's "new legal framework and management" of the strategic Strait of Hormuz, a key energy chokepoint, as a means to bring "comfort and progress" for countries in the region.

Bright future
The strait has become a major flashpoint since the outbreak of the Middle East war, with Iran allowing only a trickle of ships to pass through the waterway.

Last week, a senior lawmaker said Tehran has received the first revenue from tolls it imposed on the strait.

A member of the Iranian police stand guard on a motorbike during a rally to show solidarity and support to the new Iranian supreme leader Ayatollah Mojataba Khamenei in Tehran, on April 29, 2026 AFP

Khamenei predicted a bright future for the Gulf without the United States and condemned what he described as "outsiders", saying those who interfere from thousands of kilometres away "have no place there except at the bottom of its waters".

He also lauded the people of Iran who he said "consider all national capacities -- identity, spiritual, human, scientific, industrial, and advanced technologies from nano and bio to nuclear and missile -- as their national capital".

Earlier Thursday, Iran's President Masoud Pezeshkian had said a US naval blockade imposed in retaliation against Iran's action in Hormuz was "doomed to fail".

Pezeshkian added that such measures would "not only fail to enhance regional security, but are in fact a source of tension and a disruption to lasting stability in the Persian Gulf".

Other figures have also struck a tone of defiance, with navy commander Shahram Irani signalling that Iran will deploy "in the very near future" naval weaponry which it has recently developed.​

 

[Saif]

Trump administration says its war in Iran has been ‘terminated’ before 60-day deadline

The Trump administration is arguing that the war in Iran has already ended because of the ceasefire that began in early April, an interpretation that would allow the White House to avoid the need to seek congressional approval. The statement furthers an argument laid out by Defense Secretary Pete

thefinancialexpress.com.bd

Trump administration says its war in Iran has been ‘terminated’ before 60-day deadline

AP

Published :
May 01, 2026 23:33
Updated :
May 01, 2026 23:33

President Donald Trump speaks to reporters in the Oval Office of the White House, Thursday, April 30, 2026, in Washington. Photo : AP

The Trump administration is arguing that the war in Iran has already ended because of the ceasefire that began in early April, an interpretation that would allow the White House to avoid the need to seek congressional approval.
FE

The statement furthers an argument laid out by Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth during testimony in the Senate earlier Thursday, when he said the ceasefire effectively paused the war. Under that rationale, the administration has not yet met the requirement mandated by a 1973 law to seek formal approval from Congress for military action that extends beyond 60 days.

A senior administration official, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the administration’s position, said for purposes of that law, “the hostilities that began on Saturday, Feb. 28 have terminated.” The official said the U.S. military and Iran have not exchanged fire since the two-week ceasefire that began April 7.

While the ceasefire has since been extended, Iran maintains its chokehold on the Strait of Hormuz, and the U.S. Navy is maintaining a blockade to prevent Iran’s oil tankers from getting out to sea.

While the ceasefire has since been extended, Iran maintains its chokehold on the Strait of Hormuz, and the U.S. Navy is maintaining a blockade to prevent Iran’s oil tankers from getting out to sea.

Richard Goldberg, who served as director for countering Iranian weapons of mass destruction for the National Security Council during Trump’s first term, said he has recommended to administration officials that they simply transition to a new operation, which he suggested could be called “Epic Passage,” a sequel to Operation Epic Fury.

That new mission, he said, “would inherently be a mission of self-defense focused on reopening the strait while reserving the right to offensive action in support of restoring freedom of navigation.”

“That to me solves it all,” added Goldberg, who is now a senior adviser at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, a hawkish Washington think tank.

During testimony before the Senate Armed Services Committee on Thursday, Hegseth said it was the administration’s “understanding” that the 60-day clock was on pause while the two countries were in a ceasefire. Sen. Tim Kaine, D-Va., who had asked Hegseth about the timeline, later told reporters that the defense secretary “advanced a very novel argument that I’ve never heard before” and “certainly has no legal support.”

Katherine Yon Ebright, counsel at the Brennan Center’s Liberty and National Security Program and an expert on war powers, said that interpretation would be a “sizeable extension of previous legal gamesmanship” related to the 1973 law.

“To be very, very clear and unambiguous, nothing in the text or design of the War Powers Resolution suggests that the 60-day clock can be paused or terminated,” she said.

Other presidents have argued that the military action they’ve taken was not intense enough or was too intermittent to qualify under the War Powers Resolution. But Trump’s war in Iran would certainly not be such a case, Ebright said, adding that lawmakers need to push back against the administration on that kind of argument.​

 

[Saif]

Iran activates air defences as Trump faces congressional deadline

UN chief Guterres calls Hormuz closure ‘strangling the global economy’

www.thedailystar.net

Iran activates air defences as Trump faces congressional deadline

UN chief Guterres calls Hormuz closure ‘strangling the global economy’

AFP, Tehran

Photo: Collected

Tehran's air defences were activated to counter small aircraft and drones yesterday, as the White House signalled that it will not be reined in by a congressional deadline on the Iran war.

The Tasnim and Fars news agencies reported that air defence systems, heard in some parts of the Iranian capital, were activated for around 20 minutes "to counter small aircraft and reconnaissance drones" but that the situation had returned to "normal".

US President Donald Trump's administration faced a looming midnight deadline to secure congressional authorisation for the war against Iran, setting up a clash between the White House and Congress.

The Trump administration argued that the 60-day clock to seek authorisation was effectively paused by a ceasefire announced last month.

"For War Powers Resolution purposes, the hostilities that began on Saturday, February 28 have terminated," a senior administration official told AFP late on Thursday, noting that there has been no exchange of fire between the United States and Iran since the April 7 ceasefire.

'Shameful defeat'

Earlier yesterday, Iran's supreme leader declared that the United States had suffered a shameful defeat, defiantly rejecting a warning from Trump that an economically punishing US naval blockade could be enforced for months to come.

Oil prices hit a four-year high, then fell back slightly before Mojtaba Khamenei issued a written statement read on state television declaring that Iran was now in the driver's seat in the crisis.

"Today, two months after the largest military deployment and aggression by the world's bullies in the region, and the United States' disgraceful defeat in its plans, a new chapter is unfolding for the Persian Gulf and the Strait of Hormuz," he said, hailing Iran's control over shipping in the strait.

He went on to predict a bright future for the Gulf without the United States, saying those who interfere in the region from afar "have no place there except at the bottom of its waters."

Khamenei was wounded in the initial US-Israeli strikes that killed his father, Ali Khamenei, and has not been seen in public since being named his successor as supreme leader in March.

The United States imposed a blockade on Iran's ports two weeks ago, while the Islamic republic has maintained its stranglehold over the strategic Strait of Hormuz since the start of the Middle East war at the end of February.

Washington is now seeking to assemble an international coalition of allied states and shipping firms to coordinate safe passage through Hormuz -- while maintaining its blockade of ships serving Iran, a State Department official told AFP.

Trump threatened Thursday to withdraw US troops from Italy and Spain, extending similar warnings already made against Germany, after lambasting the NATO allies for failing to support US-Israeli operations against Iran, including in the Strait.

'Act again'

Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz warned meanwhile that it was "possible that we may soon have to act again" against Iran to achieve the war's objectives.

But the commander of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards aerospace force, Majid Mousavi, said even a "short and tactical" enemy operation would be met "with painful, prolonged, and extensive strikes."

Tehran residents speaking earlier to AFP journalists in Paris described a sense of despair that the Islamic republic government was clinging to power and that negotiations had stalled.

"From the Islamic Republic still being in place to the innocent people whose lives were destroyed in this war, everything is so disappointing," one 28-year-old IT worker told AFP via messaging app from the Iranian capital.

'Intolerable'

Trump has reportedly told oil executives and national security officials this week to prepare for a prolonged US blockade designed to force Tehran to surrender its nuclear programme.

US Central Command said Wednesday it had redirected a total of 44 commercial vessels to violate the blockade as part of its blockade of Iran.

Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian said the blockade of his country's ports was effectively an "extension of military operations" by Washington, despite the ongoing ceasefire.

"Continuation of this oppressive approach is intolerable," he added.

Oil prices struck a four-year high yesterday. International benchmark Brent crude soared more than seven percent to $126 a barrel before easing in afternoon trading in London.

UN chief Antonio Guterres said the closure of Hormuz was "strangling the global economy," and International Energy Agency chief Fatih Birol told a meeting at his Paris headquarters: "The world is facing the biggest energy crisis in history."

"The consequences of the Middle East crisis grow dramatically worse with each passing hour... Now is the time for dialogue, for solutions that pull us back from the brink," Guterres wrote on X today.

US urges Israel-Lebanon talks

Violence has continued on the war's Lebanese front, with the US embassy in Lebanon on Thursday urging a meeting between Lebanese and Israeli leaders.

Israeli and Lebanese representatives have met twice in Washington in recent weeks -- the first such meetings in decades -- after the Iran-backed Hezbollah group drew Lebanon into the Middle East war on March 2.

Trump has said he hopes to host Lebanese President Joseph Aoun and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu "over the next couple of weeks."

Israeli strikes on southern Lebanon killed at least 15 people, the Lebanese health ministry said Thursday, while the Lebanese army said a separate strike on a home in the south killed a soldier and multiple members of his family.​

 

[Saif]

Trump says US could restart Iran strikes 'if they misbehave'

Trump has said repeatedly that Iran can never have a nuclear weapon

www.thedailystar.net

Trump says US could restart Iran strikes 'if they misbehave'

Trump has said repeatedly that Iran can never have a nuclear weapon

Reuters

Iranian clerics speak in Tehran Bazaar, amid a ceasefire between US and Iran, in Tehran, Iran, April 21, 2026. Majid Asgaripour/WANA (West Asia News Agency) via REUTERS

US President Donald Trump said on Saturday he had been told about the concept of a deal with Iran, but was waiting for the exact wording, while warning there was still the possibility of restarting strikes on the country if Tehran misbehaves.

A senior Iranian official said on ‌Saturday that an Iranian proposal so far rejected by Trump would open shipping in the Strait of Hormuz and end the US blockade of Iran while leaving talks on Iran's nuclear program for later.

When asked about Iran's proposal before boarding a flight to Miami at West Palm Beach, Florida, Trump replied: "They told me about the concept of the deal. They're going to give me the exact wording now."

He added on his social media channel that he could not imagine the proposals would be acceptable and that Iran had not paid a big enough price for what it had done.

Asked if he might restart strikes on Iran, Trump replied: "I don't want to say that. I mean, I can’t tell that to a reporter. If ⁠they misbehave, if they do something bad, right now we’ll see. But it’s a possibility that could happen."

IRAN SAYS IT'S READY FOR DIPLOMACY

Trump has said repeatedly that Iran can never have a nuclear weapon and said on Friday he was not satisfied with the latest Iranian proposal, while Iran's foreign minister said Tehran was ready for diplomacy if the US changes its approach.

Reuters and other news organizations reported over the past week that Tehran was proposing to reopen the strait before nuclear issues were resolved. The official confirmed that this new timeline had now been spelled out in a formal proposal conveyed to the United States through mediators.

Trump also said on Friday that "on a human basis," he did not prefer the military course of action and told congressional leaders he did not need their permission to extend the war beyond a deadline set by law for that day because the ceasefire had "terminated" hostilities.

While saying repeatedly he is in no hurry, Trump is under domestic pressure to break Iran's hold on the strait, which has choked off 20% of the world's oil and gas supplies and pushed up US gasoline prices.

Trump's Republican Party faces the risk of ‌a voter ⁠backlash over higher prices when the country votes in midterm congressional elections in November.

Iranian media said Tehran's 14-point proposal included the withdrawal of US forces from areas surrounding Iran, lifting the blockade, releasing Iran’s frozen assets, payment of compensation, lifting sanctions and ending the war on all fronts, including Lebanon, as well as a new control mechanism for the strait.

The United States and Israel suspended their bombing campaign against Iran four weeks ago, but appear no closer to a deal to end a war that has caused the biggest disruption ever to global energy supplies, roiled global markets and raised worries about the possibility of a wider global economic downturn.

Iran has ⁠been blocking nearly all shipping from the Gulf apart from its own for more than two months. Last month, the US imposed its own blockade of ships from Iranian ports.

Washington has repeatedly said it will not end the war, which has led to the deaths of thousands of people, without a deal that prevents Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon, the primary aim Trump cited when he launched strikes in February in the ⁠midst of nuclear talks. Iran says its nuclear program is peaceful.

Speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss confidential diplomacy, the senior Iranian official said Tehran believed its latest proposal to shelve nuclear talks for a later stage was a significant shift aimed at facilitating an agreement.

Under the proposal, the war would end with a guarantee that Israel and the United States would not attack again. ⁠Iran would open the strait, and the United States would lift its blockade.

Future talks would then be held on curbs to Iran's nuclear program in return for the lifting of sanctions, with Iran demanding Washington recognise its right to enrich uranium for peaceful purposes, even if it agrees to suspend its nuclear programme.

"Under this framework, negotiations over the more complicated nuclear issue have been moved to the final stage to create a more conducive atmosphere," the official said.​

 

[Saif]

Trump says US not likely to accept new Iran peace proposal

US President Donald Trump said Saturday he was going to review a new Iranian peace proposal but cast doubt over its prospects

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Trump says US not likely to accept new Iran peace proposal

AFP
West Palm Beach, United States
Published: 03 May 2026, 08: 48

US President Donald Trump spends the week-end at his Mar-A-Lago residence AFP

US President Donald Trump said Saturday he was going to review a new Iranian peace proposal but cast doubt over its prospects, as a senior military officer in Tehran indicated renewed fighting was "likely."

The dour outlook came after Iran''s Tasnim and Fars news agencies said Tehran had submitted a 14-point proposal to mediator Pakistan. Details included ending the conflict on all fronts and enacting a new framework for the crucial Strait of Hormuz, Tasnim said.

"I will soon be reviewing the plan that Iran has just sent to us, but can''t imagine that it would be acceptable in that they have not yet paid a big enough price for what they have done to Humanity, and the World, over the last 47 years," Trump said on his Truth Social platform.

In a brief interview with reporters in West Palm Beach, Florida, he declined to specify what could trigger new military action against the Islamic republic.

"If they misbehave, if they do something bad, but right now, we''ll see," he said. "But it''s a possibility that could happen, certainly."

The war, launched by the United States and Israel in late February, has been on hold since 8 April, with one failed round of peace talks having taken place in Pakistan.

On Saturday, Mohammad Jafar Asadi, a senior figure in the Iranian military''s central command, said "a renewed conflict between Iran and the United States is likely."

"Evidence has shown that the United States is not committed to any promises or agreements," he added, according to Fars news agency.

Deputy foreign minister Kazem Gharibabadi told diplomats in Tehran "the ball is in the United States'' court to choose the path of diplomacy or the continuation of a confrontational approach."

Iran, he said, was "prepared for both paths."

''Hypocritical''

US news site Axios reported earlier in the week that Trump's envoy Steve Witkoff had asked for Tehran''s nuclear program to be put back on the negotiating table.

Iran's mission to the UN pointed to the massive US nuclear arsenal, accusing Washington on Saturday of "hypocritical behaviour" towards Iran's own atomic ambitions.

There was no legal "restriction on the level of uranium enrichment, so long as it is conducted under the IAEA''s supervision, as was the case with Iran," it said, using the abbreviation for the UN nuclear watchdog.

Iran has maintained a stranglehold on the Strait of Hormuz since the war began, choking off major flows of oil, gas and fertilizer to the world economy, while the United States has imposed a counter-blockade on Iranian ports.

Oil prices are about 50 per cent above pre-war levels.

The vice speaker of Iran''s parliament, Ali Nikzad, said that under draft legislation being considered for managing the waterway, 30 percent of tolls collected would go towards military infrastructure, with the rest earmarked for "economic development."

"Managing the Strait of Hormuz is more important than acquiring nuclear weapons," he said.

Fighting meanwhile continued Saturday in Lebanon, where Israel has carried out deadly strikes despite a separate truce with the Iran-backed armed group Hezbollah.

The Israeli military said it had struck dozens of Hezbollah targets across southern Lebanon following evacuation warnings for nine villages.

Lebanon's state-run National News Agency (NNA) reported three deaths in the attacks.

Hezbollah, for its part, claimed several attacks targeting Israeli troops.

The Israeli strikes included one in the village of Yaroun on what its military called a "religious building," which was damaged.

The French Catholic charity L''Oeuvre d''Orient said the troops had "destroyed" a convent belonging to the Salvatorian Sisters, a Greek-Catholic religious order with which the charity is affiliated.

Iran's economic toll

In Washington, lawmakers were wrestling over whether Trump had breached a deadline to seek congressional approval for the war.

Administration officials argue the ceasefire paused a 60-day clock, after which congressional authorisation would be required -- a claim disputed by opposition Democrats.

In Iran, the war''s economic toll is deepening, with oil exports crimped and inflation surging past 50 per cent.

"Everyone is trying to endure it, but... they are falling apart," 40-year-old Amir, a Tehran resident, told an AFP reporter based outside the country.

"We still have not seen much of the economic effects because everyone had a bit of savings. They had some gold and dollars for a rainy day. When they run out, things will change."​

 

[Saif]

Sign deal by one month, says Iran

Iran has proposed a one-month deadline to reach a deal with the United States to reopen the Strait of Hormuz, lift the naval blockade and bring a permanent end to the ongoing conflicts in Iran and Lebanon.

www.newagebd.net

Sign deal by one month, says Iran

US unlikely to accept new Iran proposal: Trump

Agence France-Presse . Tehran, Iran 04 May, 2026, 00:30

Iran has proposed a one-month deadline to reach a deal with the United States to reopen the Strait of Hormuz, lift the naval blockade and bring a permanent end to the ongoing conflicts in Iran and Lebanon.

Iran’s Revolutionary Guards on Sunday said the United States faced a choice between an ‘impossible’ military operation or a ‘bad deal’ with Tehran, after president Donald Trump disparaged Iran’s latest peace proposal.

Negotiations between the two countries have been deadlocked since a ceasefire came into effect on April 8, with only one round of direct peace talks held so far.

Iran’s Tasnim and Fars news agencies reported that Tehran had submitted a 14-point proposal to mediator Pakistan, but Trump was quick to cast doubt on it.

‘I will soon be reviewing the plan that Iran has just sent to us, but can’t imagine that it would be acceptable in that they have not yet paid a big enough price for what they have done to Humanity, and the World, over the last 47 years,’ Trump said on his Truth Social platform.

US news website Axios reported, citing two sources briefed on the proposal, that it set ‘a one-month deadline for negotiations on a deal to reopen the Strait of Hormuz, end the US naval blockade and permanently end the war in Iran and in Lebanon’.

In a statement on the day, the Revolutionary Guards sought to put the onus back on Trump, saying he must choose between ‘an impossible operation or a bad deal with the Islamic Republic of Iran’.

‘The room for US decision-making has narrowed,’ they said.

The day before, deputy foreign minister Kazem Gharibabadi told diplomats in Tehran that ‘the ball is in the United States’ court to choose the path of diplomacy or the continuation of a confrontational approach’.

Iran, he said, was ‘prepared for both paths’.

In a brief interview with reporters in West Palm Beach, Florida, on Saturday the US president declined to specify what could trigger new American military action.

‘If they misbehave, if they do something bad, but right now, we’ll see,’ he said. ‘But it’s a possibility that could happen, certainly.’

In yet more bellicose rhetoric, Mohsen Rezaei, a military adviser to Iran’s supreme leader Mojtaba Khamenei, said Iranian forces would sink US ships.

‘The US is the only pirate in the world that possesses aircraft carriers. Our ability to confront pirates is no less than our ability to sink warships. Prepare to face a graveyard of your carriers and forces,’ he posted on X.

There is no evidence that Iran has sunk any US military vessels during the war.

Axios reported earlier in the week that Trump’s envoy Steve Witkoff had asked for Tehran’s nuclear programme to be put back on the negotiating table.

But Iran’s mission to the UN pointed to the massive US nuclear arsenal, accusing Washington on Saturday of ‘hypocritical behaviour’ towards Iran’s own atomic ambitions.

Iran has maintained a stranglehold on the Strait of Hormuz since the war began, choking off major flows of oil, gas and fertiliser to the world economy, while the United States has imposed a counter-blockade on Iranian ports.

Oil prices are about 50 per cent above pre-war levels.

The deputy speaker of Iran’s parliament, Ali Nikzad, said that under draft legislation being considered for managing the strait, 30 per cent of tolls collected would go towards military infrastructure, with the rest earmarked for ‘economic development’.

‘Managing the Strait of Hormuz is more important than acquiring nuclear weapons,’ he said.

In Iran, the war’s economic toll is deepening, with oil exports curtailed and inflation surging past 50 per cent.

‘Everyone is trying to endure it, but... they are falling apart,’ 40-year-old Amir, a Tehran resident, told an AFP reporter based outside the country.

‘We still have not seen much of the economic effects because everyone had a bit of savings. They had some gold and dollars for a rainy day. When they run out, things will change.’​