The U.S. military has launched a fresh wave of attacks on Iran after Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth promised the country’s forces would be “busy tonight.”
“U.S. Central Command forces began launching additional self-defense strikes today at 5:15 p.m. ET against multiple targets in Iran at the Commander in Chief’s direction. The strikes are in response to Iran’s unwarranted and continued aggression,” CENTCOM’s X account stated on Wednesday evening.
Earlier, Trumpsaid that the U.S. is going to attack Iran “very hard” unless a peace deal is finalized.
“We'll see what happens, but we hit them hard yesterday, and we're going to hit them again hard today”, Trump told reporters at the White House.
After urging de-escalation between Israel and Iran earlier in the week, Trump vowed to press on “attacking [Iran] very hard,” citing the downing of a U.S. Apache helicopter in the Strait of Hormuz.
The U.S. hit Iran earlier on Wednesday in response to the incident, prompting Iran to fire at American bases in Bahrain, Kuwait and Jordan.
Trump said this afternoon that the U.S. still wants to make a deal to end the conflict.
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Trump to Iran: I just took your oil
Donald Trump on Wednesday claimed the United States has been secretly removing massive amounts of crude oil from Iranian control on a nightly basis under cover of darkness as he downplayed inflation data showing prices have spiked at over four percent for the second consecutive month — the highest level in three years.
The US president was working his way though a meandering, stem-winding set of remarks at an Oval Office bill signing ceremony when he made the bizarre boast after being asked to respond to Consumer Price Index data showing the inflation rate rose 4.2 percent year-on-year in May, driven by the Iran war’s impact on energy costs.
He replied: “I love it; the numbers were great — you know what I really love? I love the inflation”.
Trump then claimed inflation would plummet “as soon as this war is over” and then said he would tell reporters “something you don’t know”.
“Do you know we've been taking out millions of barrels of oil? Nobody knows it. You know who doesn't know about it? Iran, until right now”, he claimed.
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UN sending team to collect evidence on alleged human rights abuses in Lebanon
Volker Türk, the United Nations’ high commissioner for human rights, has announced that he is sending team to collect evidence on alleged human rights abuses in Lebanon.
“I will soon be deploying a team to collect information and evidence on alleged violations and abuses of international human rights law, and violations of international humanitarian law and related law committed by the parties to the armed conflict in the country since March 2”, Türk said Wednesday.
It comes as fighting between Israel and the Iran-backed Lebanese militant group Hezbollah has escalated in recent months.
US military launches fresh strikes on Iran
The U.S. military has confirmed it has begun a fresh wave of strikes on Iran on Wednesday evening.
CENTCOM confirmed the attacks were underway after Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth had earlier teased they were coming.
“U.S. Central Command forces began launching additional self-defense strikes today at 5:15 p.m. ET against multiple targets in Iran at the Commander in Chief’s direction. The strikes are in response to Iran’s unwarranted and continued aggression,” CENTCOM’s X account stated.
Trump meets with national security team, weighs military actions: report
President Donald Trump met with his national security team Wednesday to weigh possible military actions against Iran, Axios reported, citing unnamed sources.
Trump is considering a big, yet short, operation to pressure Iran to change its position in negotiations to end the conflict, according to the sources.
Administration officials who were reportedly part of the talks included Vice President JD Vance, Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman General Dan Caine.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth joined the meeting from US Central Command headquarters in Florida, according to Axios.
Pete Hegseth says US military will be ‘busy tonight’
US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has warned that the military will be “busy tonight” after President Donald Trump threatened fresh strikes against Iran.
American forces will be “busy tonight, because President Trump said we’ll be hitting Iran hard”, Hegseth said outside of US Central Command headquarters in Tampa, Florida, Wednesday.
I spent six years in Iranian jail – the UK is failing Craig and Lindsay Foreman exactly the same way it failed me
For a hostage and their family, it is much easier emotionally when you finally know what is actually going on. It gives light in the desperation. You just need to find the tunnel out.
Craig and Lindsay Foreman, the couple jailed after being arrested on a motorbike tour in Iran last January, believe they have the rationale for their own arrest. Tehran wants Richard Jan, an Iranian national and convicted stalker who has been in prison here in the UK for 20 years, returned. On the weekend, hope of finding that tunnel came from David Lammy, who observed that “arrangements can be made”. His honesty was refreshing.
That is why it was so deflating that the Foreign Office called the reporting of the link between the cases by this paper and Sky News “grossly irresponsible and deeply regrettable” and urged other media to drop the story. They claimed that the story “risks hindering all the other efforts currently being made by this government”.
There’s a lot of crying wolf in hostage cases.
Britain is holding an ageing Iranian stalker whose deportation could help spare Lindsay and Craig Foreman from a 10-year jail sentence – so what is stopping us from bringing them home, ask Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe and Richard Ratcliffe.
You can read their article here.
Watch: Iran launches attacks at sites in Kuwait, Bahrain and Jordan following US airstrikes
Majority of traders don't believe US and Iran will reach peace deal for months
A majority of traders don't believe the US and Iran will reach a permanent peace deal for several months.
Traders currently put the odds of the two countries reaching a deal by October 31 at 57 percent, according to the prediction market Polymarket.
Trump declares ‘I love the inflation’ as costs increase amid Iran war
US President Donald Trump said he loves inflation Wednesday in response to a question about the latest federal report showing inflation climbed past 4 percent for the first time in three years.
“I love it; the numbers were great,” Trump said. “You know what I really love? I love the inflation.”
The bizarre moment punctuated the administration’s minimization of the country’s affordability crisis, a crisis that is getting worse, according to Wednesday’s Consumer Price Index.
The index revealed the inflation rate rose 4.2 percent year-on-year in May, driven by the Iran war’s impact on energy costs. Soaring prices have hammered working Americans recently, including at the gas pump, grocery store and in other consumer goods.
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Netanyahu makes plea to people of Lebanon: 'Israel is not at war with you'
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has made a plea to the people of Lebanon, insisting that his country “is not at war with you”.
“We're at war with Hezbollah, that has taken your country hostage, that does Iran's bidding, that uses your territory to launch terrorist attacks against Israel”, Netanyahu said in a video message Wednesday.
“You also know we yearn for peace with you, with Lebanon, a peace where our two peoples can invest together, build together, thrive together. The only impediment, the only obstacle to this beautiful vision is Hezbollah,” the prime minister added.
Netanyahu urged the people of Lebanon to “Seize your future, join Israel, build safety and prosperity for all of our children”.
