US missiles hit Iran as path towards de-escalation uncertain

(Reuters)

WASHINGTON, July 24 – U.S. missiles struck targets across Iran on Friday and President Donald Trump vowed “major military punishment” for Tehran and its Houthi allies in Yemen, though ​he once again left open the door to a diplomatic deal with Iran.

Two weeks after the collapse of an interim truce meant to end the war, Iranian armed forces responded ‌by firing at U.S. bases in neighbouring Arab countries and warning that they could strike non-military buildings there used by U.S. personnel.

Trump has threatened in recent days 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.

On Friday, he said he had not yet made a decision on new major strikes, however.

“We are talking to them,” 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, Trump 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.”