US-Iran war as it happened: ‘You won’t have anyone left’, Trump warns Iran as more strikes launched

That’s where we will leave our live coverage of the Middle East war for today. We will pick it up again later tonight if things pick up.

Here are the key events from today:

- US President Donald Trump walked back his plan to toll ships passing through the Strait of Hormuz, claiming to act on the advice of “kings and emirs” and other regional leaders to reconsider.

- US strikes against Iran didn’t stop, nor did a naval blockade of Iran. Trump was full of bravado, telling Iran they wouldn’t “have anybody left” if they refused to make a deal.

- Iran launched strikes of their own once again, claiming to target US bases in Bahrain and Kuwait. Four were wounded when a Kuwaiti navy vessel was struck.

- Democrats in the US Senate refused to pass a key defence bill. The bill was the $US1 trillion National Defence Authorisation Act, usually an annual bill. It was blocked purely in protest of the ongoing war with Iran.

US military commanders say the latest strikes on Iran have been completed.

They hit dozens of military targets near the Strait of Hormuz and Iranian coastal areas, US Central Command has written in an X post.

“US fighter aircraft, drones, and naval vessels launched precision munitions against Iranian missile and drone sites, naval capabilities, and coastal defence systems during the seven-hour wave to further degrade Iran’s ability to threaten commercial shipping and civilian crews.

“They were launched earlier today as the US naval blockade on Iran resumed.

Iranian strikes on seven commercial ships this week have killed almost a dozen civilians, the US military says.

Admiral Brad Cooper, who leads US Central Command, said in a statement posted on X that Iran also launched dozens of missiles and drones at neighbouring Gulf countries.

“US forces are holding Iran accountable for unwarranted aggression that continues to endanger innocent lives,” Cooper he said.

Cooper’s statement comes shortly after Donald Trump warned that the US would strike Iranian infrastructure next week, including bridges and power plants, unless Tehran returns to the negotiation table

Trump also in the Fox News’ interview refused to rule out deploying ground forces, but said “I don’t want to do that”.

He gave the comments when discussing his key objectives, such as removing Iran’s enriched uranium.

“Sometimes you need a ground campaign, but we have other people that will do the ground campaign for us,” the president said.

He didn’t specify other countries that had offered to send troops.

Donald Trump has dialled up the pressure on Iran, warning the country won’t “have anybody left” unless it makes a peace deal.

“You better make a deal,” Trump told Fox News’ Trey Yingst in an interview on Tuesday (Wednesday AEST), adding, “You’re not going to have anybody left.”

The president said American forces would “hit them very hard tonight, very hard tomorrow night” and begin targeting power plants and bridges as soon as next week unless peace talks restart.

Trump also said US officials conveyed his stark message to Iran about an hour before his interview.

Footage apparently showing the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps launching missiles and drones has been released by Iranian state media.

The Islamic Republic News Agency has shared a video on X showing what it claims are strikes targeting US military bases in Kuwait and Bahrain.

Accompanying text describes the launches as the “seventh phase of Operation Sa’eqeh (Thunderbolt),” - Iran’s retaliatory attacks.

Trump’s political opponents in the US Senate have refused to pass a package that would significantly raise the military budget.

Democrats blocked the $US1 trillion National Defense Authorisation Act (NDAA), an annual bill, by a margin of four votes in protest at the president’s war on Iran.

Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer said his party did not want to see America dragged further into the five-month-old conflict.

“The NDAA cannot become a permission slip for that recklessness that we see occurring in Iran,” he said

The US Treasury Department has slapped new sanctions on people, shipping companies and vessels linked to the alleged sanctions dodging of an Iranian oil mogul.

The sanctions impact more than 50 people, businesses and ships connected with Mohammad Hossein Shamkhani.

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent (below) says the network remains a major force behind Iran’s oil exports and has expanded into global trading.

“The Iranian regime survives on deception, and the Shamkhani network is one of its most profitable engines,” he said.

Iranian state media is reporting American strikes have hit sites in the country’s south.

The Islamic Republic News Agency says the port city of Bandar Abbas and several locations near Sirik were hit.

The US military said it had launched more attacks today against Iran ahead of the reimposition of its naval blockade.

All the sites are in the Iranian province of Hormozgan, near the strategic Strait of Hormuz.

Four members of the Kuwaiti navy have been wounded when their vessel was attacked by Iran, the Gulf state’s defence ministry says.

In a statement posted on X, military spokesman Colonel Saud Al-Attwan said the wounded service members had received medical treatment and were in a stable condition.

He said Kuwait’s armed forces had intercepted one ballistic missile, five cruise missiles and 33 hostile drones since late Tuesday.

US forces have been helping defend Kuwait from Iranian attacks, including by using Patriot missile systems that are part of a strained US stockpile, according to two US officials.