Here's the latest
• Threats traded: President Donald Trump says the US will “bomb and destroy one bridge or power plant” for every ship hit by Iran in the Strait of Hormuz. Tehran has accused Washington of using Pickaxe Mountain as a pretext for further attacks, after Trump earlier also threatened to attack the suspected underground nuclear site.
• Attacks escalate: Jordan’s armed forces say they intercepted and destroyed multiple Iranian attacks today, after the US military said late Tuesday it conducted another night of strikes on what Iranian officials said were cities in the west and south of the country. The conflict has so far cost $37.5 billion, according to the Pentagon.
• US-Saudi nuclear deal: Meanwhile, Trump has approved a nuclear deal with Saudi Arabia that could lead to the kingdom enriching its own fuel for civilian reactors, according to a US official. Israeli opposition politicians have criticized the agreement.
Trump threatens to "destroy one bridge or power plant" every time Iran hits ship in Strait of Hormuz
President Donald Trump said Wednesday that the US will “bomb and destroy ONE BRIDGE OR POWER PLANT” every time Iran targets a ship transiting the Strait of Hormuz.
“From this point forward, any time the Islamic Republic of Iran shoots at a ship in the Strait of Hormuz, whether it be by Missile, Rocket, Drone, or any other device or weapon, the United States will bomb and destroy ONE BRIDGE OR POWER PLANT, including those located next to, or in, the Capital City of Tehran,” Trump wrote on Truth Social.
Trump has previously threatened to target Iranian civilian infrastructure — which could be considered a war crime — including in an interview with Fox News last week when he said the US would “knock out all (Iran’s) bridges unless they get to the table and negotiate.”
Trump authorizes US-Saudi nuclear deal, as Senate seeks answers on cost of Iran war. Catch up here.
US President Donald Trump has authorized a nuclear pact that could lead to Saudi Arabia enriching its own fuel for civilian reactors, according to a US official.
Reports of the deal caused anger in Israel, where Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s political opponents seized on the risk that enriched nuclear fuel could potentially allow Riyadh to produce nuclear weapons.
The Trump administration waged an 11th night of strikes on Iran, broadening the scope of its airstrikes into the west and south of the country, according to Iranian state media. Footage geolocated by CNN showed amorphous black clouds rolling near an airport in Behbahan, Khuzestan province.
Top US lawmakers pressed Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth for a timeline and military budget on a war that is dividing the Senate and costing more human lives every day.
Here’s what you need to know:
- US-Saudi civilian nuclear deal: The agreement approved by Trump stipulates limits on what inspections might be carried out on the Saudi program, a US official told CNN on Wednesday. US Secretary of State Marco Rubio earlier refused to give details after multiple media outlets – including CNN – reported on the tentative agreement.
- Iran fires missiles towards Jordan: The Jordanian military “shot down four drones” from Tehran on Wednesday, the country’s armed forces said in a statement. The two remaining missiles fell in “two remote, uninhabited areas,” the statement added. No one was injured or killed.
- EU warns certain ships to avoid Red Sea: Boats tied to Israel, the United States or Saudi Arabia should avoid the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden near Yemen, the European Union’s naval mission said on Wednesday, after the Iran-backed Yemeni Houthis announced a blockade on Saudi shipping through Bab al-Mandeb – a crucial maritime hatch in the region. Four tankers bound for the strait have turned back, according to trade intelligence firm, Kpler.
- Oil prices spike: The cost of Brent crude oil, the international benchmark, rose 4% to $94.66 a barrel at 8 a.m. ET. The latest spike came as “strikes between the US and Iran have showed no sign of easing,” Deutsche Bank wrote in a note.
- Dignified transfer of slain US troops: A dignified transportation of four US service members killed in fighting with Iran will take place on Wednesday, a Trump administration official told CNN. The troops will be taken to Dover Air Force Base, Delaware, according to the official.
CNN’s Kevin Liptack, Sean Lyngaas, Hanna Ziady, Izzy Lippolis, Kit Maher, Lex Harvey, Mostafa Salem, Jomana Karadsheh and Ibrahim Dahman contributed reporting.
Oil tankers turn back in the Red Sea as Houthis threaten commercial ships
Vessels bound for the Bab al-Mandeb strait in the Red Sea are turning back, shipping data shows, as Houthi rebels in Yemen threaten to blockade another critical oil chokepoint.
Kpler, a trade intelligence firm, identified four “genuine U-turn cases” on Monday and Tuesday, in the waterway, which connects the Red Sea to the Arabian Sea and the Indian Ocean, according to a statement Wednesday.
Bab al-Mandeb has become a crucial alternative to the Strait of Hormuz for Saudi Arabia’s oil exports. The Houthis have warned Saudi vessels against transiting the strait, which has become a conduit for about 6.2 million barrels of oil a day over the past month, according to Kpler, or about 6% of global oil supply. The vast majority of that is Saudi oil.
Windward Intelligence, another maritime analytics firm, said Tuesday that five tankers bound for the Bab al-Mandeb strait turned back because of the Houthi threat, “four of them carrying Saudi-origin cargo.”
A full blockade of Bab al-Mandeb could send oil prices back above $100 a barrel, according to Dan Pickering, chief investment officer at Pickering Energy Partners.
Read our report about how Bab al-Mandeb has become a new front in the Iran war.
CNN’s David Goldman contributed reporting.
Iran accuses US of fabricating nuclear site claims on Pickaxe Mountain
Iran has accused the US of using Pickaxe Mountain as an excuse for more attacks, after President Donald Trump threatened to attack the suspected underground nuclear site.
“Washington’s obsessive focus on Kolang Kouh (Pickaxe Mountain) where no nuclear activity is taking place is nothing more than a fabricated pretext for aggression, destruction, and sabotage,” Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmail Baghaei said on X.
Pickaxe Mountain is a heavily fortified underground facility located in the center of the country, about a mile south of the Natanz uranium-enrichment facility previously bombed by the US and Israel — making it a difficult target for any potential ground operation.
The facility is buried at least 100 meters (328 feet) under a large mountain called Kuh-e Kolang Gaz La, with Kolang translating to Pickaxe, according to the Institute for Science and International Security (ISIS).
Trump said on Tuesday that US would strike Pickaxe Mountain “pretty soon,” adding “there is not a thing they (Iran) can do about it.”
In the same social media post, Baghaei questioned why the head of the United Nations nuclear watchdog had not responded to Trump’s threat.
Some more background: The fortified underground facility was declared to the UN’s International Atomic Energy Agency in 2020 as a future facility to assemble the centrifuges that make nuclear fuel.
Iran’s Revolutionary Guard claims to have targeted US assets in two Jordanian bases
The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps said they targeted US military equipment in two Jordanian bases last night.
The IRGC said Jordan’s King Faisal base in the Ma’an Governorate and Prince Hassan in the Mafraq Governorate were hit with missiles and drones in response to the US striking Iran in “air and missile attacks.”
The group claimed it targeted a facility preparing F-15s, MQ-9 drones and US helicopters. There was no evidence to support the Iranian claim.
A video released by the Revolutionary Guards showed missiles being launched although launch sites were obscured. The video showed a message attached to a missile reading: “As long as you continue to undermine the security of the people of Iran, none of you will be secure. You will find out in a few minutes.”
In the written statement, Iran said the US has to pay a heavy price for “violating agreements.”
“If the aggressor is not punished … it will believe that it can resume the war whenever it wants and end it whenever it is under pressure, repeating the cycle of war, negotiation, and then war again, and constantly keeping the shadow of war over our heads,” the Revolutionary Guard said.
“If … the aggressions continue, we will be prepared for a regretful operation that will lead to a national day of mourning in the United States,” the statement continued.
Trump approves deal with Saudi Arabia that could allow kingdom to enrich nuclear fuel, official says
President Donald Trump has approved a nuclear deal with Saudi Arabia that could lead to the kingdom enriching its own fuel for civilian reactors, according to a US official.
The deal would last 30 years and could be announced as soon as Wednesday, according to the official, who added the agreement would involve American companies providing technology and expertise in developing the Saudi program.
The Trump administration intends to send the deal to Congress after it is announced.
Any agreement to give Saudi Arabia access to nuclear technology could prove controversial, both domestically and within the wider Middle East region, since the ability to enrich nuclear fuel could, in theory, eventually lead to the creation of nuclear weapons.
The agreement includes limits on what inspections might be carried out on the Saudi program, according to the US official, which may draw skepticism from lawmakers.
Israel, which is widely believed to have undeclared nuclear weapons, has long been wary of Saudi Arabia accessing nuclear technology.
Iran, Saudi Arabia’s main rival in the region, has a stockpile of enriched uranium and has vowed to cling to its nuclear program even after months of US bombardment, claiming the program is for civilian purposes.
EU warns ships linked to Israel, US and Saudi Arabia to avoid the Red Sea
Shipping vessels linked to Israel, the United States or Saudi Arabia should avoid transiting through the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden near Yemen, the European Union’s naval mission ASPIDES said.
Yemen’s Iran-loyal Houthi militant group declared this week that it will impose a blockade on Saudi shipping transiting through Bab al-Mandeb, a critical maritime chokepoint in the region.
The EU’s naval mission said the risk level for any vessels or shipping companies affiliated with Saudi Arabia, Israel and the US is “high”.
“This includes vessels of any nationality that have recently called at, loaded cargo in, or discharged cargo at Saudi Arabian ports, as such vessels may be perceived as associated with Saudi interests and could therefore be considered potential targets,” it said on Wednesday.
The mission recommended that any vessel that had called at a Saudi ports should reduce its electronic footprint by minimizing trackers and identification transmissions.
An effective Houthi blockade of Bab al-Mandeb would create a new front in the war with Iran, potentially requiring US military intervention that could then erode US ability to help ships out of the Strait of Hormuz. It also could prevent the Saudis from getting diesel to Europe at a crucial time for the fuel market.
So far, the Houthis have been unable or unwilling to enforce the blockade that the militant group announced earlier this week. But the threat alone has persuaded some ships to abandon their plans to exit the Red Sea heading south.
While Netanyahu remains silent, rivals in Israel slam reported US-Saudi nuclear agreement
Even as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has so far remained silent about reports of a US-Saudi civilian nuclear agreement, his political opponents have been sharply critical, treating the deal like a strategic disaster.
Former Defense Minister Avigdor Liberman, leader of the Israel Beitenu party, wrote on X that a civilian nuclear program for Saudi Arabia “will end with nuclear weapons and lead to a wild arms race across the entire Middle East.”
Democrats party chair Yair Golan, a retired military general, said the agreement creates a “dangerous reality” for Israel, accusing Netanyahu of achieving “the impossible”: “He both lost the chance for normalization with Saudi Arabia and enabled it to gain nuclear capabilities.”
Under the Biden administration, nuclear cooperation between the US and Saudi Arabia was directly linked to the normalization process with Israel, said Yoel Guzansky, a senior fellow at the INSS.
“The October 7, (2023) attack and war that followed took the prospect of normalization out of the equation as Saudi Arabia has only become more aggressive against Israel,” he told CNN, adding that with the current right-wing Israeli government there are really no political conditions for it.
“For the Saudis, it’s a win-win – they got nuclear without paying anything for it,” Guzansky said.
Guzansky says the agreement carries a dangerous proliferation risk, and may establish a “Saudi model,” which other states in the region will invoke and seek similar terms. He said Israel probably cannot stop the agreement, “but it can try to improve it, through Congress, and there is room for improvement, for example in matters of supervision and inspections.”
Jordan says its air defenses intercepted Iranian attacks
The Iranian military fired six missiles on Jordan today, according to the Jordan Armed Forces, as the regional conflict expands.
Jordan’s air defenses “intercepted and shot down four drones,” the country’s armed forces said in a statement, while two remaining missiles fell in “two remote, uninhabited areas,” it added.
No one was injured or killed as a result, the army said, and the operation did not cause any material damage
Tehran has hiked up attacks on three regional countries — Jordan, Kuwait and Bahrain — in recent days, all of which accommodate US bases.
Oil climbs as Iran war rages and a crucial Hormuz bypass is threatened
Oil prices are rising after the United States conducted an 11th consecutive night of strikes on Iranian military targets and Houthi rebels in Yemen threatened to disrupt a crucial escape hatch for Saudi Arabia’s oil exports.
Brent crude, the global oil benchmark, was up 3.7% to $94.40 a barrel shortly before 5 a.m. ET. West Texas Intermediate, or US oil, rose 4% to $87.71 a barrel.
“The latest oil moves come as the strikes between the US and Iran have showed no sign of easing, and there are still no concrete signs of a peace deal either,” Deutsche Bank analysts wrote in a note.
Crude prices have surged some $20 a barrel this month, as fighting between the US and Iran ramps up again. Brent futures prices for delivery six months from now hit a one-month high yesterday, according to Deutsche Bank, as fears of a prolonged supply shock resurface.
Adding to the worries: Iran-backed Houthis have threatened to attack Saudi vessels that attempt to transit the Red Sea, putting at risk what has become a crucial bypass to the Strait of Hormuz for the Kingdom’s oil exports.
Saudi Arabia has diverted roughly 4-5 million barrels of oil per day from the Hormuz to its Yanbu port, according to Helima Croft, head of global strategy at RBC Capital Markets. That amounts to roughly a quarter of what flowed through the strait before the war.
“If that route becomes inoperable, then the oil supply disruption becomes more serious and we start talking again about a ‘no way out’ situation,” Croft said.
– David Goldman contributed reporting.
What is Pickaxe Mountain, Iran’s secretive facility Trump says the US will attack "pretty soon"?
President Donald Trump continues to claim that the US will attack Iran’s Pickaxe Mountain – turning attention to the suspected underground nuclear site where Israel believes Tehran has stored part of its enriched uranium stockpile and advanced enrichment centrifuges.
Here’s what we know about Pickaxe Mountain:
What is it? Pickaxe Mountain is a heavily fortified facility located deep underground in the center of the country, about a mile south of the Natanz uranium-enrichment facility previously bombed by the US and Israel.
Construction on the facility began in 2020; at the time, Iran declared the facility to the UN’s International Atomic Energy Agency as a future facility to assemble the centrifuges that make nuclear fuel. The facility is believed to not yet be operational, with construction ongoing.
Is there enriched uranium there? Israeli intelligence believes Iran moved part of its enriched uranium stockpile to Pickaxe Mountain after last June’s attacks, an Israeli source familiar with the matter told CNN. Trump on Tuesday, however, seemingly downplayed the Israeli reports, saying: “We don’t have it on record.”
Could it be attacked? Analysts have mixed opinions. While a ground operation would be complex, an Institute for Science and International Security (ISIS) report pointed out several possible avenues for attack, including by exploiting ventilation, heating, cooling, deliveries, power supply, and personnel at the site.
Strikes, though, may not have the desired impact because the core part of the facility is likely deeply buried.
Read the full story here.
Iran officials says US strikes hit cities in the west and south of the country
A video geolocated by CNN shows fire and plumes of smoke rising near an airport in Iran’s Behbahan, after state media reported the city had been attacked in a US strike.
The video shows buildings burning near the Behbahan Northwest Airport in the central Khuzestan province.
Iranian media reported strikes on a number of locations in the west and south of the country overnight into Wednesday.
Air defenses were activated in the capital Tehran, though there were no immediate reports of damage and there were airstrikes on Kabudarahang, a city about 150 miles west of the capital, state broadcaster IRIB reported
Tabriz, a city in northwestern Iran, was also struck, and there were also strikes reported in Chavar and Abdanan in the western Ilam province, IRIB said, citing local authorities.
Explosions were also reportedly heard in the cities of Mahshahr and Sirik, near the Strait of Hormuz, and Bushehr, on the Persian Gulf, according to state news agency IRNA. The port cities of Konarak and Chabahar, in the southwest also came under attack, state media reported.
Yasha Saebi contributed reporting.
On Iran, a $37 billion price tag and no answers on how it ends
“We need some hard answers and some straight talk.”
Republican Sen. John Kennedy dispensed with his usual folksy patter to speak bluntly for the nation Tuesday on Capitol Hill.
Kennedy and Americans who want to know how long President Donald Trump’s war will last and at what cost were looking for answers from Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth.
They didn’t get them.
Instead, most Republicans stood firm in a critical hearing with an administration waging a hugely unpopular war, while Democrats highlighted the gap between its premature victory laps and the current stalemate.
The hearing’s critical takeaway: The administration is asking for a huge windfall in financing for a war it has always struggled to explain, can’t control and for which it lacks metrics of success and a way out.
Read the full story here.
Dignified transfer of US troops set to take place today, administration official says
A dignified transfer of US service members killed in the war with Iran will take place today, according to a Trump administration official.
The official told CNN that four service members will be transferred to Dover Air Force Base.
The Pentagon previously said three US service members were killed over the weekend, including two at a military base in Jordan and one in northern Iraq, and said the US located unidentified remains in Jordan after a service member had been listed as missing in action.
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt has said President Donald Trump was expected to attend a dignified transfer on Tuesday, but she later announced it would be delayed.
Lt. Tyler James Feehan, 25, among the US service members killed in Iran war
The family of 1st Lt. Tyler James Feehan shared memories of the 25-year-old who was killed on July 17 as a result of Iranian strikes on Jordan.
His family shared that Feehan was “always looking forward to the next big adventure,” having climbed Mount Everest Base Camp and trekked the Camino de Santiago from France through Spain. Feehan was also weeks away from receiving his MBA from Southern Utah University — the school has agreed to award him the degree posthumously.
Feehan will be one of four service members for whom a dignified transfer will take place on Wednesday at Dover Air Base in Delaware.
Trump administration has signed off on civilian nuclear deal with Saudi Arabia, NYT and WSJ report
The Trump administration has agreed to sign off on a broad civilian nuclear deal with Saudi Arabia, the Wall Street Journal and New York Times reported late Tuesday.
CNN reported over the weekend that the White House had tentatively agreed to allow Saudi Arabia to enrich uranium without enacting international safeguards intended to prevent nuclear weapons development, according to sources familiar with the matter and documents reviewed by CNN. The deal was awaiting President Donald Trump’s signature.
The New York Times, citing unnamed US officials, said the agreement would be announced Wednesday while the Wall Street Journal said Trump had now formally approved the deal.
Any deal to give Saudi Arabia nuclear technology could prove controversial, both domestically and within the wider Middle East region. Israel, widely believed to have undeclared nuclear weapons, has long been wary of Saudi Arabia accessing nuclear technology. Iran, the main regional rival to Saudi Arabia, has a stockpile of near-bomb grade uranium and has vowed to cling to its nuclear program even after months of US bombardment, claiming it’s for civilian purposes.
Uranium enrichment and plutonium reprocessing are the two main pathways to create the core material necessary to build nuclear weapons. Most countries whose civilian nuclear reactors require enriched uranium don’t produce it domestically — they instead purchase the material from vendors like the US or Russia and receive it in sealed shipments under strict international supervision.
Two sources familiar with the matter told CNN over the weekend the uranium enrichment provision includes stipulations imposed by the US, but details of potential limitations are unclear.
Known as the “123 agreement”, the deal will also not provide the final word on whether Saudi Arabia gets sensitive technology and material.
Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince, Mohammed bin Salman, has previously threatened to build his own nuclear weapons should Iran acquire the bomb.
Trump was “right to take the fight to Iran,” says former Vice President Mike Pence
Former Vice President Mike Pence joins CNN’s “The Situation Room” to discuss the conflict in the Middle East and recent reporting on Iran’s potential nuclear capabilities.
Pence said that while he understands President Donald Trump’s desire to reach a ceasefire, he does not see the Iranians having an interest in a “peaceful solution” or in reopening the Strait of Hormuz.
More of his comments below:
Rubio claims Tehran is "not serious about talks" as the US and Iran trade more strikes
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio claimed Tehran is “not serious about talks” as the US and Iran traded an eleventh night of strikes on Tuesday into Wednesday.
It follows US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s testimony before lawmakers as the Trump administration seeks tens of billions of additional dollars to fund the war.
Here are the latest headlines:
- Cost of war: The war with Iran has cost $37.5 billion so far, according to US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, but the bill is likely much higher, experts told CNN. He and the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Gen. Dan Caine, testified before Congress to seek additional funding for the war.
- Hormuz concerns: Hours later, Rubio warned of creating a “dangerous precedent” in allowing Iran to control the Strait of Hormuz, which was fully open for free and safe passage before the US and Israel attacked Iran in February.
- Global oil supply: Disruption to another critical waterway is raising the risk of the Middle East’s two key energy chokepoints coming under pressure at the same time, a shipping analytics firm warned. The Iranian-backed Houthis threatened to blockade Saudi-linked shipping in the Bab el-Mandeb Strait. It’s already having an impact as two tankers carrying Saudi crude reversed course in the Red Sea after the Houthis declaration.
- Widening conflict: The US military said it completed the 11th consecutive night of strikes against Iran on Tuesday night. Air defenses were activated in the Iranian capital, Tehran, and explosions were reported in several Iranian cities, according to state media. Iran said it launched a counterassault early Wednesday local time, and Kuwait reported its air defenses were engaging hostile drone attacks.
- Trump’s warning: President Donald Trump said Tuesday the US will “pretty soon” hit the area of Pickaxe Mountain — a fortified underground facility believed to be connected to Iran’s nuclear program. Tehran said any attack on its nuclear facilities would be treated as an expansion of the war in the region.
- Killed in action: The US Defense Department has identified a US soldier whom it believes was killed in Jordan as Sgt. Angel S. Rampersad. The soldier was previously listed as missing by US Central Command.
Rubio warns of creating "dangerous precedent" in allowing Iran to control Strait of Hormuz
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Iran is “not serious about talks” during his opening remarks at the meeting of the foreign ministers of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) on Wednesday in Manila, Philippines.
Rubio said that “the problem we’re having right now (with Iran) is that they’re not serious about talks. If they’re serious, we’re serious. If they’re not, then we will do what is necessary to protect our interest and also the interests of our allies.”
The “fundamental principle of freedom of navigation” is at stake, Rubio said.
“If that is threatened, then I think the global economy is threatened, and the rules which have underpinned 150 years of international trade and commerce are also threatened,” he said.
An estimated $37.5 billion for Iran war and testy exchanges. Here's what happened on the Hill
US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Dan Caine testified before a key Senate panel for the first time since the US-Iran conflict re-escalated this month.
They were seeking tens of billions of additional dollars to fund the war.
Here’s what to know:
- On funding: Hegseth told the Senate Appropriations Committee that the war has cost the United States $37.5 billion – but the bill is likely much higher, experts previously told CNN. Some of the cost accounts for expenses, such as meals for troops, through the end of the fiscal year, he said.
- Strait strategy: He testified that a US military effort to guide ships through the Strait of Hormuz continued “covertly” after it was announced in May, and that it had helped guide up to 500 million barrels of oil through the strategic waterway with the US retaining control despite Iranian attacks.
- Russia and China’s involvement: Hegseth said that China and Russia are “at different levels” enabling some of Iran’s activity. “[T]here are many ways that we deter that … and the depth and extent of it ought to remain classified,” he said.
- Iranian nuclear targets: When questioned about the US military’s ability to strike the suspected Iranian nuclear facility beneath Pickaxe Mountain, Hegseth demurred and said that “a lot of our capabilities are classified.” US President Donald Trump said today that the US will be hitting the target “pretty soon.”
- Human toll: Chairman Caine told lawmakers he would provide Trump with the “appropriate options and risks that he can choose from” when it comes to how to proceed with the war and said the human toll is always a factor.
- A testy response: In a testy back and forth, Michigan Democratic Sen. Gary Peters sharply criticized Hegseth’s leadership, calling him a failure and raised concerns about the administration’s war strategy.
- Questioned on justification: In another tense exchange, Democratic Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand pressed Hegseth on the justification for the war. The New York lawmaker accused Hegseth of misleading the public about destroying Iran’s missile launch capabilities, and Hegseth accused the senator of “trying to make campaign commercials.”
