As the war has escalated, Trump has repeatedly mixed hints of diplomatic progress with threats to bomb the Islamic Republic “back to the Stone Ages”.

Adding to the pressure, a senior Israeli defence official said Israel was preparing to attack Iranian energy facilities within the next week, and was awaiting approval from the United States.

But a defiant Iran warned the “entire region will become a hell for you” if the United States and Israel escalated attacks, Iranian media said.

Chances for peace talks, which Pakistan is seeking to broker between Washington and Tehran, appear to remain slim, and polls show low US public support for the war.

IRAN WANTS “LASTING END TO ILLEGAL WAR”

Still, Iran’s foreign minister left the door open for the talks.

“What we care about are the terms of a conclusive and lasting END to the illegal war that is imposed on us,” Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi said on X, adding that Iran had never refused to go to Islamabad, which he thanked for its efforts.

After a fourth attack near the Bushehr power plant on Saturday, Araqchi warned the United Nations of an “intolerable situation that poses a serious risk of radiological release”, state media said.

Iran has rained drones and missiles on Israel, while targeting Gulf countries allied to the United States, which have avoided directly joining the war for fear of further escalation.

State TV said Iran’s military launched drones at US radar installations and a US-linked aluminium plant in the United Arab Emirates and US military headquarters in Kuwait, in retaliation for deadly attacks on Iranian industrial centres.

Kuwaiti state media, citing the finance ministry, said an Iranian drone hit an office complex for government ministries, causing significant damage but no casualties, in an attack Kuwait Petroleum ​Corp blamed for a fire there.

Iran earlier attacked an Israel-affiliated vessel with a drone in the Strait, setting the ship on fire, state media said, citing the commander of the Revolutionary Guards’ navy.

Yemen’s Iran-aligned Houthis also said on Saturday they attacked Israel with a ballistic missile and drones, in a joint effort with Iran’s Revolutionary Guards, the Iranian army and Lebanon’s Hezbollah. It gave no evidence of the damage caused.

Israel did not confirm the attack.