WASHINGTON/TEHRAN – US President Donald Trump said Friday that Washington and Tehran are in talks and that he believes Iran is getting "more serious".
"I think they're getting more and more serious as the days go by, for maybe the obvious reason, but we are talking to them right now," Trump told reporters at the White House.
"I think they are being by far the most serious that we've seen. But that doesn't mean we get there," he added.
Trump offered few details about whether he would order a major escalation of US attacks on Iran as it remained unclear whether behind-the-scenes negotiations could revive diplomatic efforts.
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He made the remarks hours after meeting with his top advisers and officials at the White House to discuss options regarding the conflict with Iran, according to a CNN report that cited a source familiar with the matter.
As of Thursday, US forces had conducted strikes on Iranian military targets for 13 consecutive nights.
'Not to acquiesce to US bullying'
On Friday, Iranian Foreign Minister Seyed Abbas Araghchi said Iran will not acquiesce to US bullying and will in no way respond to the language of force, pressure, and threat, according to a statement from the Iranian Foreign Ministry.
In an address to reporters at the end of the Meeting of the Council of the Ministers of Foreign Affairs of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization member states in Kyrgyzstan, Araghchi stressed that Iran neither fears threats nor accepts pressure.
"We do not tolerate the language of threat," he said.
Araghchi emphasized Iran's commitment to protecting its people and interests in the Strait of Hormuz as a principled policy.
US bases, assets in Kuwait, Bahrain, Jordan targeted
In statements carried by its official news outlet Sepah News, Iran's Islamic Revolution Guard Corps (IRGC) said its forces had launched fresh retaliatory strikes against US bases and assets in Kuwait, Bahrain and Jordan, in response to what it described as US "crimes" against Iran.
The IRGC said its forces had struck and completely destroyed a "very large" US ammunition depot at Ali Al Salem Air Base in Kuwait with "advanced and ultra-heavy" kamikaze drones.
It added that its forces also attacked facilities housing US forces at the base, causing casualties.
According to the IRGC, its forces completed an earlier military operation against the data center of US company Amazon in Bahrain, destroying its remaining building.
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It further claimed to have demolished three US ammunition and equipment depots at the Al-Adiri Camp in Kuwait, and struck the watchtower of the US Fifth Fleet headquarters in Bahrain, causing significant damage.
The IRGC also said its aerospace forces had carried out a "crushing" attack on Al-Azraq Air Base in Jordan, causing significant damage to a number of US fighter aircraft.
US-Britain high-level meeting on Hormuz
In another development, the United States and Britain are planning to hold a high-level meeting in London next week to discuss forming a potential international coalition to protect commercial shipping in the Strait of Hormuz, US online news outlet Axios reported on Friday.
The agenda and timing of the meeting are still under discussion and have yet to be finalized, Axios reported, citing two European diplomats. The diplomats said the meeting could bring together defense ministers and top military commanders from Western and Middle Eastern countries.
According to the report, reopening the strategic waterway, a vital global energy shipping route, is widely viewed as a key element of any US strategy for ending its conflict with Iran.
The report also said there had been no Iranian attacks on commercial vessels over the previous four days. It cited US defense officials as saying Iran's military capability around the strait had been largely eliminated by US strikes, though other officials said that Tehran still retained the capability to attack ships in the area.
