WASHINGTON/TEHRAN/JERUSALEM/UNITED NATIONS/ABU DHABI/MANAMA - US President Donald Trump will "unleash hell" if Iran refuses to make a deal over the ongoing US-Israeli war against Iran, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said on Wednesday.

"President Trump does not bluff and he is prepared to unleash hell," she said at a White House press briefing. "Any violence beyond this point," she said, will be because Iran "refused to understand they have already been defeated and refused to come to a deal."

Leavitt declined to reveal whom Washington is negotiating with over how to end the war with Iran.

"We're not going to get into the details of these negotiations and conversations that continue to take place as, of course, you can imagine, they are very sensitive diplomatic discussions," she said.

Leavitt argued the war, breaking out on Feb 28, remains on track to endure for four to six weeks.

There are no talks or negotiations between Iran and the United States, said Iran's foreign ministry spokesman Esmail Baghaei in an exclusive interview with India Today on Wednesday.

"No one can trust US diplomacy," Baghaei said, noting that Iran had a very catastrophic experience with US diplomacy, evidenced by US attacks during negotiations over the nuclear issue in the past.

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Ebrahim Zolfaghari, spokesman of Iran's main military command Khatam al-Anbiya Central Headquarters, said the United States is negotiating with itself due to its internal strife.

He urged the United States to stop disguising its defeat as "an agreement," adding, "the strategic power the enemies would brag about has turned into a strategic defeat."

Iran: No talks held

Iranian Foreign Minister Seyed Abbas Araghchi said on Wednesday that different messages have been exchanged between Iran and the United States through intermediaries over the past few days, while Tehran has held no talks with Washington since the beginning of the US and Israeli attacks on the country late last month.

He made the remarks in an interview with state-run IRIB TV.

Weekend talks in Pakistan

The White House is trying to arrange a meeting in Pakistan this weekend to discuss an off-ramp to the US-Israeli war with Iran, a CNN report said Wednesday, citing two senior US officials.

Under a current plan, US Vice-President JD Vance may travel to Pakistan for the possible talks, said the report.

Besides Pakistan, Türkiye has also arisen as a potential location for the talks, according to the report.

Lincoln carrier 

The Iranian military said Wednesday that it fired several cruise missiles from Iran's southern coast at the US aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln, some of which struck the warship and "forced it to change its position," media reports showed.

Meanwhile, Iran's Navy Commander Shahram Irani said the warship is under constant surveillance, and will come under "crushing" attacks again when it enters the range of Iranian missile systems, the semi-official Fars news agency reported Wednesday.

Iranian missile hits Dimona

A missile fired from Iran on Wednesday evaded Israel's air defense systems and struck the city of Dimona, near which Israel's main nuclear facility and reactor are located, state-owned Kan TV reported.

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Air raid sirens in the area sounded in the morning and early afternoon, warning of incoming missile attacks, according to the Home Front Command. The Israeli military did not officially confirm whether the missile was intercepted.

The Magen David Adom ambulance service reported no injuries.

US fighter jet 

Iran's Islamic Revolution Guard Corps (IRGC) said its Navy's air defense on Wednesday struck a US F/A-18 Hornet fighter jet in the country's southeastern airspace.

Making the announcement in a statement on its official news outlet Sepah News, the IRGC noted that the fighter aircraft was hit over Chabahar County in Sistan and Baluchestan province with the IRGC Navy's missiles and crashed in the Indian Ocean.

It added it was the fourth US and Israeli fighter jet hit by Iran's homegrown air defense systems in the country's airspace.

Battlefront in Bab el-Mandeb Strait 

Iran could open another battlefront against the United States in the Bab el-Mandeb Strait if Washington seeks "stupid" actions on the ground to open the Strait of Hormuz, the semi-official Tasnim news agency reported on Wednesday.

"If the enemy seeks to take any action on the ground in Iranian islands or any other location in our lands, or inflict any cost on Iran through naval movements in the Persian Gulf and Sea of Oman, we will open other battlefronts against it as a surprise so that its actions will not only fail to be beneficial, but will also double its costs," Tasnim quoted a military source as saying.

The source said, "We constantly monitor the preparations in and developments of the enemy's front and keep them under surveillance."

Iranian island

Iran's Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf said on Wednesday certain data demonstrate that the "enemies" are preparing for an operation to occupy an Iranian island with the support of a regional state.

"If they take any step forward, all of the vital infrastructure of that regional country will come under (Iran's) unrelenting attacks without any restriction," Ghalibaf made the remarks in a post on social media platform X.

UN calls for truce

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Wednesday urged the United States and Israel to end the war against Iran and called on Iran to stop attacking its neighbors.

Speaking to reporters on the situation in the Middle East, Guterres said his message to the United States and Israel is that "it is high time to end the war -- as human suffering deepens, civilian casualties mount, and the global economic impact is increasingly devastating."

"My message to Iran is to stop attacking their neighbors that are not parties to the conflict," the UN chief said.

Arab countries condemn attacks

The United Arab Emirates (UAE), Kuwait, Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and Jordan issued a joint statement on Wednesday strongly condemning what they described as Iranian attacks targeting countries in the region.

The statement said the attacks constitute a flagrant violation of sovereignty, territorial integrity, international law, international humanitarian law, and the Charter of the United Nations, whether carried out directly or through allies and armed groups supported by Iran.