Cairo: The White House on Friday suggested President Donald Trump is considering additional strikes on Iran, as Washington pushes Tehran to reopen the Strait of Hormuz and comply with terms of a ceasefire deal the two sides reached last month before it quickly unraveled, AP reported.
No US strikes on Iran were reported overnight. But Iran’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard said it had hit two more tankers in the Strait of Hormuz, while Kuwait said it intercepted drones.
At the same time, Hamas said on Friday it would disarm, raising hopes of a possible breakthrough toward ending the war in Gaza, although major hurdles still stand in the way.
Trump Weighs Action
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt renewed Washington’s criticism, saying Tehran signed a memorandum of understanding with the US on a truce last month but then rapidly “broke it, shot at commercial ships, and killed American soldiers.”
“President Trump is not going to stand by and allow this terrorist behaviour to occur,” Leavitt said in a statement on Friday evening. “Iran will continue to pay until they come to the table in, what President Trump deems, a meaningful way.”
Her warning came after Trump earlier on Friday told reporters that “we just want to win” in Iran and suggested US military action would continue for some time.
“We’ll be hitting them very hard,” Trump said in an exchange with reporters during a meeting with members of his Cabinet at the Camp David presidential retreat in Maryland. “You know, at some point they’re going to say, ‘We just can’t take it anymore.’”
Strait Of Hormuz Tensions
Iran fired drones at Kuwait, a Gulf state that hosts US forces, and said it also targeted oil tankers in the Strait of Hormuz, a vital shipping route for global oil and gas that has been largely shut by the fighting.
Kuwait’s Defense Ministry said on Friday its military shot down drones over Kuwaiti airspace. It said the Iranian attacks targeted several key military sites and caused material damage from falling debris, but no casualties. The ministry did not say how many drones were intercepted. Iranian state media said Iran had targeted an air base in Kuwait with drones in response to U.S. strikes on Thursday.
Iran’s Revolutionary Guard also said it hit two oil tankers trying to move through the Strait of Hormuz. State media said four other tankers turned back. The report did not identify the ships’ owners or say whether anyone was injured.
Gaza: Hamas To Disarm As Israel Withdraws
Hamas said it will begin giving up its weapons under a deal announced by Trump that also calls for Israel to halt its attacks and pull out of Gaza.
The group said, however, that surrendering its heavy weapons later in the process would depend on the establishment of a Palestinian state — a prospect flatly rejected by Israel’s current government.
United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres welcomed the accord, describing it as the lone positive development in an otherwise grim stretch for the region. He said it had to be carried out “without any questions, skepticism, or determination to undermine it,” he told reporters.
Israel has not yet issued an official response to the Hamas deal, which is part of a U.S.-brokered ceasefire announced last October. Under that agreement, Hamas was to give up its weapons and hand power to an independent Palestinian administration.
Progress soon came to a grinding halt, with Israel insisting that Hamas disarm first while Hamas accused Israel of breaking the deal by continuing near-daily strikes on Gaza.
The war began after the Hamas-led assault on southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, which killed about 1,200 people and took 251 hostage. Israel’s retaliatory strikes on Gaza has since killed more than 73,000 Palestinians, including those killed after the ceasefire, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry.