Editor’s note: This is a developing story.
The U.S. launched strikes against Iran Wednesday for the second consecutive evening. Axios and open-source intelligence confirmed the strikes around 5:30 PM U.S. Eastern Time.
Al Jazeera reported, citing Israeli media, that Israel had also launched strikes.
President Donald Trump had signaled earlier in the day that the strikes were coming. “We hit them hard yesterday, and we’re going to hit them again hard today, in case you don’t turn on your television set,” Trump said in the Oval Office. Trump added that the U.S. and Iran had been close to striking a deal but “they keep tapping us along, they keep playing us for suckers.”
Trump told Fox News Wednesday morning he was getting closer to striking Iran’s power plants and bridges.
Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth told reporters Wednesday that the Iranians were “trying to tap, tap, tap on a deal, instead they’re going to have tap, tap, tap bombs dropping on key facilities in Iran from the United States of America.”
A U.S. official told Barak Ravid of Axios that the targets include air defense systems, radars, and drone units, and that all are located in southern Iran.
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