Iran has responded to reports that President Trump is weighing a new round of weekend strikes against Tehran – by naming attack targets of its own.
The two sides are weighing their options for what to do next, with Iran reportedly vowing to go after energy infrastructure should the United States and Israel launch any strikes over the weekend, a state-affiliated news agency claimed Friday.
A senior security official told Tasnim News Agency they’ve prepared ‘extensive response plans’ to what he called the ‘madness’ of US and Israeli strikes, adding they have ‘the capacity and the will’ to pull it off.
Meanwhile, multiple reports suggested Donald Trump was in varying states of decision-making regarding attacks on Iran’s own energy infrastructure.
The White House on Friday signaled that President Donald Trump is weighing carrying out new strikes on Iran as the US presses for Tehran to reopen the Strait of Hormuz and abide by terms set out in a truce agreement the two sides forged last month only to quickly collapse.
The President was bombastic at a televised meeting with his Cabinet at Camp David.
‘We will be hitting them very hard and you know at some point, they’re going to say, ‘We just can’t take it anymore.’
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt expressed the US administration’s frustration anew, charging that Tehran last month signed a memorandum of understanding with the U.S. on a truce but then quickly ‘broke it, shot at commercial ships, and killed American soldiers.’
Multiple reports suggested Donald Trump was in varying states of decision-making regarding attacks on Iran’s own energy infrastructure
Both Iran and the United States plotted out new strikes after several days of back and fourth between the two nations
‘President Trump is not going to stand by and allow this terrorist behavior 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.’
Leavitt issued the fresh warning after Trump earlier on Friday told reporters that “we just want to win” in Iran and signaled that he expected US military action to continue for some time.
The Wall Street Journal claimed Trump has already given his approval for strikes that could begin this weekend and last a few days, citing several officials.
Axios, on the other hand, reported that Trump ‘hasn’t given final orders to do it.’
Many believe that regardless of what Trump does, they want the operation complete by the time Wall Street opens for business on Monday to avoid any economic damage.
Iran fired drones at Kuwait, a Gulf country hosting US forces, and said it had also fired at oil tankers in the Strait of Hormuz, a key waterway for global oil and gas shipments, which has been largely closed by the fighting.
Kuwait’s Defense Ministry said Friday its armed forces had shot down drones inside Kuwaiti airspace.
The President was his typical bombastic self at a televised meeting with his Cabinet at Camp David
Smoke rises following explosion at an unknown location, during what U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) says are strikes on Iran, in this screengrab taken from a handout video released on Wednesday
It said the Iranian attacks had targeted several vital military facilities, causing material damage from falling shrapnel but no casualties.
It did not specify how many drones were intercepted.
Iranian state media said Iran had targeted an air base in Kuwait with drones in retaliation for US strikes on Thursday.
Iran´s Revolutionary Guard claimed to have hit two oil tankers attempting to pass through the Strait of Hormuz.
Iranian state media said four other tankers had turned around.
The report did not provide further details on the tanker’s ownership, or whether there were any casualties.
Trump has frequently threatened major escalation against Tehran, including last Thursday when he said he was considering a ‘bigger than ever before’ attack on the regime.
Reporting has raised questions about whether escalation in Iran could stretch too far the US’s diminishing supply of some types of air defense munitions, such as Patriot missile interceptors.
JD Vance and Scott Bessent were among those gathering with Trump to discuss next steps
President Donald Trump gives a thumbs up as he walks from Air Force One at Morristown Municipal Airport in New Jersey
Earlier this week, Trump revisited the idea of striking a possible Iranian nuclear facility known as Pickaxe Mountain while rebuking Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for bringing up the site in public.
On Friday, many in America blamed Iran for a cyberattack on Minnesota’s water infrastructure, though Trump blamed the state itself.
Several US officials claimed that American intelligence agencies had assessed that Iran was likely behind the incident, which targeted more than 30 municipal water systems this week, the Washington Post first reported.
The FBI is reportedly investigating the attack as the war in the Middle East reignited after Tehran targeted US troops in Jordan and Trump authorized retaliatory salvos.
The attack has not conclusively been attributed to Iran, officials told the Post.
But when asked about his reaction to the story during a televised Cabinet meeting at the presidential retreat Camp David, Trump claimed that the state’s own Democratic government is behind the assault on their own water systems.
‘We heard in Minnesota there was a cyberattack, and they blame it on Iran. I don’t think so,’ Trump said.
‘I think I blame it on Minnesota because they’re grossly incompetent.’
A US military aircraft takes off from an unknown location ahead of the strikes
A plume of smoke rises after reported strikes, from Qeshm, Iran from rumored US strikes on Thursday
‘I think the governor is behind it,’ he said of Minnesota Democrat Tim Walz, his former opponent in the 2024 election. ‘I don’t think there was an Iranian cyberattack.’
The FBI did not immediately reply to the Daily Mail’s request for comment.
The President’s remarks conflict with an internal report from state investigators.
The Minnesota Fusion Center, a state intelligence group, found that the hacks this week were ‘aligned’ with an allegedly Tehran-backed entity, according to a memo obtained by Wired on Thursday.
The attack was linked to a wider campaign, the memo indicated.
