President Donald Trump has threatened to strike Iran's power plants and bridges next week unless Tehran returns to the negotiating table, as the two countries exchanged fire for a fourth consecutive day.
Speaking in a Fox News interview on Tuesday, Trump issued his starkest warning yet.
"Next week it gets really bad for them. We're going to knock out all their power plants. We're going to knock out all their bridges unless they get to the table and negotiate," he said.
He added that energy targets would be saved for last. "I'll save the energy targets for last, but ultimately we'll hit energy targets," he said.
According to him, the United States (US) negotiators had relayed a blunt message to their Iranian counterparts on Tuesday evening that they "better make a deal, or you're not going to have anything left."
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The threats came as Trump reversed an earlier announcement of a 20 per cent toll on all Strait of Hormuz cargo shipping, replacing it with what he described as "massive" trade and investment deals with Gulf states, though the US military resumed its blockade of Iranian ports hours later.
US Central Command said it struck "dozens" of Iranian military targets near the Strait of Hormuz during a seven-hour wave of strikes, aimed at further degrading Iran's ability to threaten commercial shipping and civilian crews.
Iran's army announced at least seven of its military personnel were killed in strikes on a base in the southeastern city of Bampur.
Trump had made similar threats in April, drawing a response from United Nations (UN) human rights chief Volker Turk, who said at the time that deliberately attacking civilians and civilian infrastructure constitutes a war crime under international law.
The 1949 Geneva Conventions prohibit attacks on sites considered essential for civilian populations.
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