Report: Despite Overnight Fire Exchange, U.S.-Iran Talks Still Ongoing

Despite the exchange of fire between the U.S. military and Iran, a senior diplomatic source told CNN that “the negotiations are still ongoing,” after Trump said during the strikes that he had spoken directly with Iranian officials and added, “They asked me to stop the bombing.”

At the start of the night, several explosions were heard across Iran, and after multiple reports of aircraft and American strikes, the U.S. military announced the attacks. In a CENTCOM statement it said, “U.S. forces have begun conducting additional self-defense strikes against multiple targets in Iran. The strikes are a response to Iran’s continued, unjustified behavior.”

The Iranian response was not long in coming, and began with ballistic missile launches toward American targets in Bahrain, Kuwait and Jordan, while the Iranian hacker group “Handala” announced that it was conducting electronic warfare against U.S. forces in the region. The Houthis in Yemen also responded to the American strikes and threatened, “The American actions against Iran will have serious consequences for the global supply chain and trade.”

The U.S. president told Fox News that fighter jets are operating in the skies over Tehran and added, “I spoke directly with Iranian officials and they asked me to stop the bombing. We will stop soon.” Trump also said that “Israel is not involved in the strikes” and said that 49 Tomahawk missiles were launched during the attack toward targets in Iran, including Tehran. Iran firmly denied any direct talks with Trump.