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Iran's mission to the UN has just responded to Donald Trump's claim that Tehran has reached out to Washington - see our 15.02 post.

"No Iranian official has ever asked to grovel at the gates of the White House," it said in a written statement.

"The only thing more despicable than his lies is his cowardly threat to 'take out' Iran's Supreme Leader.

"Iran does NOT negotiate under duress, shall NOT accept peace under duress, and certainly NOT with a has-been warmonger clinging to relevance.

"Iran shall respond to any threat with a counter-threat, and to any action with reciprocal measures."

We just heard from Donald Trump, who said he may or may not authorise US strikes on Iran - see our 15.02 post.

Trump told reporters Iran has reached out to his administration, though he went on to say it's "late" to be talking.

He's keeping the ambiguity going, our US correspondent Mark Stone said, and there are two potential reasons for that.

"The first is he wants to keep everyone guessing," Stone says.

"It is useful to keep everyone guessing because that creates this sense of jeopardy.

"It means that the Iranians don't quite know where they stand, don't quite know what he's going to do. No one does."

But that ambiguity is also "inevitable", Stone said, because he believes the president "doesn't know what to do".

"So, it's useful to him to be able to say, you know, I might do this, I might do that," Stone added.

"But that's also because he doesn't know what he is going to do next. And he is in a real bind."

The forever wars

That's because Trump ran his campaign as a man who will stop the wars.

"And yet now he finds himself on the precipice of being forced by Israel, effectively, to join a new war," Stone said.

But, domestically, he is being pulled in different directions, with highly influential figures in the MAGA movement speaking out against intervention, such as Tucker Carlson and Marjorie Taylor Greene.

He's also got more traditionalist Republicans, such as Ted Cruz, saying the US must take this opportunity and take Iran out now.

"This is a huge, huge domestic challenge for Donald Trump, and it doesn't just threaten to split his base, it is splitting his base," Stone said.

"It's useful to be unclear about what he might do, but it is also because he has no idea himself, I don't think, what to do next."

By Adam Parker, OSINT editor

Sky News analysis of flight-tracking data shows more than 30 US military planes have been active over parts of Europe and the Mediterranean Sea over the past three days.

These include planes used for reconnaissance, aerial refuelling, and carrying cargo.

It also includes 12 F-35 jets that travelled from the UK to the region yesterday.

Images taken by photographer Glenn Lockett in Suffolk show three US air tankers escorting four F-35 fighter jets each.

The flight-tracking data shows the tankers travelled to the Mediterranean, then came back to the UK yesterday.

Most of the US military planes we've tracked regularly turn off their locations and final destinations, according to the data from Flightradar24.

Some of the planes moved from the US to Europe, while others appeared to move closer to the Middle East.

At least five of the US military aircraft landed at Chania Airport on the Greek island of Crete.

In the image below, a Boeing KC-46A Pegasus primarily used for aerial refuelling is seen on tracking in the eastern Mediterranean.

Donald Trump is speaking at the White House, where he is asked whether the US is moving closer to striking Iranian nuclear facilities.

"You don't seriously think I'm going to answer that question? 'Will you strike the Iranian nuclear component and what time exactly, sir, sir, would you strike it?'"

He adds: "You don't know that I'm going to even do. You don't know. I may do it. I may not do it."

He says "nobody knows what I'm going to do", but he can say this: "Iran's got a lot of trouble, and they want to negotiate.

"And I said, why didn't you negotiate with me before all this death and destruction? Why didn't you go?

"I said to people, why didn't you negotiate with me two weeks ago?"

He says Iran has reached out to him, claiming they even "suggested" they come to the White House.

"They had bad intentions, you know, for 40 years they've been saying death to America, death to Israel, death to anybody else that they didn't like anywhere," he adds.

"Bullies. They were schoolyard bullies. And now they're not bullies anymore. But we'll see what happens."

He also says "nothing's finished until it's finished", and that war is "very complex".

"I wouldn't say that we won anything yet," he says.

"I would say that we sure as hell made a lot of progress. And we'll see - the next week is going to be very big, maybe less than a week, maybe less."

Donald Trump is in front of the media now at the White House.

He's at a flagpole installation event, but it's likely he will face questions about the Middle East.

We'll bring the latest here with his response.

Some restrictions in Israel will ease this evening, the military has said.

This includes orders around school closures, for example.

As of 6pm (4pm UK time), parts of the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights and West Bank - in addition to Israeli communities near Gaza and in Eilat in the south - will be changed from "essential activity" to "partial activity".

Other parts will change from "essential activity" to "limited activity".

These changes will apply until 8pm on Friday.

Israel's air force has destroyed Iran's internal security headquarters, according to the country's defence minister.

"The tornado continues to hit Tehran," said Israel Katz.

"Air Force jets have now destroyed the Iranian regime's Internal Security Headquarters - the Iranian dictator's central repressive arm.

"As we promised - we will continue to damage symbols of power and strike at the ayatollahs' regime everywhere."

European countries are open to talk to Iran about a solution around its nuclear programme, according to Germany's foreign minister.

Johann Wadephul said: "It is never too late to come to the negotiating table, if you come with honest intentions".

He spoke the day after a call with Iran's foreign minister Abbas Araghchi, along with his French and UK counterparts and the EU foreign policy chief.

European officials made clear that their countries - which were part of Iran's 2015 nuclear agreement with world powers - "still stand ready to negotiate on a solution", he added.

But Iran "must now move urgently", he said, and "must take confidence-building and verifiable measures" including a credible statement that Tehran is not striving for a nuclear weapon.

This week, we have a special episode of The World podcast delving into the conflict between Israel and Iran.

Yalda Hakim and Richard Engel are in Tel Aviv to share their thoughts on the toll the conflict is taking on the region and the possibility of regime change in Tehran. 

Yalda has been in Jerusalem since Israel launched its attacks on Iranian nuclear sites, military bases and top commanders.

Richard, meanwhile, has just been at the scene of the latest Iranian missile attack and gives his insight, having spent a month in Iran recently.

To get in touch or to share questions, email

Episodes of The World with Richard and Yalda will be available every Wednesday on all podcast platforms.

Fars News Agency is reporting explosions have been heard in the city of Karaj, which is west of Tehran.

The report added fire and rescue vehicles are on the site, which is near Payam Airport.