Trump met with advisers on Iran options, sources say
President Donald Trump announced “major combat operations” against Iran on February 28; There were massive joint US-Israeli attacks targeting military, government and infrastructure facilities.
Delegations from the United States and Iran started negotiations in June aiming for an agreement to end the war, based on the memorandum of understanding signed by both countries.
The United States and Iran nevertheless continued to exchange attacks, with the strategic Strait of Hormuz the primary flashpoint.
The Pentagon said in a statement that it had officially confirmed the identity of the remains of Staff Sgt. Angel Rampersad, who is believed to have been killed last week during an Iranian attack on a US base in Jordan.
According to the statement made by the Pentagon, the approval came from the Armed Forces Medical Examination System.
US Army – PHOTO: Sgt. Angel Rampersad, 28, of Ozone Park, New York, is believed to have been killed in action during an enemy attack at Muwaffaq Salti Air Base, Jordan, on July 17, 2026.
Rampersad, 28, of Ozone Park, New York, was posthumously promoted to the rank of staff sergeant.
three other service members Those killed in last week’s attacks were also given posthumous promotions.
President Donald Trump met with senior advisers behind closed doors at the White House on Friday to discuss his options on Iran, including the possibility of significantly expanding military action against Iran, according to two sources familiar with the matter.
New York Times first reported at the meeting. Trump has held a series of similar strategy sessions with his national security team since the ceasefire collapsed.
Trump did not publicly say whether he had made up his mind on which path to take when answering reporters’ questions Friday afternoon.
“As you know, we’re locked and loaded. We’re locked, loaded and ready to go, but we’re talking to them,” Trump said during an event in the Oval Office.
-ABC News’ Shannon Kingston and Luis Martinez
US military forces disabled a ship trying to break the blockade on Friday, according to a US official.
This was the fifth ship disabled by US military forces since the blockade on ships leaving or heading to Iranian ships was reimposed on July 14.
The United States struck a security building near the Iraq-Iran border crossing in Shalamche that was determined to be a “legitimate military target,” according to an official.
The US official, who said in the first image showing the explosions near the Iraq-Iran border that it was not a US air strike, now says that it was a US air attack near the border gate.
According to the official, the targeted building was located on the Iranian side of the border, about 8 meters from the Iraqi border.
-Luis Martinez of ABC News
An Omani diplomatic delegation visited Tehran for talks regarding the Strait of Hormuz, Iran’s official Islamic Republic News Agency reported on Friday.
IRNA said the delegation will discuss the management mechanisms of the Strait of Hormuz.
“Iran has shown that it will not bow to US bullying and will not respond in any way to language of force, pressure or threats,” Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi told reporters.
In his speech at the Council of Foreign Ministers of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization in Kyrgyzstan, Araghchi said, “We are not afraid of threats, we will not bow to pressure and we will not bow to threatening language. We have a principled policy and we will continue it. Protecting the Iranian people and protecting Iran’s interests in the Strait of Hormuz are among our principles and we will comply with them.” he said.
Regarding the negotiations, Araghchi said that there was no problem with the mediators, but the problem stemmed from the US approach.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will travel to Washington, D.C., on Monday at the invitation of President Donald Trump, according to Netanyahu’s office.
Netanyahu’s office said Netanyahu will meet with Trump at the White House on Tuesday and attend Sen. Lindsey Graham’s funeral.
Military officials said Iran continued to fire missiles at Kuwait, Jordan and Bahrain on Friday, and these countries confirmed the airstrikes.
Kuwait’s armed forces said it was dealing with “hostile drones” from Iran.
In the statement made by the armed forces, it was stated that air defenses in Jordan shot down seven missiles and six unmanned aerial vehicles coming from Iran on Friday.
Bahrain’s military said Friday it had “prevented and destroyed multiple treacherous Iranian airstrikes.”
-Ayat Al-Taway and Gazi Balkız from ABC News
Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) announced Friday morning that it had launched a new wave of drone strikes against US assets in Kuwait, after the US attacked Iran for the 13th consecutive night.
The Revolutionary Guard claimed to have targeted and destroyed an Amazon data center in Bahrain, according to Iranian state media.
Meanwhile, sirens were blaring in Bahrain on Friday morning, according to the country’s Interior Ministry, and an Associated Press journalist reported hearing at least seven explosions in the city of Erbil, capital of Iraq’s semi-autonomous Kurdish region, and then observing at least four clouds of black smoke rising into the sky from areas near or within a base housing US forces.
ABC News could not independently verify the AP report.
-ABC News’ Morgan Winsor
In the statement made by the US Central Command, it was stated that the US attacks on Iran for the 13th night in a row were completed at 21:00.
“CENTCOM targeted Iran’s military command centers, drone storage facilities, communications networks, coastal surveillance sites, and maritime capabilities to further reduce the threat posed by Iran to civilian mariners and commercial vessels transiting the Strait of Hormuz,” CENTCOM said.
