Trump promises more strikes after US and Iran trade attacks again

President says Iran still wants negotiated end to conflict

Trump called off the intensive bombing of his "Operation Epic Fury" in April with a ceasefire, and the sides agreed in June on an interim framework for more talks to end the war. But that failed to hold, leading to repeated exchanges of fire including two weeks of US bombing in July.

Over the past month, Washington has hoped a blockade of Iranian ports will inflict enough economic damage to force Iran to comply with US demands. Tehran meanwhile has maintained that the Strait of Hormuz is shut and will reopen only under its supervision.

The senior Iranian source, who has direct knowledge of Iranian decision-making and spoke to Reuters on condition of anonymity, said conditions in the strait would, "become worse," for vessels that violated rules set by Tehran for passage.

Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian struck a milder tone on Monday, telling Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi on the sidelines of a regional security meeting in Kyrgyzstan that Iran still sought a negotiated resolution.

"...we believe that continuing the war is in no one's interest, neither ours, nor the region's, nor humanity's," Iran's semi-official Tasnim news agency quoted him as saying.

(Additional reporting by Eman Abouhassira in Dubai, Phil Stewart and Kanishka Singh in Washington, Helen Coster in New York, and Yasmine Ghania and Hatem Maher in Cairo; Writing by Clarence Fernandez, Gareth Jones and Peter Graff; Editing by Paul Thomasch, Raju Gopalakrishnan, Alex Richardson, Sharon Singleton and Kevin Liffey)