TEHERAN/WASHIGNTON/JERUSALEM/ABU DHABI - Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian said on Wednesday that "the only way" to end its war with the United States and Israel "is recognizing Iran's legitimate rights, payment of reparations, and firm international guarantees against future aggression."

In a post on social media platform X, Pezeshkian voiced "Iran's commitment to peace in the region."

Earlier in the day, Iranian armed forces warned that they would launch massive retaliation if the United States were to strike Iran's ports.

Abolfazl Shekarchi, a spokesman for Iran's armed forces, made the remarks in an interview with state-run IRIB TV after the US Central Command published a post on its Persian page on X, calling on civilians in Iran to immediately stay away from the port facilities in which Iranian naval forces are carrying out operations.

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"If the United States carries out its threat against Iran's ports, no port, economic center, or point in the Persian Gulf will be out of our reach," Shekarchi said.

On Feb 28, Israel and the United States launched joint attacks on Tehran and several other Iranian cities, killing Iran's then Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, along with senior military commanders and civilians. Iran responded by launching waves of missile and drone strikes targeting Israeli and US assets in the Middle East.

Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) said Wednesday it will continue striking Israeli and US bases across the Middle East until it perceives the threat of war against Iran has ended.

"We only think of the enemy's complete surrender," the IRGC said in a statement on its official outlet, Sepah News.

The IRGC claimed that its 38th wave of attacks late Tuesday hit the US Al-Udairi base in Kuwait, sending more than 100 troops to nearby hospitals.

The group also claimed missile and drone strikes on US naval infrastructure at Mina Salman port in Bahrain, home to the US Fifth Fleet, as well as attacks on Kuwait's Ali Al-Salem Air Base and Mohammed Al-Ahmad Naval Base.

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In the latest strike on Iranian soil, Bank Sepah, a major bank in Iran, said a US-Israeli missile hit one of its Tehran buildings around 1 am local time Wednesday (2130 GMT Tuesday), injuring and killing employees on the overnight shift. State broadcaster IRIB confirmed the attack but did not provide casualty figures.

The Khatam al-Anbiya Central Headquarters -- Iran's primary military command -- warned the strike would prompt retaliation, saying the attack on a bank "freed" Iran to target US and Israeli financial institutions across the region. The Military spokesman Ebrahim Zolfaghari urged civilians to stay at least one kilometer away from such facilities.

Pentagon: $11.3b in 6 days

Pentagon officials have told US lawmakers that the first six days of the US military campaign against Iran cost more than $11.3 billion, The New York Times reported on Wednesday.

The report, citing three people familiar with the closed-door briefing between the Pentagon and Congress, said the figure, thought to be the most comprehensive preliminary estimate Congress has received so far, does not include many related expenses, such as the buildup of military hardware and personnel before the first strikes.

Early strikes used weapons including highly capable precision-guided AGM-154 glide bombs, which cost from $578,000 to $836,000 each, the report said, adding the US Navy purchased about 3,000 of the bombs roughly two decades ago.

Trump

US President Donald Trump said Wednesday the US military operation in Iran is both a war and a short-term "excursion," sending mixed messages on when the strikes will end.

"You just said it is a little excursion and you said it is a war. So, which one is it?" Trump was asked by one of the reporters traveling with him in the US state of Ohio.

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"Well, it's both," Trump answered. "It's an excursion that will keep us out of a war, and the war is going to be, I mean for them it's a war."

Addressing House Republicans on Monday, Trump described the military operation against Iran as a "short-term excursion" while later vowing to "go forward more determined than ever to achieve ultimate victory." He has also demanded Iran's "unconditional surrender."

Though Trump said earlier on Wednesday that the US-Israeli war with Iran will end "soon" because there is "practically nothing left to target," Axios reported.

US and Israeli officials said that they are preparing for at least two more weeks of strikes in Iran, and that there has been no internal directive on when such strikes might stop, according to the report.

More than 1,300 civilians have been killed and 9,669 civilian sites destroyed in Iran in US-Israeli strikes since Feb 28, Amir Saeid Iravani, Iran's ambassador and permanent representative to the United Nations, said Tuesday.

'Wide-scale' Israeli strikes

The Israeli military said it began a new "wide-scale wave of strikes" on Iran early on Thursday, minutes after alarms were activated across Israel warning of missile attacks from Iran.

Residents in Tel Aviv reported loud blasts as Israel's state-owned Kan TV news said debris hit several locations in the area. The country's rescue service, Magen David Adom, said its teams were on their way to search for possible injuries at sites where missile hits or fragments had been reported.

Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz said on Wednesday that the joint US-Israeli war on Iran will continue "without any time limit."

Speaking during a situation assessment meeting with senior military commanders, Katz said: "This operation will continue without any time limit, as long as needed, until we achieve all our goals."

Putin, UAE president call for de-escalation

Russian President Vladimir Putin and UAE President Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan spoke by phone on Wednesday to discuss escalating developments in the Middle East, calling for diplomatic measures to reduce regional tensions.

According to the Emirates News Agency (WAM), the leaders reviewed the latest situation and emphasized the need for an immediate halt to the escalation. They also stressed prioritizing meaningful dialogue and diplomacy to address outstanding issues while preserving security and preventing further crises.

The conversation came as explosions were reported over Dubai, with local residents hearing blasts linked to air defense systems responding to a missile threat. Authorities confirmed on X that the sounds were the result of successful interception operations.