US seeks deployment of hypersonic missile for potential Iran strike - report

US President Donald Trump’s approach of sustained pressure on Iran’s oil sector could inflict significant economic damage and potentially force concessions, but the assumption that it would quickly produce political change is “appealingly simple, yet dangerously incomplete,” according to an analysis by former Iran hostage Siamak Namazi.

"The Islamic Republic may indeed be under growing oil pressure. But the better frame is not a neat countdown. It is a regional logistics crisis colliding with a regime that has its own decision-making logic," Said Namazi, who was held in Iran from 2015 to 2023 in an analysis for Middle East Institute, published on Wednesday.

Namazi warned against “countdown” narratives suggesting a fixed timeline for Iranian capitulation, arguing that the impact of pressure would be uneven and dependent on infrastructure, field conditions and regime decision-making.

The majority of Iran’s highly enriched uranium is likely still stored at the Isfahan nuclear complex, which was hit in airstrikes during last year’s 12-day war and again targeted in later US-Israeli attacks, the head of the International Atomic Energy Agency said, according to The Associated Press.

In an interview with AP on Wednesday, IAEA Director General Rafael Grossi said satellite imagery and ongoing intelligence assessments suggest the material remains at the facility.

Grossi said the agency believes a large portion of Iran’s highly enriched uranium was stored at the site when the conflict began and has likely remained there since, noting that inspectors have been unable to verify the status of the material or confirm the integrity of IAEA seals.

US Interior Secretary Doug Burgum said on Wednesday Iran funded as many as 24 militant groups and described Washington’s policy as an effort to cut off what he called terrorism financing through an intensified economic and energy pressure campaign.

Doug Burgum made the remarks in an interview with broadcaster Hugh Hewitt, saying Iran should be viewed as the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps operating an oil-based state, and arguing that US measures are aimed at blocking funding for regional and global proxy groups.

"Iran, which basically, it’s not, we should stop calling it Iran. We should just call it the IRGC. We’ve got a terrorist organization with an oil field, and they’ve been militarily defeated, as President Trump describes. But now, with Scott Bessent, with Economic Fury, we have to stop them from being able to fund terrorism and fund exporting terrorism around the world," Burgum said.

"I mean, they were funding as many as 24 different terror groups with oil money. So the blockade is not just a physical blockade, it’s also an economic blockade to ensure that they don’t have the cash to keep raining terror and holding the whole world hostage," he added.

US Senator Shelley Moore Capito said on Wednesday she fully supports President Donald Trump’s efforts to prevent Iran from acquiring a nuclear weapon, calling for renewed negotiations with Tehran.

"I remain in full support of President Trump efforts to stop Iran from acquiring a nuclear weapon. It’s time for a defeated Iran to come the table and negotiate a deal that makes the world safer and keeps the Strait of Hormuz open," Capito said.

US Secretary of War Pete Hegseth said NATO allies failed to provide adequate support for recent US operations involving Iran, warning that Washington “will remember” their response.

In written testimony released on Wednesday Hegseth called for a “NATO 3.0” focused on warfighting and greater burden-sharing, saying allies must “step up” on collective defense commitments.

Hegseth said European partners share US interests in preventing Iran from obtaining nuclear weapons, but criticized what he described as their “unconscionable” response to recent operations.