Live: Donald Trump says US 'going to be attacking' Iran 'hard again today'

Inflation in the United States surged to a three year high in May, hitting 4.2 per cent.

The increase, up from 3.8 per cent in April, was put down largely to higher energy prices.

May marked the third straight month of strong increases in the Consumer Price Index.

Inflation also eroded wages for a second consecutive month in May which could impact overall economic growth.

Although the Federal Reserve is widely expected to hold interest rates at its June meeting next week.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has called on Lebanese people to join Israel’s fight against Hezbollah, saying their country had been taken “hostage” by the militant group.

“Israel is not at war with you. We are at war with Hezbollah, that has taken your country hostage,” Netanyahu said in a video statement.

 “We yearn for peace with you, with Lebanon…seize your future. Join Israel.

“Build safety and prosperity for all of our children.

“And once Hezbollah is dismantled, the possibilities are endless. And they are sky high.”

A ceasefire in Lebanon announced in April was never observed, and a new conditional truce declared after Lebanese-Israeli talks in Washington last week was rejected by Hezbollah.

Both sides have continued to trade fire since.

United Nations chief Antonio Guterres has warned of the risk of return to “full war” in the Middle East after Iran and the United States traded strikes.

He made the comments at a meeting of the UN Security Council on the situation in the Middle East.

“We should not minimize the risks of a lesser fire becoming full fire, or in another word — full war,” the secretary-general said.

Meanwhile, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Turk said he was “horrified by the fact that we see escalation upon escalation”.

“We’re always very relieved when ceasefires are announced, but ceasefires need to be respected in full,” he said.

“International law needs to be respected in full.”

Iran’s president Masoud Pezeshkian has said US threats to target the country’s national infrastructure represent a “sign of desperation”.

An earlier report from Fox News had suggested that Donald Trump was mulling attacks on Iranian bridges and power plants in retaliation to the downing of a US helicopter earlier this week.

President Donald Trump has vowed to continue attacking Iran if a deal to end the war isn’t reached, saying Tehran’s peace negotiators “keep playing us for suckers”.

“We’re going to be attacking them — attacking them very hard,” Trump told reporters in the Oval Office.

“We were really close to a deal, but they keep tapping us along, they keep playing us for suckers.”

Trump’s warning came hours after Bahrain, Kuwait and Jordan — all of which host US troops — came under Iranian fire with escalating attacks threatening to derail peace efforts in the region.

Meanwhile, the US military said an American warplane had fired on and disabled a tanker in the Gulf of Oman that was attempting to transport oil from Iran in violation of a US blockade.

The aircraft “fired precision munitions into the ship’s engine room after the crew repeatedly failed to comply with directions from American forces,” US Central Command said in a post on X.

Donald Trump has been talking to reporters from the Oval Office.

After being asked about the Iran war, the US president once again urges Iran to sign a deal to end the fighting.

And he adds that in addition to the strikes on Tuesday, he says “we’ll hit them again today”.

He adds that he “can” strike Iranian power plants and infrastructure, but refuses to say whether he will make good on his repeated threat to do so.

Thank you for joining us as we bring you all the latest developments on the conflict between the US and Iran.