US President Donald Trump has said that top Iranian officials called him directly to request a halt to US bombing attacks, according to Fox News chief foreign correspondent.
The exchange, which marks a rare and critical moment of direct engagement between Trump and Tehran leadership, came as the US president said Washington had delivered "vicious" and "violent" strikes earlier in the day.
Trump also told Fox News the US operation involved the deployment of 49 Tomahawk missiles alongside fighter jets targeting radar and air defence systems.
The strikes reportedly hammered positions about 40 miles outside Tehran and along Iran's southwestern coast on the Persian Gulf.
Trump warned that the US is prepared to rapidly escalate military action if Tehran does not soon sign an agreement to end the ongoing crisis.
"We'll bomb the s**** out of them tomorrow," Trump warned.
Trump noted that the bombing would continue tomorrow night if a memorandum of understanding wasn't reached, according to Fox News.
Tehran denies American claims
Fox correspondent Trey Yingst said he spoke with Trump while he was in the Situation Room with Vice President JD Vance and US envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner.
Trump told Fox this is "the most violated ceasefire in the history of the world," Yingst said in a post on X.
Iran, meanwhile, rubbished Trump's claims that Iranian officials asked him to stop bombing the country as "false."
Iranian state TV quoted a senior Iranian official as saying that Trump's remarks were intended as a cover for the US's retreat from confrontation with Tehran.
The statements came amid escalating tensions following US strikes on southern Iran and Iran's subsequent attacks targeting US bases in the region.
Region will become 'hell' for US
Iran warned that the region would become "hell" for the US over tensions surrounding the Strait of Hormuz.
In remarks circulated by Mehr News Agency, Seyed Majid Mousavi, the commander of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) Aerospace Force, warned against attempts to threaten the "sacred Strait of Hormuz."
"If you make the Strait of Hormuz insecure, we will turn the region into hell for you from across Iran," he said.
Mousavi described the warning as a response to "American audacity" in the region.
Earlier, the IRGC said 18 major US military targets were struck at the Ali Al Salem and Ahmad Al Jaber bases in Kuwait, along with the Sheikh Isa base in Bahrain.
