Trump says he has a decision to make about Iran

Flash flooding hit parts of Alborz province in western Tehran on Saturday, sweeping vehicles through streets in Karaj and leaving roads covered in water, mud and debris.

State media said flooding affected areas including Azimiyeh and Baghestan, while runoff from surrounding heights disrupted traffic and entered some homes.

Five watershed workers were trapped after a small reservoir overflowed and a retaining barrier broke in Baghestan. Red Crescent teams rescued all five, and officials said they were in good condition.

US Representative Joe Wilson accused Iraq of being effectively controlled by Tehran as he shared images of Tehran-backed Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF) walking over US flags.

“The PMF, an official division of the Iraqi government’s security services, is seen desecrating the U.S. flag out of disrespect and praising the murderous regime in Iran,” Wilson wrote on X.

“If you needed any more proof that Iraq is an Iranian province… Iraqi PM Zaidi, is this what you think of America? Free Iraq from Iran.”

The PMF is formally part of Iraq’s security establishment but includes powerful Iran-backed factions with longstanding political and military ties to Tehran.

Yemen’s Iran-aligned Houthis said Saturday they struck an Aramco facility in Riyadh with ballistic missiles and drones, portraying the operation as retaliation for recent Saudi attacks on Sanaa and other parts of Yemen.

A Reuters witness reported seeing flames and a large column of smoke near an Aramco site in the Saudi capital earlier in the day. Saudi authorities have not confirmed a strike on the facility.

The claim marks a further escalation in renewed Saudi-Houthi hostilities. The Houthis also said last week they targeted Aramco facilities in Yanbu.

US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said Saturday President Donald Trump would retain “all the options he needs on the table” if Iran refused to abandon its nuclear ambitions, warning Tehran could otherwise face “the hard way.”

“Iran will never, ever, ever have a nuclear weapon,” Hegseth told reporters, saying Trump was “hell-bent and determined” to prevent it.

He said the Pentagon was working to ensure Trump retained the widest possible military options on Iran, declining to say whether the USS Theodore Roosevelt aircraft carrier strike group, which was dispatched from San Diego last week, would be sent to the Middle East.

“So the president’s going to have options,” Hegseth told reporters, saying his job was to maximize Trump’s “decision space.”

Hegseth said Iran was trying to rebuild missile and military capabilities damaged in US strikes, but argued the destruction of its defense industry had made that process slow and difficult.

He also claimed Washington, not Tehran, now controlled the Strait of Hormuz, saying the US blockade was “ironclad” and traffic through the waterway was nearing pre-war levels.

Iraq’s state-owned Oil Tanker Company said Saturday it had moved 2 million barrels of Iraqi crude through the Strait of Hormuz aboard a very large crude carrier, marking its first operation of that scale in decades.

Director General Ali Qais Abdul Jabbar said carrying the oil beyond Basra gives state marketer SOMO more flexibility to choose where the cargo is sold and potentially secure better prices.

Iraq has previously obtained Iranian approval for its tankers to pass through the Strait of Hormuz, which Tehran has effectively restricted during its conflict with the United States.

US President Donald Trump told reporters on Saturday he had a decision to make on Iran, adding the country had been “decimated” and would now face a choice between “the easy way or the hard way.”

Yemen’s Houthi-run Al Masirah TV reported early Sunday that Saudi Arabia had carried out an attack on the capital Sanaa, with no immediate confirmation from Riyadh.

White House Communications Director Steven Cheung said Saturday that Washington’s economic pressure campaign was “crushing” Iran’s leadership, citing a Bloomberg report that put inflation in the country at almost 90% and said a US blockade was choking off Iranian crude exports.

“Don’t believe the naysayers. Operation Economic Outcast is crushing Iran’s ‘leaders,’ while America is winning,” Cheung wrote, sharing the Bloomberg report.

The report said oil flows through the Strait of Hormuz were recovering despite continued Iranian attacks, nearing pre-war levels, while the blockade had sharply restricted Iran’s own oil shipments.

Bloomberg also reported that the United States was sending another aircraft carrier and 10,000 sailors and Marines to the region as diplomatic efforts remained deadlocked.

Cheung said Iranian oil exports had been “stopped completely” by the US blockade and pointed to the nearly 90% inflation figure, saying rising prices were “crippling Iran’s economy.”

"Iran, as you know, is virtually giving up any plans of a nuclear weapon," US President Donald Trump told reporters on Saturday.

He also said that oil prices “are coming down.”

“Oil is right now lower, and it's been lower than it was under the Biden administration. And they did nothing about the fact that Iran cannot have a nuclear weapon.”

Rep. Frank Pallone, the ranking Democrat on the House Energy and Commerce Committee, warned Saturday that the war with Iran will make household utility bills more expensive this winter.

“Nobody should have to choose between staying warm during colder months or going broke,” Pallone wrote on X.

He blamed the expected increase on what he called President Donald Trump’s “Iran War” and “war of choice,” adding basic household comfort to what he described as a growing list of unaffordable expenses.