Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said Trump will decide whether the U.S. will provide a 30,000-pound “bunker buster” bomb that is capable of reaching Fordo, Iran’s most heavily fortified nuclear site. 

The global aid community is roiled by a new development: contracting firms led by former U.S. intelligence officers and military veterans delivering aid to some of the deadliest conflict zones, in operations organized with combatants.

Iran’s supreme leader on Wednesday rejected U.S. calls for surrender in the face of blistering Israeli strikes and warned that any military involvement by the Americans would cause “irreparable damage” to them, in recorded video aired by state TV.

If the U.S. decides to support Israel more directly in its attack on Iran, one option for Washington would be to provide the “bunker-buster” bombs believed necessary to significantly damage the Fordo nuclear fuel enrichment plant, built deeply into a mountain.

Kentucky Republican Rep. Thomas Massia, California Rep. Ro Khanna and Democratic co-sponsors including representatives Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Ilhan Omar filed a resolution to ban the United States from involvement in the Israel-Iran conflict.

Speculation is growing that President Donald Trump may be tilting toward more direct involvement. Trump said Tuesday the U.S. knows where Iran’s supreme leader is hiding but doesn’t want him killed “for now.” He called for Iran’s unconditional surrender.

Russia is watching Israel’s bombardment of Iran with mounting concern for the survival of a key ally, though the Kremlin recognizes it has few levers to influence the escalating conflict in the Middle East.

At least 51 Palestinians were killed and more than 200 wounded in the Gaza Strip while waiting for U.N. and commercial trucks to enter the territory with desperately needed food, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry and a local hospital.

Intense Israeli airstrikes targeted Iran’s capital after U.S. President Donald Trump demanded “unconditional surrender.”

Dozens of airports in Israel and Iran have stopped their flights or reduced operations, leaving tens of thousands of passengers stranded at airports and many others unable to flee the conflict or travel home.