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Iran kept up attacks on Israel and several Gulf states after hitting an air base in Saudi Arabia on Friday and wounding 12 US military personnel, two of them seriously, in one of the most serious breaches of US air defences so far.

Israel, which regularly faced missile attacks from the Houthis before the war, confirmed a missile had been fired at it from Yemen. There were no reports of casualties or damage.

With midterm elections due in November, the increasingly unpopular war has weighed on President Donald Trump’s Republican Party, and he has appeared eager to end it soon, while also threatening escalation.

Demonstrators took to city streets across the US yesterday in the third “No Kings” rallies, described by organisers as a call to action against the war on Iran.

Rubio said on Friday that military operations were expected to be concluded in “weeks, not months” and echoed Trump’s calls on European and Asian countries to help secure free passage through the Strait of Hormuz.

Trump said on Friday that the lack of support from Nato allies had implications for the military alliance. US allies have been reluctant to be drawn into a war which could escalate if Trump decides to deploy ground troops to try to open the strait.

Rubio said the US could achieve its aims without ground troops but acknowledged it was deploying some to the region “to give the president maximum optionality and maximum opportunity to adjust the contingencies, should they emerge”.

Washington has dispatched two contingents of thousands of Marines to the region, the first of which arrived on Friday on a huge amphibious assault ship, the US military said in a social media post yesterday. The Pentagon is also expected to deploy thousands of elite airborne soldiers.

Trump has threatened to hit Iranian power stations and other energy infrastructure if Iran does not open the Strait of Hormuz. But he has extended a deadline he had imposed for this week, giving Iran another 10 days to respond.

Israel has targeted Iran’s nuclear infrastructure, and the head of Russia’s state nuclear corporation Rosatom, which has evacuated staff from the Bushehr nuclear power plant on the Gulf coast, said the attacks threatened nuclear safety.

Pezeshkian said Iran would “retaliate strongly if our infrastructure or economic centres are targeted”.

“To the countries of the region: If you want development and security, don’t let our enemies run the war from your lands,” he said.

Pakistan, Egypt and Turkey have relayed messages between the warring sides, although Tehran has said it has not been negotiating with Washington. Two people familiar with the back-channel efforts expressed doubt that direct talks would take place soon.

Iran attacked several countries across the Gulf, including Kuwait’s International Airport, where drones caused significant damage to its radar system.

Fires were reported near the Khalifa container port in the United Arab Emirates’ capital Abu Dhabi, after a missile was intercepted, while in Oman’s Salalah port, a worker was injured.

In Iran, media said at least five people were killed in a US-Israeli attack on a residential unit in the northwestern city of Zanjan and in Tehran, the Iran University of Science and Technology was struck.

In Israel, the village of Eshtaol, near Jerusalem, was hit by an Iranian missile. Seven people were hospitalised, Israel’s ambulance service said. One Israeli died on Friday.

Meanwhile, Ukraine agreed to cooperate on defence with the UAE and Qatar as President Volodymyr Zelenskiy travelled to both countries amid escalating tensions in the region.