The US State Department condemned both the ship seizure and Iran's resumption of uranium enrichment. The US has flown B-52 bombers over the region, and on Sunday Trump ordered the USS Nimitz aircraft carrier, which was due to rotate home, to remain there.

Iran has unveiled an underground base for "strategic missiles" on its Gulf coastline, according to state media. Video broadcast by state media Friday showed the head of Iran's elite Revolutionary Guards, Major General Hossein Salami, touring what appears to be a long underground tunnel lined with missiles and missile launchers. Iran's ballistic missiles arsenal is one of the flashpoints in Tehran's long-running disputes with its Arab neighbors and the United States. Saudi Arabia and other Gulf Arab countries have called for the curbing of Iran's ballistic weapons, but Iran's leaders have repeatedly said the arsenal is not up for negotiation. When Tehran retaliated for the US's targeted killing of top general Qassem Soleimani in January 2020, it fired over a dozen ballistic missiles at US positions in Iraq. [https://edition.cnn.com/2021/01/08/middleeast/iran-underground-base-gulf-intl/index.html](https://edition.cnn.com/2021/01/08/middleeast/iran-underground-base-gulf-intl/index.html)

Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said Friday that his country was not in a rush to rejoin the nuclear deal and argued that the sanctions against Tehran must be lifted regardless of whether the US rejoins the pact.