US President Donald Trump warned that he is not ready to seek a deal to end the war with Iran, as US ally Israel launched a new wave of strikes and Tehran's Revolutionary Guards threatened to hunt down and kill the Israeli leader.

The US president, in an interview with NBC News, said he thought Tehran was keen to come to the table but that Washington would fight on for better terms and might bomb targets on Iran's oil hub Kharg Island once, again, "just for fun."

More than two weeks into the US-Israeli war against the Islamic republic, neither side is moderating its rhetoric despite a mounting death toll and economic damage from soaring oil prices caused by the effective closure of the Strait of Hormuz sea lane.

Trump warned that US forces would step up strikes on the Iranian coast north of the strait to clear a path for oil shipments to resume.

In a written statement, Iran's new supreme leader, Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei has vowed to keep Hormuz closed. But Trump dismissed this and suggested his foe might not even be in control, saying: "I don't know if he's even alive. So far, nobody has been able to show him."

Iran said on Saturday that "there is no problem with the new supreme leader," even though he has yet to appear in public.

Wave of strikes

Meanwhile, Israel has approved an $827 million emergency budget allocation for military purchases, Israeli media reported.

The package was approved over the weekend by cabinet ministers during a telephone meeting, the daily Haaretz reported.

It will be used for "security purchases" and to address "urgent needs," it said, without providing further details.

The Israeli military announced a wave of strikes against targets in Western Iran, after Iran's Revolutionary Guards branded Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu a criminal and vowed that they would pursue and kill him.

Overnight strikes in southern Lebanon killed at least four people, Lebanese state media and the government said, as Israel said it was pressing its campaign against Hezbollah.

According to Lebanon's health ministry, Israeli air strikes have killed 826 people in Lebanon since the start of the latest war, which began March 2 with Hezbollah firing missiles at Israel.

Lebanese President Joseph Aoun has proposed negotiations with Israel, but has yet to receive a response.

The United States has urged its citizens to leave Iraq, where pro-Iranian groups have launched attacks on the US embassy and bases hosting western military units.

Everyday life continues in Tehran 

Despite the hardline talk from all sides, the citizens of Tehran were able to go about their work week in the most normal atmosphere since the start of the war on February 28, when US-Israeli strikes killed the previous supreme leader, Mojtaba's father Ali Khamenei.

Traffic was busier than last week and some cafes and restaurants had reopened.

One resident whizzed down the street on an electric hoverboard, and more than a third of stalls in the Tajrish bazaar, a popular shopping hub in the north of the capital, had reopened, five days before Nowruz, the Persian New Year.

Trump has suggested an international naval operation could escort oil tankers through the Strait of Hormuz, lessening pressure on the oil price and securing supplies for countries whose economies are most exposed to the conflict.  

"Hopefully China, France, Japan, South Korea, the UK, and others, that are affected by this artificial constraint, will send ships to the area," Trump said in a social media post.

Iran warns against widening the war

Iran's Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi urged other countries to refrain from any action that could widen the scope of the war. 

In a phone call with French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot, Araghchi called on other countries to "refrain from any action that could lead to escalation and expansion of the conflict," according to an Iranian foreign ministry statement. 

Asked about Trump's call, the UK ministry of defense was non-committal. 

"As we've said previously, we are currently discussing with our allies and partners a range of options to ensure the security of shipping in the region," it said.

South Korea said it was "closely monitoring President Trump's remarks on social media."

The policy chief of Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi's ruling party, Takayuki Kobayashi, said the bar for sending Japanese navy ships to the region under existing laws was "extremely high."

Gulf countries on edge

Saudi Arabia intercepted and destroyed 10 drones in Riyadh and the east, the defense ministry said. Iran's Revolutionary Guards said they had no connection to the attack, semi-official Fars news agency reported.

Explosions rang out over Bahrain's capital of Manama early on Sunday. Bahrain said it had intercepted 125 missiles and 203 drones since the start of Iran's attacks, which have killed two people in the kingdom and 24 others in neighboring Gulf nations.

The Formula One races scheduled for April in Bahrain and Saudi Arabia have been canceled due to the conflict, motorsport's governing body announced.

Oil-loading operations have resumed at the global ship-refueling hub of Fujairah in the United Arab Emirates, after a drone attack and fire on Saturday, a Fujairah-based industry source said.

On Saturday, Washington warned US citizens to leave Iraq.

Authorities in Dubai also said air defenses had made further interceptions after Iran's military warned UAE civilians to avoid port areas.

Mounting death toll

Iranian Foreign ⁠Minister Abbas Araghchi insists that Iran has not targeted civilian or residential areas ⁠in the Middle East, adding that Tehran ⁠is ready to form a committee with its neighbors to investigate who is responsible for such strikes.

At least 153 health facilities have been damaged across Iran by US-Israel strikes, according to the Tasnim news agency.

"Investigations show that …153 health units in the country's health network were damaged, of which 56 comprehensive health service centers accounted for the largest number," the report said.

Medical universities were also affected. "Kermanshah University has suffered the most damage with 42 damaged units, followed by Isfahan with 19 units," it said.

Kermanshah is located in western Iran.

"Unfortunately, 10 people have lost their lives in these incidents, and 248 people have been treated and discharged," Tasnim reported.

The war that Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu launched on February 28 has killed more than 2,000 people, mostly in Iran, according to reports from governments and state media. At least 15 were killed when an airstrike hit a refrigerator and heater factory in the central Iranian city of Isfahan, the semi-official Fars news agency said on Saturday.

The UN refugee agency says up to 3.2 million people have been displaced in Iran, most of them fleeing the capital and other cities to seek safety.

The Pentagon says more than 15,000 targets in Iran have been hit by US and Israeli forces.

US media reported that the Pentagon has dispatched the amphibious assault ship USS Tripoli and around 2,500 Marines to the region.