Ammon News - Iran and Israel traded further air attacks on Thursday as President Donald Trump kept the world guessing about whether the United States would join Israel's bombardment of Iranian nuclear facilities.

A week of Israeli air and missile strikes against its major rival has wiped out the top echelon of Iran's military command, damaged its nuclear capabilities and killed hundreds of people, while Iranian retaliatory strikes have killed two dozen civilians in Israel.

The worst-ever conflict between the rivals has raised fears that it will draw in world powers and rock regional stability already undermined by the spillover effects of the Gaza war.

Speaking to reporters outside the White House on Wednesday, Trump declined to say if he had made any decision on whether to join Israel's air campaign. "I may do it. I may not do it. I mean, nobody knows what I'm going to do," he said.

Trump in later remarks said Iranian officials wanted to come to Washington for a meeting and that "we may do that." But he added, "It's a little late" for such talks.

Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei rebuked Trump's earlier call for Iran to surrender in a recorded speech played on television, his first appearance since Friday.

The Americans "should know that any U.S. military intervention will undoubtedly be accompanied by irreparable damage," he said. "The Iranian nation will not surrender."

The Wall Street Journal said Trump had told senior aides he approved attack plans on Iran but was holding off on giving the final order to see if Tehran would abandon its nuclear program.

Senior U.S. officials are preparing for the possibility of a strike on Iran in the coming days, Bloomberg News reported on Wednesday, citing people familiar with the matter.

Israel's military said sirens sounded in northern Israel and in the Jordan Valley on Thursday and that it had intercepted two drones launched from Iran.

The Iranian missile salvoes mark the first time in decades of shadow war and proxy conflict that a significant number of projectiles fired from Iran have penetrated defences, killing Israelis in their homes. Reuters