Washington DC, June 10 -- As tensions escalated between Iran and the US, President Donald Trump on Wednesday (local time) issued a strong warning over Tehran's nuclear ambitions, claiming that a nuclear-armed Iran would lead to the destruction of Israel and destabilise the Middle East.

He also asserted that the United States had "hit them hard" and could strike again as negotiations remain uncertain.

Speaking in the Oval Office, Trump said, "If they (Iran) had a nuclear weapon, there'd be no Israel, there'd be no Middle East, and they would have absolutely shot at us. We'll see what happens. But we hit them hard yesterday. We're going to hit them again hard today. We'll see what happens with the deal."

"We were really close to a deal, ...