Trump threatens Iran and Houthis amid signs of U.S. military buildup

President Trump said Thursday that he is considering ordering an attack on Iran "bigger than ever before," according to Axios, which cited the president as saying it seemed to him the Iranian regime, "haven't received enough pain yet."

"I am considering a massive attack. Bigger than ever before. I am close to making a decision. We are all set for it," Mr. Trump told Axios, adding that he believed Iran's leaders "want to negotiate," but aren't yet ready to make a deal.

"They haven't received enough pain yet," he told the outlet.

U.S. forces carried out a 12th consecutive night of strikes across Iran on Wednesday, and Mr. Trump warned in a social media post Thursday that the Islamic Republic and its Houthi allies would both face "major military punishment" if the Yemeni rebels repeat their attacks from earlier this week on Saudi oil tankers in the Red Sea.

Axios quoted Mr. Trump as saying that Israel would join U.S. military action "in two minutes if I ask them to," but that "we don't need anybody" to launch expanded operations against Iran. He noted that Israel would likely face "consequences" for helping with strikes.

Before the war in Iran, roughly 15 million barrels of Persian Gulf oil were shipped each day through the Strait of Hormuz. Within a few years, much of that oil could bypass the strait.

As Iran's chokehold over the strait drags on and oil prices surge, countries across the Gulf are planning to spend billions of dollars to build pipelines enabling them to redirect more supplies to ports along the Red Sea and the Gulf of Oman.

At least seven major pipeline projects are under construction, in the planning stage or being discussed as possibilities, according to government officials, oil companies and analysts. The war has been a wake-up call for Gulf oil producers, who are determined to become less dependent on a transit point that hugs Iran's coast.

Some alternative routes will take the oil on longer, more expensive paths to market. Regardless, producers have realized that relying so heavily on the Strait of Hormuz "is no longer a prudent long-term strategy," said Victoria Grabenwöger, senior research analyst at data firm Kpler.

A dining facility at the Muwaffaq Salti Air Base in southern Jordan was among the targets hit during Iranian strikes last week that killed three American soldiers, according to a source familiar with the attack and an intelligence official.

The air base hosts American forces. It's not clear if the strike on the dining facility in particular killed U.S. forces, but the Pentagon has identified three American sol