At a moment it's become more than clear that the US and Iran are not anywhere closer to the negotiating table, and after they've shown little progress after a week of clashes - as one Friday morning Bloomberg headline reads, Tehran has again putting US bases in the region on notice, while admitting "no tangible progress" in negotiations on ending the conflict.

Iran's Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi in fresh remarks has said that "standing against the world's greatest power, equipped with nuclear weapons, for 40 days is no joke," and that "the world has realized the true power of the Iranian nation."

Araghchi also again issued a direct warning to regional Gulf states: "We warned regional states that US bases used for any aggression against Iran are legitimate targets" - he was quoted Friday by Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting (IRIB) as saying.

However, the Iranian foreign minister also cautioned that there is a way forward, stressing that despite conflict, "We are committed to fostering sustainable, constructive ties with Saudi Arabia."

The war is fast approaching the 100-day milestone, which comes Sunday, since Trump first initiated his Operation Epic Fury. He had in the opening 'assured' the American public of only a short conflict lasting but a few days or weeks.

Iran's supreme leader too has been signaling defiance while apparently in hiding, saying that the US and Israel had been dealt a "decisive blow"

Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei's message was read out by a prayer leader at a ceremony marking the anniversary of the death of the Islamic republic's founder on Thursday:

In his message, Khamenei said his country's enemies, after "facing a decisive blow," were now "experiencing a deeply meaningful and profound humiliation."

He went on to accuse them of seeking to "plant the seeds of doubt, despair, fear, mistrust and division" among the public, calling for unity to "neutralize their sinister plot."

Tehran is still seeking to integrate the Lebanon situation into a broader US-Iran peace deal. But in Lebanon itself, sporadic fighting has raged despite declaration of a ceasefire - of which Hezbollah has declared itself not part of.

On Friday, "The Israeli military's Arabic-language spokesman Avichay Adraee on Friday warned residents of six towns and villages including south Lebanon's Sarafand, a town on the coastal road between Tyre and Sidon, to immediately evacuate," according to CBS.

More reports of mystery explosions in Strait of Hormuz, off Oman...

"Lebanon's state-run National News Agency reported mass displacement from the three villages named in the warning, and it subsequently reported a strike on one of the villages, Arqoun," the report continues.

And Al Jazeera also reports Friday that "Israel's deadly strikes continue across Lebanon, killing at least six today, despite the announcement of a new US-brokered ceasefire agreed between Lebanese and Israeli officials in Washington, DC."

Public is increasingly pessimistic that a ceasefire can be a achieved anytime soon, even as Trump has seemed to soften on the issue of retrieving highly enriched uranium: