CENTCOM launched a 12th consecutive night of strikes on Iran on Wednesday.
President Donald Trump announced "major combat operations" against Iran on Feb. 28, with massive joint U.S.-Israeli strikes targeting military, government and infrastructure sites.
Delegations from the U.S. and Iran entered negotiations in June aimed at a war-ending deal based on a memorandum of understanding signed by both countries.
The U.S. and Iran have nonetheless continued to exchange strikes, with the strategic Strait of Hormuz the primary flashpoint.
U.S. Central Command said U.S. forces have redirected 12 commercial vessels and disabled one to prevent ships from entering or leaving Iranian ports or coastal areas since resuming the naval blockade nine days ago.
United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres warned on Thursday that the situation in the Middle East is "getting out of control."
Addressing the United Nations Security Council in New York, the Secretary-General said the situation is "teetering on the edge of the unimaginable."
"The region is being pulled into an ever-widening circle of confrontation. One crisis feeds another. One escalation triggers the next," he added.
Guterres called for international rights and freedoms around the Strait of Hormuz and Bab al-Mandeb to be "fully restored," stressing "there is no military solution to the conflict."
"Diplomacy is the only way forward," Guterres said.
Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps said the Fairford Air Base in England is now a "legitimate target," since the base has been used to fly B1 aircrafts on Wednesday, according to the Islamic Republic state media.
"The US aggressor army, which used to launch cruise missiles from its ships in the Indian Ocean in its aggressions after the official resumption of the war, turned to using B1 aircraft flying from the Fairford Air Base in England [on Wednesday], as the missile reserves of the aforementioned ships ran out," the statement reads.
"As the Foreign Ministry officials also stated, any base used to invade Iranian territory is our legitimate target," the IRGC added.
RAF Fairford is located 82 miles north west of London.
A U.K. government spokesperson told ABC News in a statement that its Armed Forces are "ready to keep the United Kingdom safe from any kind of attacks, whether it's on our soil or from abroad."
“This includes through operating a layered approach to air and missile defence, provided by Royal Navy, British Army and Royal Air Force assets equipped with a range of advanced capabilities, working closely with our NATO allies," the U.K. said.
“The UK's approach to the conflict remains the same - we are committed to defending our people, our interests and our allies, acting in accordance with international law and not getting drawn into the wider conflict," the U.K. said.
Israeli intelligence recently thwarted an Iranian plot to recruit individuals to carry out attacks against officials in Israel, Israeli authorities said Thursday.
Iran's Ministry of Intelligence allegedly used its connection with criminal enterprises in Iran to recruit an individual who lived in France who was then tasked with coordinating others to carry out the attacks against senior Israeli officials, according to a statement released by the Israeli Prime Minister's office and the Mossad.
"The cooperation of the Mossad and Shin Bet with intelligence services around the world, and the investigations carried out in several countries, combined with analytical capabilities, led to the dismantling of the criminal proxy infrastructure and the Ministry officers who were behind its operation," according to a statement.
The person identified as Terut Ozkur, known as "Philippe," who lived in France, allegedly visited Iran multiple times and was paid to recruit "an operational squad composed of foreign nationals for the purpose of introducing it into Israel," by two individuals linked to Iranian intelligence, the statement said.
On "Philippe's" whereabouts, the statement said, "he paid a heavy price for his involvement in planning terrorist activity directed by Iran, which led to his expulsion from France."
-ABC News' Jordana Miller
