Trump rules out talks if Iran does not surrender unconditionally
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — U.S. President Donald Trump said Friday that he will not pursue a deal with Iran without the country’s “unconditional surrender,” as Washington warned of an upcoming bombing campaign that officials said would be the most intense of the week-long conflict.
Israel said it had launched a broad wave of attacks on Tehran early Saturday. As Israeli warplanes bombed the Iranian capital and Beirut, Iran launched more retaliatory strikes against Israel and the Gulf countries on the seventh day of the war. Many thunder-like booms rumbled over Jerusalem shortly after midnight local time as Israel said it was working to intercept missiles launched from Iran.
The United States and Israel have attacked Iran with attacks targeting its military capabilities, its leadership, and its nuclear program. The stated goals and timelines for the war have changed repeatedly, as the United States has at times suggested it seeks to overthrow Iran’s government or elevate new leadership from within.
Meanwhile, Russia has provided Iran with information that could help Tehran attack the U.S. military, according to two officials familiar with U.S. intelligence on the matter. Russian President Vladimir Putin held a call Friday with Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian to express his condolences over the assassination of Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the Kremlin said.
In other developments, evidence has emerged suggesting that an explosion that killed dozens of Iranian students at a school was likely caused by US airstrikes that also hit an adjacent compound associated with the regime’s Revolutionary Guard.
Qatar’s energy minister, Saad al-Kaabi, warned in an interview with the Financial Times that the war could “bring down the world’s economies,” predicting a widespread shutdown of Gulf energy exports that could push oil to $150 a barrel.
The price of a barrel of benchmark US crude rose above $90 on Friday for the first time in more than two years.
Atta Kenare/News via Getty Images
Russia is providing information to Iran, officials say
Russia has provided Iran with information that could help Tehran attack US warships, aircraft and other assets in the region, according to two officials familiar with US intelligence on the matter.
The people, who were not authorized to comment publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity, cautioned that U.S. intelligence has not found that Russia is giving instructions to Iran on what to do with the information.
Still, it is the first indication that Moscow has sought to get involved in the war that the United States and Israel launched against Iran a week ago.
AP Photo/Hussein Malla
Trump says US will help rebuild Iran once it has ‘ACCEPTABLE’ leaders
In a social media post on Friday, Trump said, “There will be no deal with Iran except UNCONDITIONAL RENDER!” After a surrender, “and the selection of a GREAT AND ACCEPTABLE Leader,” he wrote, the United States and its allies will help rebuild Iran, making it “economically bigger, better and stronger than ever.”
Those comments are likely to raise more questions about the end of the war. The fighting has killed at least 1,230 people in Iran, more than 200 in Lebanon and about a dozen in Israel, according to officials in those countries. Six American soldiers have died.
Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian wrote on social media that “some countries” had begun mediation efforts, without providing further details.
Trump has also told media that he should participate in electing a replacement for Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who was killed in the first attacks of the war. Trump spoke disdainfully of Khamenei’s son, Mojtaba Khamenei, a favorite to replace his father, calling him “a lightweight.”
Iranian state television reported Friday that a leadership council had begun discussing how to convene the country’s Assembly of Experts, which will select the new supreme leader.
Buildings associated with the 88-member clerical panel have been attacked during the Israeli-US air campaign. Israel has said it will attack the next supreme leader if he poses a threat.
AP Photo/Ohad Zwigenberg
Strong attacks against Iran and retaliatory attacks
Israel’s military said it had begun a wave of “wide-scale” attacks in Tehran. The military has said that over the past week it heavily bombed a sprawling underground bunker that Iranian leaders had planned to use during hostilities.
Witnesses described the Israeli airstrikes as particularly intense, shaking houses in the area and sending up plumes of smoke. Others reported explosions around the Iranian city of Kermanshah, an area that is home to multiple missile bases. They spoke anonymously for fear of reprisals.
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said in a television interview that the “largest bombing campaign” of the war was yet to come.
In Israel, the sound of explosions could be heard in Tel Aviv throughout Friday following warnings about missiles coming from Iran. Air defense systems worked to intercept the bombing. Five soldiers were wounded in fighting with Hezbollah, the Israeli military said.
Elsewhere, new information has emerged suggesting that a deadly explosion on February 28 at a school in the Iranian city of Minab, about 1,100 kilometers (680 miles) southeast of Tehran, was likely caused by US airstrikes. The information included satellite images, expert analysis, a US official and public information released by the US and Israeli military forces.
Iranian state media has said more than 165 people were killed in the explosion, most of them children.
Iran has blamed Israel and the United States for the explosion. Neither country has accepted responsibility, although Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said earlier in the week that the United States was investigating.
Yuri Gripas/Abaca/Bloomberg via Getty Images
Israel bombs Lebanon as death toll rises
Israel has carried out waves of airstrikes in Beirut’s southern suburbs, where Hezbollah has a large presence but is also home to hundreds of thousands of civilians.
Lebanon’s Health Ministry said 217 people had been killed by Israeli strikes since Monday and 798 had been wounded.
Roads in the Lebanese capital were clogged with evacuation traffic as smoke rose over the city’s southern districts. Two hospitals evacuated patients and staff.
“What can we do? We pray here under the tree. At night we sleep in the car because there is no place to stay,” said Jihan Shehadeh, one of the tens of thousands of displaced people.
An Israeli strike hit near the Iranian embassy in Beirut, according to Lebanon’s state-run National News Agency. Israel’s military did not immediately respond to questions about the report.
Hezbollah’s military command on Friday urged its fighters not to give in and “defend the nation,” casting the escalation of the war in religious terms and calling on them to “kill them wherever they are found.”
___
Metz reported from Ramallah, West Bank, Rising from Bangkok and Abou AlJoud from Beirut. News writers Seung Min Kim, Aamer Madhani and Michael Biesecker in Washington, Julia Frankel in Jerusalem, Geir Moulson in Berlin, Malak Harb, Abby Sewell and Bassem Mroue in Beirut, and Vladimir Isachenkov contributed to this report.