Amid ongoing conflict in the Middle East, US President Donald Trump strongly warned Iran’s Revolutionary Guards on Friday that talks with Iran were unlikely unless the country accepted unconditional surrender, warning that continued opposition would lead to more deaths, The New York Post reported.
“And I again call on all members of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards, the army and the police to lay down their arms. They will only be killed. And now is the time to stand up for the Iranian people and help take back your country. After all these years you will have a chance to take back your country. Accept immunity, we will give you the immunity we will give you and we will have the right one…be totally safe with total immunity or face absolutely guaranteed death and I don’t want that see, they don’t want to see either,” Trump said, as reported by the New York Post.
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In a social media post on Friday, Trump said that after Iran’s surrender “and the election of a GREAT AND ACCEPTABLE Leader(s),” the US and its allies will help rebuild Iran, making it “economically bigger, better and stronger than ever.”
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The remarks likely raised further questions about the ultimate goals of the war launched a week earlier by the United States and Israel. According to officials of the countries involved, the conflict has killed at least 1,230 people in Iran, more than 200 in Lebanon and about a dozen in Israel, while six US soldiers have also died.
Israeli warplanes bombed Beirut and Tehran
Meanwhile, Israel launched airstrikes on Beirut and Tehran, while Iran carried out more retaliatory strikes against Israel and several Gulf countries on the seventh day of the war, the AP reported.
The strikes in Lebanon were the most intense since the 2024 ceasefire that ended the previous conflict between Israel and Iran-backed Hezbollah, which fired rockets at Israel in the early days of the current war. More than 95,000 people have fled the suburbs of Beirut and southern Lebanon following widespread Israeli warnings to evacuate.
London police arrested four men
The conflict has spread to include more than a dozen countries throughout the Middle East. In London, police said Friday that four men had been arrested on suspicion of aiding Iran by spying on the Jewish community. Authorities have previously linked Iran to attacks abroad targeting Iranian dissidents, Israelis and Jewish sites.
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Qatar’s energy minister has warned that war could “reduce the economies of the world”, predicting a widespread shutdown of energy exports from the Persian Gulf that could send oil to $150 a barrel. Saad al-Kaabi told the Financial Times that even if the war ended immediately, it could take “weeks to months” for normal exports to resume after an Iranian drone attack on Qatar’s largest liquefied natural gas plant earlier in the war, the AP reported.
Trump says US will help restore Iran once it has ACCEPTABLE leaders
Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian said on social media that some countries had launched attempts to mediate the conflict, but did not name them.
Meanwhile, Donald Trump called on the Iranian people to take back their country, saying the United States would grant them immunity, without explaining how that would work, the AP reported.
Trump also told the media that he should be involved in choosing a replacement for Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who was killed in the war’s opening strikes. Trump has been dismissive of Khamenei’s son Mojtaba Khamenei – the leading candidate to succeed his father – calling him a “lightweight”.
Iran’s state television reported Friday that the ruling council has begun discussing how to convene an assembly of the country’s experts to choose a new supreme leader.
Buildings associated with the 88-member clerical panel were attacked during the Israeli-American air campaign. Israel has said it will target the next supreme leader if he poses a threat.
Heavy strikes on Iran
Israel’s military said on Friday it had launched a “large-scale wave of attacks” on Tehran, Iran’s capital, and that it had heavily bombed a vast underground bunker that Iran’s leaders planned to use during hostilities over the past week.
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Witnesses described the Israeli airstrikes as particularly intense, shaking houses in the area and sending plumes of smoke rising. Others reported explosions around the Iranian city of Kermanshah, an area that is home to several missile bases. They spoke anonymously for fear of retribution.
Meanwhile, Iran has launched missile and drone attacks on Israel, as well as Kuwait, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and Bahrain, all countries that host US forces. There were no immediate reports of casualties.
US claims to have hit Iranian drone carrier
The United States Central Command announced early Friday that the U.S. military had struck an Iranian drone carrier and set the ship on fire.
CENTCOM released black-and-white footage showing the carrier on fire after the strike. The Iranian military did not immediately acknowledge the attack.
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The IRIS Shahid Bagheri drone carrier is a converted container ship equipped with a 180-meter runway for launching drones. According to reports at the time of the inauguration in 2025, the craft can travel further than the circumference of the Earth without needing to refuel in port.
Earlier this week, a US submarine sank an Iranian frigate off the coast of Sri Lanka as it returned from an exercise organized by the Indian Navy, in which the US also joined. The Sri Lankan Navy rescued 32 crew members and recovered 87 bodies, AP reported.
(With input from agencies)
