US President Donald Trump appeared to rule out negotiations with Iran to end the conflict in the Middle East, saying in a social media post on Friday that there will be no deal absent “unconditional surrender” from Tehran.
“After that, and the selection of a GREAT & ACCEPTABLE Leader(s), we, and many of our wonderful and very brave allies and partners, will work tirelessly to bring Iran back from the brink of destruction, making it economically bigger, better, and stronger than ever before,” Trump said.
He has said multiple times that whomever takes over leadership of Iran must be to the US’s liking.
Trump signed off the social media post with “MAKE IRAN GREAT AGAIN (MIGA!),” a riff on his long-time campaign slogan, “Make America Great Again.”
Trump’s latest comments were likely to raise further questions about the endgame of the war launched a week ago by the United States and Israel, which appears increasingly open-ended.
The war has killed at least 1230 people in Iran, more than 200 in Lebanon and around a dozen in Israel, according to officials in those countries. Six US troops have been killed.
Iran’s President Masoud Pezeshkian wrote on social media that “some countries” had begun mediation efforts in the conflict, without elaborating.
On Thursday, Trump urged the Iranian people to “help take back your country,” promising the US would grant them “immunity”, without elaborating.
He also told media outlets that he should be involved in choosing Iran’s new supreme leader to replace Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who was killed in the opening strikes of the war.
Trump spoke dismissively of Khamenei’s son, Mojtaba Khamenei — a front-runner to replace his father — calling him “a lightweight.”
Iranian state television reported on Friday that a leadership council had started 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 airstrike campaign. Israel has said it would target the next supreme leader if he poses a threat.
Israeli strikes pound Iran and Lebanon
Israeli warplanes pounded Beirut and Tehran as Iran launched another wave of retaliatory strikes against Israel and Gulf countries on the seventh day of the war.
Israel’s military said on Friday it had launched “a broad-scale wave of strikes” on Tehran, Iran’s capital, and that over the past week it has heavily bombed an extensive underground bunker that Iran’s leaders had planned to use during the hostilities.
Witnesses described Israeli airstrikes as particularly intense, shaking homes in the area and sending columns of smoke rising. Others reported explosions around the Iranian city of Kermanshah, an area that is home to multiple missile bases. They spoke anonymously for fear of retribution.
The strikes in Lebanon were the heaviest since a 2024 ceasefire ended the last war between Israel and the Iran-backed Hezbollah, who fired rockets at Israel in the opening days of the latest conflict.
More than 95,000 people have fled Beirut’s suburbs and southern Lebanon after sweeping Israeli evacuation warnings.
Iran meanwhile launched missile and drone attacks at Israel, as well as Kuwait, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and Bahrain, all countries that host US forces. There were no immediate reports of casualties.
The US and Israel have battered Iran with strikes, targeting their military capabilities, leadership and nuclear program. The war has escalated to affect more than a dozen countries across the Middle East and beyond, and has caused a spike in oil prices.
Qatar’s energy minister warned that it could “bring down the economies of the world,” predicting a widespread shutdown of Gulf energy exports that could send oil to $US150 ($215) a barrel.
Saad al-Kaabi told the Financial Times newspaper that even if the war ended immediately it could take “weeks to months” to resume normal exports after an Iranian drone strike on Qatar’s largest liquefied natural gas plant earlier in the war.