Amid the ongoing Middle East conflict, US President Donald Trump on Friday issued a stern warning to the Iranian Revolutionary Guard that talks with Iran were unlikely unless the country accepted unconditional surrender, warning that continued opposition would result in further deaths, as reported by The New York Post.
“And I am once again, calling on all members of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard, the military and the police to lay down their arms. They are only going to be killed. And now is the time to stand up for the Iranian people and help take back your country. You are going to have a chance, after all these years, to take back your country. Accept immunity, we will give you immunity, and we will be…giving you the right side of the history because that’s what it is. So you will be perfectly safe with total immunity, or you will face absolutely guaranteed death, they don’t want to see it either,” said Trump as reported by New York Post.
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In a social media post on Friday, Trump said that after Iran’s surrender, “and the selection of a GREAT & ACCEPTABLE Leader(s),” that the US and its allies would help rebuild Iran, making it “economically bigger, better, and stronger than ever before.”
The remarks were likely to raise further questions about the ultimate objectives of the war launched a week earlier by the United States and Israel. According to officials from the countries involved, the conflict has killed at least 1,230 people in Iran, more than 200 in Lebanon, and around a dozen in Israel, while six US troops have also died.
Israeli warplanes bombed Beirut and Tehran
Meanwhile, Israel launched airstrikes on Beirut and Tehran, while Iran carried out additional retaliatory attacks against Israel and several Gulf countries on the seventh day of the war, AP reported.
The strikes in Lebanon were the most intense since a 2024 ceasefire ended the previous conflict between Israel and the Iran-backed Hezbollah, which had fired rockets at Israel in the early days of the current war. Following widespread Israeli evacuation warnings, more than 95,000 people have fled the suburbs of Beirut and southern Lebanon.
London Police arrested four men
The conflict has expanded to involve more than a dozen countries across the Middle East. In London, police said on Friday that four men were arrested on suspicion of assisting Iran by carrying out surveillance on the Jewish community. Authorities have previously linked Iran to attacks abroad targeting Iranian dissidents, Israelis, and Jewish sites.
Qatar’s energy minister warned that the war could “bring down the economies of the world,” predicting a widespread shutdown of Gulf energy exports that could send oil to $150 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, AP reported.
Trump says US will help rebuild Iran once it has ‘ACCEPTABLE’ leaders
Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian said on social media that certain countries have started mediation attempts in the conflict, but did not name them.
Meanwhile, Donald Trump called on the Iranian people to reclaim their country, saying the United States would grant them immunity, without explaining how that would work, AP reported.
Trump also told media outlets that he should be involved in choosing a replacement for Supreme Leader 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 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-American air campaign. Israel has said it would target the next supreme leader if he poses a threat.
Heavy strikes on Iran
Israel’s military said 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.
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.
US says it hit an Iranian drone carrier
The United States Central Command said early Friday that the US military struck an Iranian drone carrier, setting the vessel on fire.
CENTCOM released black-and-white footage showing the carrier burning after the strike. The Iranian military did not immediately acknowledge the attack.
The drone carrier, IRIS Shahid Bagheri, is a converted container ship equipped with a 180-meter-long runway designed for launching drones. According to reports at the time of its 2025 inauguration, the vessel can travel further than the Earth’s circumference without needing to refuel at port.
Earlier in the week, an American submarine sank an Iranian frigate off the coast of Sri Lanka as it was returning from an exercise hosted by the Indian navy that the US also joined. Sri Lanka’s navy rescued 32 crew members and recovered 87 bodies, AP reported.
(With inputs from agencies)
