US President Donald Trump yesterday threatened to escalate the bombing of Iran as Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian vowed that he would never surrender, despite a fresh blitz of US and Israeli airstrikes that set a Tehran airport ablaze.
Israel confirmed some of the biggest strikes since the aerial bombardment of Iran began last week, with a military academy, an underground command center and a missile storage facility named as targets.
Photos showed fire and smoke billowing from Tehran’s Mehrabad International Airport.
Photo: West Asia News Agency via Reuters
“Today Iran will be hit very hard!” Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform. “Under serious consideration for complete destruction and certain death, because of Iran’s bad behavior, are areas and groups of people that were not considered for targeting up until this moment in time.”
Pezeshkian struck a defiant tone in a speech broadcast on state TV in which he appeared to address Trump’s demand “unconditional surrender.”
Iran’s enemies “must take their wish for the unconditional surrender of the Iranian people to their graves,” he said.
Tehran also hit back yesterday, demonstrating that it retains the ability to launch missiles and drones despite the relentless targeting of its military infrastructure over the past seven days. There were air raid alerts and explosions heard above Jerusalem as well Dubai, Manama and near Riyadh — where Saudi Arabia intercepted a ballistic missile fired at an air base housing US military personnel.
The United Arab Emirates said it had intercepted 15 ballistic missiles and 119 drones yesterday, but video footage showed one projectile striking Dubai’s airport.
Jordan also accused Iran of “targeting vital installations” inside the country with 119 missiles and drones over the past week.
Pezeshkian issued an apology to his Gulf neighbors, which host major US military bases, saying that they would only be targeted if their territories were used as launch sites for attacks.
Iran’s Revolutionary Guards also said they had fired at the oil tanker Prima in the Gulf as it attempted to transit the Strait of Hormuz.
Inside Iran, damage to infrastructure and residential buildings is mounting, while residents of the capital report growing anxiety and a heavy presence of security forces on the streets.
The Iranian Ministry of Health and Medical Education put the civilian death toll at 926 on Friday, with about 6,000 injured.
Trump has also promised to help rebuild Iran’s economy if Tehran installs someone “acceptable” to him to replace its late supreme leader.
Iranian Ambassador to the UN Amir Saeid Iravani said the US would have no role in selecting Iranian supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei’s successor.
“The selection of Iran’s leadership will take place strictly in accordance with our constitutional procedures and solely by the will of the Iranian people, without any foreign interference,” he added.
Although Iranian retaliation has been inflicted widely across the Middle East, China and Russia have stayed largely out of the fray despite their ties to the Islamic Republic.
US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth said Washington was “not concerned” about reports that Russia is providing intelligence to Iran on US troop positions and movements.
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