Trump Vows to Hit Iran Harder
“President Trump claimed that Iran had surrendered. He made the statement after the country’s president said earlier that Iran would end strikes in Gulf states, with caveats. Qatar and Bahrain reported incoming fire.
The U.S.-Israeli war with Iran has entered its second week, with hundreds killed and hundreds of thousands displaced. President Trump vowed to hit Iran hard, while Iranian President Pezeshkian apologized to Gulf states but rejected Trump’s demand for unconditional surrender. The conflict has escalated, impacting international travel, shipping, and oil prices, with no clear resolution in sight.
Pinned
President Trump on Saturday vowed that Iran would be “hit very hard” — including “areas and groups of people” yet to be targeted since the Israeli-American joint assault began — as the spiraling war entered its second week.
Mr. Trump also said Iran had “apologized and surrendered to its Middle East neighbors.” His remarks came after a televised speech earlier on Saturday by Masoud Pezeshkian, the Iranian president, who is also a member of the interim three-person council running the country.
While Mr. Pezeshkian apologized to Gulf states for shooting scores of missiles and drones at them in retaliatory strikes, he also called Mr. Trump’s demand for unconditional surrender “a dream that our enemies will take to the grave.”
Mr. Pezeshkian cautioned that Iran reserved the right to respond to countries from whose territory Iran was attacked. And later on Saturday afternoon — after criticism from Iranian hard-liners — Mr. Pezeshkian issued another statement.
“We have not attacked our friendly and neighboring countries. Rather, we have targeted U.S. military bases, facilities, and installations in the region,” he said on social media.
The mixed remarks by American and Iranian leaders left it far from clear whether an off-ramp to end the war was emerging. Shortly after Mr. Pezeshkian’s televised apology, air-raid sirens rang out in Bahrain and Qatar, suggesting that attacks were still continuing.
U.S. forces have struck over 3,000 targets since the American-Israeli air war against Iran began last weekend, according to the U.S. military’s Central Command, which is responsible for the Middle East. Senior U.S. officials last briefed the public on the fighting two days ago.
The Israeli military said on Saturday that it had launched “a broad-scale wave of strikes” overnight across the Iranian capital of Tehran and central Iran. Israeli attacks hit Mehrabad airport in Tehran overnight, the military said, targeting planes affiliated with Iran’s Revolutionary Guards.
After just over a week, the U.S.-Israeli war with Iran has killed hundreds and displaced hundreds of thousands; drawn in states from Oman to Turkey; snarled international travel and shipping; and sent oil and gas prices surging.
President Trump’s plan for the war remained very much unclear. His administration has zigzagged between outlining specific military goals for the war versus a broader attempt to oust the Iranian government.
Israel also intensified its attacks in Lebanon against Iran-backed Hezbollah militants there. Overnight, Israeli warplanes repeatedly bombarded the southern outskirts of Beirut, where the military had ordered hundreds of thousands of residents to flee or face imminent danger.
The Israeli military said its special forces had also launched a rare raid deep in eastern Lebanon to search — unsuccessfully — for the remains of Ron Arad, an Israeli soldier deemed missing in action since the 1980s. The raid prompted clashes in which at least 41 people were killed amid Israeli airstrikes, according to Lebanese officials and state media.
Here’s what else we’re covering:
Death toll: Hundreds of people have been killed in Iran since the start of the U.S.-Israeli attacks, according to the Red Crescent Society. More than 200 people in Lebanon have been killed, according to the Lebanese health ministry.
Oil and gasoline prices: The price of the U.S. domestic benchmark crude soared by almost $10 a barrel in a single day, closing near $91 on Friday, its highest since 2023. The average price of unleaded gasoline in the United States reached $$3.41 per gallon, up 14 percent since the war began. The concurrent increases could be a serious shock to an already-slowing world economy.
Dubai airport: Dubai International announced on Saturday that it had partly resumed operations, after saying earlier that all flights were suspended. The Emirati authorities have not said what caused the disruption, but video circulating on social media appeared to show a drone strike near the airport. The sound of a whirring motor can be heard as an object plummets to the ground, causing an explosion.
Evacuations: The State Department is battling accusations from diplomats and travelers who say the Trump administration endangered U.S. citizens by beginning a war without adequate plans for helping Americans leave the Middle East.“
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