Donald Trump has said that there would be no deal with Iran unless it is an ‘unconditional surrender,’ as the war with the Islamic Republic entered its seventh day.
Trump made the remarks on social media just hours after Iran’s president announced that unspecified countries had begun mediation efforts, one of the first signals of any diplomatic initiative to end the conflict.
Writing on Truth Social on Friday, the US President said: ‘There will be no deal with Iran except UNCONDITIONAL SURRENDER!
‘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.’
It comes after President Masoud Pezeshkian earlier said in an X post that some countries had ‘begun mediation efforts’.
‘Let’s be clear: we are committed to lasting peace in the region, yet we have no hesitation in defending our nation’s dignity and sovereignty,’ he wrote.
‘Mediation should address those who underestimated the Iranian people and ignited this conflict.’
America’s stealth air fleet, including its B-1s, B-2s and B-52s is said to be on its way to Diego Garcia in the Chagos Islands and RAF Fairford in Gloucestershire.
The strategic bombers, costing up to $2billion each, can carry out long-range missions without detection while carrying the world’s most devastating missiles.
Sources have suggested that Saturday could be D-day for a new gigantic bombardment – exactly a week after America and Israel first attacked Iran as part of ‘Operation Epic Fury’.
The US President warned Iran this week that the ‘big one’ was coming, adding: ‘We haven’t even started hitting them hard. The big wave has not even happened’.
And US defence secretary Pete Hegseth said overnight that America will now use British RAF bases to ‘dramatically’ up its strikes on Iran after the Prime Minister allowed the Americans to launch defensive strikes from UK-US bases.
‘When we say more to come, it’s more fighter squadrons, it’s more capabilities, it’s more defensive capabilities, and it’s more bomber pulses more frequently’, Mr Hegseth said.
After a delay that saw Trump claim that Sir Keir Starmer was ‘unhelpful’ and is ‘no Winston Churchill’, the UK is now letting the US use British bases for ‘defensive’ strikes against missile facilities in Iran.
Experts believe some American bombers could drop the ‘Mother of All Bombs’, a 10-tonne explosive that creates 1,000ft holes in the ground, taking out tunnels and bunkers while simultaneously pulling infrastructures such as bridges down into the giant crater.
America’s army of Reaper drones carrying thousands of pounds of laser-guided bombs to carry out precision strikes will also increase sorties over Iranian cities.
Attacks from aircraft carriers and missiles from US submarines are also expected.
Last night, he warned the Iranian soldiers to ‘surrender or die’ after US raids took out Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and much of his military leadership.
It comes as central Tehran was hit with one of the biggest explosions of the war so far on Friday, after Donald Trump warned Iran that the ‘big one’ is coming.
There were deafening bangs and multiple plumes of smoke and fireballs as a huge payload hit the Moqaddad base of the Revolutionary Guards.
Tehran’s famous Azadi Tower can be seen in the centre of a video as the bombs rained down on the Iranian capital.
Debris was thrown across the city centre, and some witnesses even claimed to have seen bodies thrown up more than 100ft in the air.
Iranians filming the bomb blasts could be heard exclaiming at the ferocity of the explosions hours after the US President told the Iranian military to ‘surrender or die’.
Witnesses described the Israeli airstrikes as particularly intense, shaking homes in the area.
Others reported explosions around the Iranian city of Kermanshah in an area that is home to multiple missile bases.
Meanwhile, Israel launched a series of airstrikes late on Thursday and into Friday in the southern suburbs of Beirut and other areas as fighting between Israel and Hezbollah has intensified.
Iran unleashed its ‘most intense barrage’ yet on Thursday night with a series of bombardments on Israel and US allies in the Gulf as it threatened to drag even more countries into the Middle East conflict.
The Islamic Republic had vowed the US would ‘bitterly regret’ torpedoing one of its warships as it sent hundreds of drones and missiles at its Arab neighbours.
Trump previously urged members of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), the military and police to lay down their arms or face the same fate as Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
He said it was ‘too late’ for Iran to talk and told its diplomats across the globe to defect and be ‘on the right side of history’.
Speaking at the White House on Thursday, Trump said: ‘I’m once again calling on all members of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard, the military and the police to lay down their arms.
‘Now is the time to stand up for the Iranian people and help take back your country. You’re gonna have a chance after all these years to take back your country. Accept immunity, we’ll give you immunity.
‘You’ll be perfectly safe with total immunity or you’ll face absolutely guaranteed death, and I don’t want to see that.’
Trump also claimed Iran has reached out to ‘make a deal’ to end the US military operation.
He said: ‘They’re calling, they’re saying, ‘How do we make a deal?’ I said, ‘You’re being a little bit late’, and we want to fight now more than they do.’
Trump has also said he wants to be involved in choosing the next leader of Iran.
