LIVE: Russia ‘sharing intelligence with Iran to take out US warships’

Donald Trump said he will not make a deal with Iran unless they offer ‘unconditional surrender.’

‘There will be no deal with Iran except UNCONDITIONAL SURRENDER!’ he wrote on Truth Social on Friday.

‘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.

‘IRAN WILL HAVE A GREAT FUTURE. “MAKE IRAN GREAT AGAIN (MIGA!).”‘

The UK’s Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch is facing demands to apologise after she suggested British military personnel are ‘just hanging around’ and not taking the necessary action in the Middle East.

Ms Badenoch said there was a need to reduce the capability of Iran to attack British bases, adding that the UK is currently just ‘catching arrows’.

Defence Secretary John Healey said her comment ‘insults the men and women of our Armed Forces’ and that she should apologise.

‘They’re not doing enough… What they’re doing is catching arrows,’ she told BBC Breakfast.

‘It’s not working. We need to actually make sure our bases aren’t being hit.’

She added:

What else are our jets doing, just hanging around there?

They need to be able to see who is attacking us and stop them from firing at British soldiers or even British people in hotels.

Israel said today that is has continued launching airstrikes on areas in Iran and Lebanon, as US President Donald Trump said that ‘the big one’ is yet to come.

Trump hinted at a major escalation in attacks on Iran in the days to come now that the UK has allowed access to some of its military bases in the Middle East.

Dramatic images show a large explosion in Beirut’s southern suburbs after Israel struck Lebanon today, with smoke rising across the city.

Lebanon’s health ministry has said that 217 people have been killed in the attacks since last Saturday.

US Central Command said it used Precision Strike Missiles (PrSMs) for the first time during Operation Epic Fury.

‘In a historic first, long-range Precision Strike Missiles (PrSMs) were used in combat during Operation Epic Fury, providing an unrivaled deep strike capability,’ CENTCOM wrote on X.

The post also quoted CENTCOM Commander Adm. Brad Cooper saying, ‘I just could not be prouder of our men and women in uniform leveraging innovation to create dilemmas for the enemy.’

Developed by Lockheed Martin, whose executives are meeting with Trump today, PrSMs are next-generation, long-range precision-strike missile designed for the US Army.

PrSMs can hit targets ranging from 37 miles to 310 miles away.

Israeli soldiers have been spotted working on tanks massing near the border with Lebanon.

The war machines were seen in the upper Galilee in northern Israel on Friday and point to a potential push into the country by the IDF, which would turn the conflict in the Middle East into a full-scale ground war.

It comes as Israel and the US launched new waves of strikes on Iran and Lebanon today – with Israel continuing to target Hezbollah infrastructure in the region.

Heavy artillery pieces, military bulldozers and trucks carrying ammunition have also been seen en route to the area.

by Olivia Christie

US Air Force bombers capable of hitting enemies with up to 34 tonnes of explosives are on their way to the UK amid speculation President Donald Trump is about to launch a ‘mega attack’ on Iran.

RAF Fairford in Gloucestershire is understood to be preparing for a fleet of B-1 aircraft that are travelling from the Dyess Air Force Base in Texas.

A C-5M Super Galaxy transport aircraft filed a flight plan between the two bases this morning, providing the first indication that US bombers are being deployed to the UK since the outbreak of the war in Iran last weekend.

The conflict further escalated today as the US and Israel launched heavy bombing raids on Tehran and Lebanon.

And sources have now suggested that Saturday could be D-day for Trump’s new gigantic bombardment – exactly a week after America and Israel first attacked Iran as part of ‘Operation Epic Fury’.

The US State Department said nearly 24,000 Americans have been evacuated from the Middle East in a Friday updated.

‘Since February 28, nearly 24,000 American citizens have safely returned to the United States from the Middle East,’ the state department said.

‘The Department continues to proactively call American citizens to offer charter flight or ground transport travel assistance.

‘Several flights have safely returned hundreds of Americans to the United States with additional flights scheduled to take place over the coming days, as security conditions allow.

‘Commercial flight availability across the region continues to improve with commercial options available in most of the region.’

American citizens in Oman, Kuwait, Bahrain, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and Israel in need of travel assistance are encouraged to complete the Crisis Intake Form.

by Susan Greene

By the middle of the night in Tel Aviv on Sunday – less than a day into the war with Iran – 13-year-old Ronit was already fed up with being jolted from sleep and having to jump out of bed and throw on clothes before running to her nearby bomb shelter during yet another missile warning.

‘So I made a decision that my mom isn’t too happy about – I’m staying in my PJs until the war ends,’ said the 8th-grade Israeli-American whose parents asked that her last name not be used.

‘Mom’s worried what the neighbors will think. But I’m not. I’m like, who cares how you look in a missile attack?’

Like millions of others throughout Israel, Ronit and her family have been stuck at home since Saturday, dreading the shrill, oscillating howl that is their country’s ‘Red Alert’ missile warning siren.

In Central Tel Aviv, Israel’s second biggest city, alarms sounded 19 times on Saturday, 14 on Sunday, three on Monday and seven on Tuesday, triggered by incoming threats launched from Iran and Lebanon.

Donald Trump will host executives from various defense contractors at the White House today.

The companies include Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman, RTX Corporation, Boeing, Honeywell and L3Harris Technologies.

Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said Friday that the military has ‘more than enough’ weapons, ‘Nevertheless, President Trump has always been intensely focused on strengthening our military, which is why this meeting with defense contractors was scheduled weeks ago.’

by Eliana Silver

Speculation has been growing surrounding the fate of IRGC commander Esmail Qaani, with some unconfirmed reports alleging the general was executed by Iran for spying for Israel.

The reports circulating in Arab media that Qaani was arrested and possibly executed on suspicion of espionage have not been confirmed by Tehran.

According to the Emirati outlet The National, the claims remain unverified, but they have spread widely online amid speculation surrounding Qaani’s remarkable ability to survive a string of deadly attacks.

The reports come after years of rumours surrounding the 67-year-old commander, known as ‘the man with nine lives’, who has gained a reputation for repeatedly escaping attacks that killed those around him.

Qaani took command of the IRGC’s Quds Force in January 2020 after the United States assassinated his predecessor, Qassem Suleimani.

The Quds Force is Iran’s foreign operations arm responsible for building, arming and coordinating the ‘Axis of Resistance’ across the Middle East.

The war in Iran is threatening to split the conservative movement, dividing it between those who see it as Donald Trump’s breaking of a promise against new wars and those who see it as a necessary confrontation long overdue.

Progressives, predictably, frame it as another Middle Eastern adventure driven by Israel. Anti-war libertarians call it regime change in a new dress.

And across the world, from Brazil to Beijing, London to Karachi, the argument is the same: America is fighting Israel’s war.

But this isn’t true. And the confusion matters, because if you misread what this war is actually about, you will misread everything that follows.

This is not a war about Israel. This is not a war for Israel’s sake. Israel is a beneficiary, a capable and willing local partner, but it is not the reason America is in this fight. America is playing a much bigger game, about more than what happens in the Middle East. The subtext, that Israel exercises outsize influence or ‘drags Americans into wars they don’t want’, borders on the conspiratorial.

This isn’t one war, but two.

Donald Trump said thousands of Americans are being moved out of the Middle East ‘quietly, but seamlessly.’

‘We are moving thousands of people out of various Countries throughout the Middle East,’ he wrote on Truth Social on Friday.

‘It is being done quietly, but seamlessly. The State Department, under Secretary Marco Rubio, is doing a great job.’