Donald Trump on Friday demanded Iran’s ‘unconditional surrender’ as the United States threatened its biggest bombardment yet.
The President, who is under growing pressure to end the conflict due to soaring oil prices, vowed to ‘Make Iran Great Again’ if the regime admits defeat.
Writing on social media, he said: ‘There will be no deal with Iran except unconditional surrender. After that, and the selection of a great and acceptable leader, 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.’
Mr Trump posted in response to Iranian claims that mediation efforts between the countries have already begun.
He was speaking as a photo was released of evangelical leaders gathered around him in the Oval Office of the White House on Thursday, praying for him and US success in Iran.
It emerged on Friday that US officials believe Russia is providing intelligence to Iran including locations of American warships and aircraft. Russia declined to comment on the allegations.
Iran was bracing for its heaviest night of US and Israeli bombardment, which may include bombers taking off from the UK airbase at Diego Garcia and RAF Fairford in Gloucestershire. The first US long-range bomber permitted by the Prime Minister to launch attacks on Iran from a British base arrived at Fairford on Friday.
The huge B-1B Lancer flew from the US’s Dyess Air Force Base in Abilene, Texas, accompanied by a USAF Super Galaxy. More US aircraft are expected after the PM’s embarrassing U-turn. The aircraft can now fly over Iran as the country’s air defences have been destroyed.
Meanwhile, the threat to shipping caused by Iran’s blockade of the Strait of Hormuz has led the US to fast-track plans to escort ships through the 24-mile wide waterway.
Iran’s temporary leadership council is understood to be deciding who should replace Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, killed a week ago in the first wave of US attacks.
According to security sources it would be ‘unthinkable’ to the theocratic regime that President Trump should have the final say on their choice, as he has demanded. While retired British General Sir Richard Shirreff criticised the US’s assassination of Khamenei, likening the act to ‘killing the Pope on the steps of St Peter’s’.
He said: ‘We should not be involved with the Americans closely. They are being led by gung-ho nutters Trump and Hegseth. This could go the way of Iraq. This is a war of hubris. The Americans have no idea how this ends. There is no strategy.
‘Khamenei was a religious figure for Shias, not just the head of state. His death will enflame the Shiite world, pushing large numbers of Iranians back into the fold of the irreconcilables.’
German Chancellor Friedrich Merz also condemned President Trump’s plan insisting it must be for Iran’s 90 million inhabitants to decide their leader.
The conflict continues to divide Europe with Spain reiterating its opposition to the US actions while Deputy Prime Minister David Lammy started a row about whether British forces could attack Iranian military infrastructure. Last night Downing Street was forced into a humiliating clarification after Mr Lammy appeared to indicate Britain could get further dragged into the conflict. Keir Starmer confirmed the UK has offered the US ‘limited, specific defensive purpose’ usage of British bases.
Mr Lammy said yesterday it would be legal for RAF jets to conduct those attacks itself, a remark interpreted as laying the ground for UK offensive action.
Mr Lammy also referred to Cyprus as a Nato country and called RAF fighter jets ‘Tycoons’ rather than ‘Typhoons’. Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch will on Saturday accuse the Government of ‘playing student politics’ while the world rearms. In a speech to the party’s spring conference, she will say: ‘Keir Starmer spent days consulting lawyers and plucking up the courage to say whose side he was on, even though our allies had the moral clarity to do so immediately and unequivocally. Even now, he is sitting on the fence, still deciding what our role is going to be in this war.’
