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!).”‘

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.’

Donald Trump said he’s ‘already figured out’ the situation in the Strait of Hormuz, and boasted about knocking out Iranian Navy.

‘We’ve knocked their Navy because, you know, when you knock out the Navy, they can’t do what they wanted to be able to do,’ he told CNN.

‘The Navy is almost, we just hit about the 25 mark. Can you imagine that? Big ones – 25 ships are down.’

US national average gas prices continued to rise today to $3.32 per gallon, according to AAA.

On Thursday, the average prices was $3.25 and one month ago it was $2.90.

However, Donald Trump told CNN on Friday that he was not worried about the rising prices.

‘That’s all right. It’ll be short-term time. It’ll go way down very quickly,’ he said.

United Airlines CEO Scott Kirby said the rise in jet fuel prices amid the Middle East conflict will have a ‘meaningful’ impact on first-quarter results.

‘If it continues we’ll feel it in Q2 also,’ Kirby said after an event Thursday, CNBC reported.

When asked if higher fuel prices will affect airfares, Kirby said it will ‘probably start quick.’

Donald Trump said he is not worried whether Iran becomes a democratic state and he is open to the country having a religious leader.

‘Iran is not the same country it was a week ago,’ he told CNN on Friday. ‘A week ago they were powerful, and now they’ve been indeed neutered.’

When asked if Iran needs to become a democratic state, the president said, ‘No, I’m saying there has to be a leader that’s going be fair and just. Do a great job. Treat the United States and Israel well, and treat the other countries in the Middle East – they’re all our partners.’

He also said he is open to Iran having a religious leader.

‘Well I may be yeah, I mean, it depends on who the person is. I don’t mind religious leaders. I deal with a lot of religious leaders and they are fantastic,’ Trump said.

The USS Abraham Lincoln aircraft carrier was not struck by drones, a US defense official has said, after Iranian media reported a strike on the warship.

‘The reports are not true,’ the defense official said.

Yesterday Iranian state television reported drones fired by the Revolutionary Guards, the ideological arm of the Islamic republic’s military, had hit the aircraft carrier.

No further details were provided

The Guards have previously alleged to have hit the Lincoln, but the Pentagon said at the time that the ‘missiles launched didn’t even come close.’

The United States has two aircraft carriers in the Middle East taking part in the massive air campaign against Iran that Washington launched with Israeli forces on February 28.

Good afternoon and welcome to our live coverage of the US-Israel war with Iran as the conflict enters its seventh day.

Here are your main developments:

• Donald Trump has said there will be no deal with Iran unless they offer ‘unconditional surrender’
• Russia is facing claims it passed intelligence to Iran on the location of US warships and aircraft
• Trump added he was not currently considering sending US ground troops into Iran after saying he would ‘have to be involved’ in choosing Iran’s next leader
• Israel has declared a ‘next phase’ in the conflict with more airstrikes in Tehran and Beirut and said a senior commander in the Iranian regime had been attacked
• The IDF has released footage of the moment Ayatollah Khamenei’s military bunker was obliterated beneath his Tehran compound
• Iranian missiles struck a hotel and two residential buildings in Bahrain with footage showing a fire in the capital Manama
• Saudi Arabia said it destroyed three drones east of Riyadh today as Iran presses on with attacks across the Gulf
• The US Air Force’s heaviest bombers are expected to arrive at British bases within hours