BEIRUT/WASHINGTON/JERUSALEM: One week into the war he started with Israel, US President Donald Trump dramatically increased his demands on Friday, demanding Iran’s “unconditional surrender.
Just hours after Iran’s president declared that unnamed nations had started mediation efforts—one of the first indications of any diplomatic attempt to resolve the conflict—Trump made the comments on social media. Trump wrote, “There will be no deal with Iran other than UNCONDITIONAL SURRENDER.”
We, along with many of our amazing and extremely courageous allies and partners, will work tirelessly to bring Iran back from the verge of destruction and make it economically bigger, better, and stronger than ever before after that, and after a GREAT & ACCEPTABLE Leader(s) are chosen.”
In a phone interview with Reuters on Thursday, Trump stated that he was requesting the ability to assist in choosing Iran’s next supreme leader to succeed Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who was assassinated on the first day of the war.
In a significant military expansion, Israel ordered an unprecedented evacuation of the whole southern suburbs of Beirut, Lebanon’s capital, and then blasted the city on Friday. Additionally, it launched a fresh round of attacks on Iran, claiming that 50 of its jets had hit a bunker beneath the demolished Tehran compound of Khamenei, which is still in use by Iran’s leadership today.
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