DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — U.S. President Donald Trump on Friday appeared to rule out talks with Iran absent its “unconditional surrender.” Israeli warplanes bombed Beirut and Tehran as Iran launched more retaliatory strikes against Israel and Gulf countries on the seventh day of the war.
The strikes in Lebanon were the heaviest since a 2024 ceasefire ended the last war between Israel and the Iran-backed Hezbollah, who fired rockets at Israel in the opening days of the war now underway. More than 95,000 people have fled Beirut’s suburbs and southern Lebanon after sweeping Israeli evacuation warnings.
The U.S. and Israel have battered Iran with strikes, targeting their military capabilities, leadership and nuclear program. The stated goals and timelines for the war have repeatedly shifted, as the U.S. has at times suggested it seeks to topple Iran’s government or elevate new leadership from within.
In a social media post on Friday, Trump said that after Iran’s surrender, “and the selection of a GREAT & ACCEPTABLE Leader(s),” that the U.S. and its allies would help rebuild Iran, making it “economically bigger, better, and stronger than ever before.”
The war has escalated to affect more than a dozen countries across the Middle East and has caused a spike in oil prices. London police said Friday that four men have been arrested on suspicion of aiding Iran by spying on the Jewish community. Iran has been linked to previous attacks abroad on Iranian dissidents, Israelis and Jewish targets.
Qatar’s energy minister warned that it could “bring down the economies of the world,” predicting a widespread shutdown of Gulf energy exports that could send oil to $150 a barrel. Saad al-Kaabi told the Financial Times newspaper that even if the war ended immediately it could take “weeks to months” to resume normal exports after an Iranian drone strike on Qatar’s largest liquefied natural gas plant earlier in the war.
Trump again urges Iranians to ‘take back’ their country
Trump’s latest comments were likely to raise further questions about the endgame of the war launched a week ago by the United States and Israel.
On Thursday, he urged the Iranian people to “help take back your country,” promising the U.S. would grant them “immunity,” without elaborating.
Trump also told media outlets that he should be involved in choosing a replacement for Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who was killed in the opening strikes of the war. Trump spoke dismissively of Khamenei’s son, Mojtaba Khamenei — a front-runner to replace his father — calling him “a lightweight.”
Iranian state television reported Friday that a leadership council had started discussing how to convene the country’s Assembly of Experts, which will select the new supreme leader.
Buildings associated with the 88-member clerical panel, have been attacked during the Israeli-American air campaign. Israel has said it would target the next supreme leader if he poses a threat.
Heavy strikes on Iran
Israel’s military said Friday it had launched “a broad-scale wave of strikes” on Tehran, Iran’s capital, and that over the past week it has heavily bombed an extensive underground bunker that Iran’s leaders had planned to use during the hostilities.
Witnesses described 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.
Iran meanwhile launched missile and drone attacks at Israel, as well as Kuwait, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and Bahrain, all countries that host U.S. forces. There were no immediate reports of casualties.
The war has killed at least 1,230 people in Iran, more than 120 in Lebanon and around a dozen in Israel, according to officials in those countries. Six U.S. troops have been killed.
Iran’s President Masoud Pezeshkian said Friday that “some countries” had begun mediation efforts in the conflict, without elaborating.
US says it hit an Iranian drone carrier
The U.S. military said early Friday that it struck an Iranian drone carrier, setting it ablaze.
The U.S. military’s Central Command released black-and-white footage of the burning carrier. The Iranian military did not immediately acknowledge the attack.
The drone carrier, the IRIS Shahid Bagheri, is a converted container ship with a 180-meter-long (yard) runway for drones. The vessel can travel up to 22,000 nautical miles without needing to refuel in ports, reports said at the time of its 2025 inauguration.
Earlier in the week, an American submarine sank an Iranian frigate off the coast of Sri Lanka as it was returning from an exercise hosted by the Indian navy that the U.S. also joined. Sri Lanka’s navy rescued 32 crew members and recovered 87 bodies.
Iran targets countries hosting US forces
Qatar said early Friday it intercepted a drone attack targeting Al Udeid Air Base, which hosts the forward headquarters of the U.S. Central Command.
Saudi Arabia intercepted and destroyed three ballistic missiles fired early Friday toward Prince Sultan Air Base south of Riyadh, which also hosts U.S. forces, said a spokesperson for Saudi Arabia’s Defense Ministry.
Air raid sirens sounded in Bahrain, where the Interior Ministry said Iranian strikes targeted two hotels and a residential building. It said there were no casualties. In Kuwait, where the six U.S. soldiers were killed Sunday, the army said air defenses were activated when missile and drone attacks breached its airspace.
The United Arab Emirates said three drones had struck its territory, without elaborating.
The British ambassador to Bahrain said Friday that the United Kingdom would help defend the country with its fighter jets. Ambassador Alastair Long’s announcement came the day after British Prime Minister Keir Starmer said he was sending four more Royal Air Force Typhoon fighters to Qatar following requests from allies for further help.
In Israel, the sound of explosions could be heard in Tel Aviv early Friday morning after a warning about missiles incoming from Iran, as air defense systems worked to intercept the barrage.
Israel hits Lebanon with more airstrikes as death toll rises
Israel carried out at least 11 airstrikes late Thursday and early Friday, targeting the southern suburbs of Beirut. Lebanon’s Health Ministry said 217 people had been killed by Israeli strikes since Monday and 798 wounded.
Roads in the Lebanese capital were choked with evacuating traffic as smoke rose over the city’s southern districts. Two hospitals evacuated patients and staff.
“What can we do? We prayed here under the tree. During the night we slept in the car because there is no place to stay,” Jihan Shehadeh, one of the tens of thousands of displaced, said.
One Israeli strike hit near the Iranian embassy in Beirut, according to Lebanon’s state-run National News Agency. Israel’s military did not immediately respond to questions about the report.
Hezbollah’s military command on Friday urged its fighters not to relent and to “defend the nation,” casting the escalating war in religious terms and calling on them to “kill them wherever you find them.”
Lebanon’s Prime Minister Nawaf Salam slammed both Israel and Hezbollah, saying the Lebanese state and people “did not choose this war.”
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Metz reported from Ramallah, West Bank, Rising from Bangkok and Abou AlJoud from Beirut. Seung Min Kim in Washington, Geir Moulson in Berlin, and Malak Harb, Abby Sewell and Bassem Mroue in Beirut contributed.
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