US President Donald Trump Says Only Iran’s ‘Unconditional Surrender’ Can End War

President Donald Trump said Friday that only Iran’s “unconditional surrender” would bring an end to the Middle East war, as Tehran was rocked by some of the heaviest US-Israeli strikes of the spiralling, week-long conflict. Now in its seventh day, the war has embroiled nations beyond the region, upended the world’s energy and transport sectors, and brought chaos to even usually peaceful areas around the Gulf. It has spread to Lebanon, whose prime minister warned of an impending humanitarian disaster as tens of thousands fled heavy Israeli strikes on Beirut’s southern suburbs. Trump, who has given varying reasons for starting the war that killed Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei last weekend, promised to help rebuild the country’s economy if Tehran installed an “acceptable” new leader. “There will be no deal with Iran except UNCONDITIONAL SURRENDER,” Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform. “MAKE IRAN GREAT AGAIN (MIGA!),” he added. In Tehran, crowds of men and women dressed in black, some carrying Iranian flags, gathered for the first Friday prayers since the start of the war, online footage showed. Several loud explosions sent clouds of black smoke into Tehran’s sky, according to AFP journalists who described the day’s strikes as […]