President Donald Trump argued on Friday that Iran’s regime was the author of its own destruction, having spent nearly five decades creating the conditions that justified the current military campaign. He called Iranian leaders “deranged scumbags” and declared their killing a great personal honor, framing the entire war as an inevitable reckoning for decades of Iranian aggression. US and Israeli warplanes continued bombing Tehran in successive waves, while Iranian authorities said entire districts of the city had been struck in the most recent round of attacks.
The Iranian capital has been transformed since the war began with the killing of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Buildings shake, rubble fills streets, electricity cuts in and out, and fuel shortages have made it nearly impossible for residents to flee. A 66-year-old retired professor described the desperate situation, pleading for the international community to intervene before the city was entirely destroyed. A 42-year-old shopkeeper said she had taped her windows with newspaper, was barely sleeping, and had counted six explosions in a single hour. Iran has reported over 1,300 deaths nationwide.
The scale of the military campaign has been extraordinary, with combined US-Israeli forces striking more than 15,000 targets since the war began. Israel confirmed over 200 individual strikes in the most recent 24-hour period, hitting missile launchers, weapons sites, and air defences across Iran. Trump announced late Friday that US Central Command had completely obliterated every military installation on Kharg Island, Iran’s primary oil export hub, in what he described as the most powerful bombing raid in the history of the Middle East. He threatened to strike the island’s oil infrastructure if Iran continued to disrupt Strait of Hormuz shipping.
Across the broader region, the war continued to consume lives and territory. Lebanon recorded over 600 deaths and 800,000 displaced, with eight more killed in an Israeli strike on Sidon Friday. Hezbollah fired rockets at northern Israel, injuring about 60. Saudi Arabia intercepted close to 50 Iranian drones. Qatar ordered Doha evacuations before a missile interception. Two died in Oman in drone crashes. Dubai’s financial district sustained damage from intercepted debris. Iran’s Revolutionary Guards launched new coordinated strikes on Israel with Hezbollah in the name of al-Quds Day.
US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth described Iran’s new supreme leader Mojtaba Khamenei as wounded, disfigured, and hiding underground, citing his failure to communicate through any video or audio format. The United States has lost 13 service members in the conflict, including six in a tanker aircraft crash in Iraq. France lost one soldier in Iraq to a pro-Iranian militia drone. European governments quietly sought diplomatic channels with Tehran for safe Strait of Hormuz passage. Trump’s threats about oil infrastructure strikes kept global energy markets — already rattled by Iran’s Strait blockade — in a state of deep and sustained uncertainty.