United States (US) President Donald Trump said he is not interested in negotiating with Iran and raised the possibility that the Iran war would only end once Tehran no longer has a functioning military or any remaining leadership in power.
Speaking to reporters aboard Air Force One on Saturday, Trump said the air campaign could make negotiations a moot point if all potential leaders of Iran are killed and the Iranian military is destroyed.
“At some point, I don’t think there will be anybody left, maybe to say ‘We surrender,’” Trump said.
Israel and Iran traded numerous attacks on Saturday as the US-Israeli war against Iran entered a second week. Iran’s president apologised to neighbouring states for its attacks on US facilities in those countries, in an attempt to cool anger across the Gulf, but stirred criticism from hardliners at home.
“I personally apologise to neighbouring countries that were affected by Iran’s actions,” Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian said, urging them not to join US-Israeli attacks on Iran.
He dismissed Trump’s demand for the Islamic Republic’s unconditional surrender as “a dream,” but said its temporary leadership council had agreed to suspend attacks on nearby states unless strikes on Iran originated from their territory.
Pezeshkian’s comments caused a political stir in Iran, prompting his office to reiterate that Iran’s military would respond firmly to attacks from US bases.
Ali Larijani, Iran’s secretary of the Supreme National Security Council, said on state television there was no rift among Iranian officials over its handling of the war.
The US State Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Saudi Arabia has told Tehran that continued Iranian attacks on the kingdom and its energy sector could push Riyadh to respond in kind, four people familiar with the matter told Reuters.
The governments of Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates reported Iranian drone attacks in their countries on Saturday and early Sunday with varying degrees of damage but no reported deaths. Iran’s Revolutionary Guards also targeted US forces at a base in Bahrain, Iranian state media said.
In the US, the White House halted, for now, a federal security bulletin that would have warned of a heightened threat to the US in light of the Iran conflict, a Trump administration official told Reuters. But a recent US intelligence assessment had warned that Iran and its proxies “probably” pose a threat of targeted attacks on the US.
In Oslo, the US embassy was hit by an explosion early on Sunday, causing minor damage but no injuries, Norwegian police said.
Smoke was seen rising from the area around the embassy compound, eyewitnesses told Norwegian daily Verdens Gang. It was not immediately clear what caused the blast or who was involved.
Huge explosions were heard in parts of Tehran, state media reported, while Israel said it had struck Iranian missile sites and command centres.
The US-Israeli attacks have killed at least 1 332 Iranian civilians and wounded thousands, according to Iran’s UN Ambassador, Amir Saeid Iravani.
US forces were likely responsible for an apparent strike on an Iranian girls’ school that killed scores of children, US officials have told Reuters. But Trump, without citing evidence, told reporters on Saturday that Iran was responsible.
“We think it was done by Iran because they are very inaccurate, as you know, with their munitions. They have no accuracy whatsoever. It was done by Iran,” said Trump.
Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth, standing behind Trump aboard Air Force One, said the matter was still under investigation.
Iranian attacks have killed 10 people in Israel. At least six US service members have been killed. Their remains arrived on Saturday at an Air Force base in Delaware.
–Reuters–
