Trump calls Iran leaders ‘deranged scumbags’ as Middle East violence spirals | US-Israel war on Iran
Donald Trump has said Iran will be hit “very hard” in the coming days, describing the regime’s leaders as “deranged scumbags” for whom it would be “a great honor” to kill, as Tehran residents say brutal bombings and violence continue to spiral across the Middle East.
The US president’s comments indicating an intensification of the US-Israeli campaign came as Israeli and US warplanes launched successive waves of attacks on Iran’s capital and elsewhere on Friday. One of the attacks was reported to be near a square near Tehran University where crowds had gathered in support of the Iranian regime. The area is home to many government buildings.
In the video published by the semi-official Tasnim news agency, demonstrators chanted “Death to Israel!” A cloud of gray smoke can be seen rising as he shouts. and “Death to America!”
More chaos, bloodshed, and destruction occurred throughout the region; Israeli attacks on Lebanon, where 800,000 people were displaced, continued; New missile and drone attacks by Hezbollah and Iran against targets in Israel; and Iran’s new attacks on civilian infrastructure in Gulf countries.
The USA announced that 6 soldiers died in the accident that occurred when a tanker plane refueling in the air crashed in Iraq. In Iraq, a French soldier was killed in a drone attack by a pro-Iran militia group.
In his post on social media, Trump wrote: “Watch what happened to these deranged scumbags today… They have been killing innocent people all over the world for 47 years and now I, the 47th President of the United States, am killing them. What an honor to do this!”
Late Friday, Trump said US forces had “destroyed” military targets on Iran’s Kharg island and warned that the next step could be oil infrastructure there. The small island is the main terminal for Iran’s oil exports.
“The United States Central Command conducted one of the most powerful bombing raids in the History of the Middle East, completely destroying all MILITARY targets on Iran’s crown jewel, Kharg Island,” he said in a post on Truth Social.
He added: “I have chosen not to Destroy the Oil Infrastructure on the Island. However, if Iran or anyone else does anything to interfere with the Free and Safe Passage of ships through the Strait of Hormuz, I will immediately reconsider that decision.”
U.S. defense secretary Pete Hegseth said at a news conference in Washington early Friday that Iranian leaders were “desperate and they’re hiding, they’re going underground.”
Hegseth said Iran’s new supreme leader, Mojtaba Khamenei, who issued a defiant statement on Thursday vowing to continue the war, was “injured and possibly disfigured.”
“He made a statement yesterday – a weak statement, actually – but there was no audio or video. It was a written statement. He called for unity…apparently killing tens of thousands of protesters is his kind of unity,” Hegseth said.
Iranian media published videos showing some members of the country’s regime at the demonstration in Tehran, including Ali Larijani, who heads the Supreme National Security Council, and Gholamhossein Mohseni-Ejei, the hard-line cleric who heads the country’s judiciary. Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi was seen walking on the streets of the city.
Tehran residents said there has not been “a day without explosions” since the war began with the Israeli attack that killed Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who ruled Iran for 37 years.
“Buildings are shaking… There is debris everywhere and people are still risking their lives to go to work,” said a 66-year-old retired professor. “Please stop this. I’m begging the world to act before the entire city is destroyed. I can’t leave the city and I have sick family members. Even those who want to escape can’t. They won’t give us enough gas to get far enough. We’re trapped.”
A shopkeeper in central Tehran said he counted six explosions in the last hour.
The 42-year-old said, “We taped the windows with newspapers. In fact, I hardly sleep. They bombed me all night long. I’m afraid to go out. These are very powerful bombs because I don’t even hear the drones anymore. Today’s explosions were this continuous. The weather is cold and the electricity keeps going off. I’m afraid we won’t have electricity soon.”
Israel had previously announced a new wave of attacks targeting infrastructure in Iran and announced that its air force had hit more than 200 targets, including missile launchers, defense systems and weapons production facilities, in the last 24 hours.
Hegseth said more than 15,000 “enemy targets” had been hit, which is more than 1,000 per day since the beginning of the war.
After Thursday’s sharp declines, stock markets rebounded as oil prices fell slightly. About one-fifth of the world’s oil and gas supplies pass through the narrow Strait of Hormuz, which Iran has now effectively blocked by attacking ships there.
Hegseth stated that the United States is “interested” in Iran’s attacks on the Strait of Hormuz and claimed that Iran has not yet mined this important waterway.
Finance Times It was reported that European countries, including France, had started talks with Tehran to negotiate an agreement that would guarantee the safe passage of their ships through the strait, but Italy denied this news.
Iran has responded with daily attacks on oil and other infrastructure in the Gulf region, and on Friday Saudi Arabia said it had shot down nearly 50 drones sent in multiple waves.
Two people died when two unmanned aerial vehicles crashed into an industrial area in Sohar region in Oman, the Omani news agency reported.
A building at the Dubai International Financial Center was damaged after being struck by debris in what authorities described as a “successful response”. DIFC is an economic free zone for banks, capital dealers and asset managers, hosting exclusive restaurants and nightclubs.
Late Friday, the Israeli military announced it had launched a new wave of attacks on Tehran, and Qatar’s interior ministry issued an evacuation order for parts of Doha before explosions were heard in the center of the city.
Qatar’s defense ministry later said it had foiled a missile attack.
Iran said earlier this week that it would target banks and financial institutions following an airstrike on a bank in Tehran, and the Revolutionary Guard announced Friday that they had launched new missile and drone salvoes against Israel in coordination with Hezbollah, which has had close ties with Tehran for decades.
The Guard said in a statement that the operation was part of the annual Quds Day, which aims to show support for the Palestinian cause.
Lebanon’s health ministry said at least eight people were killed in an Israeli attack on the southern coastal city of Sidon in Lebanon. The ministry added that nine people were injured.
The Israeli army also struck the Zrarieh Bridge over Lebanon’s Litani River early Friday, claiming it was used by Hezbollah militants to move between Lebanon’s north and south. The military provided no evidence of the claim.
Israeli defense minister Israel Katz said the attacks so far were “just the beginning” and that the Lebanese government “will pay an increasing price for the damage done to the Lebanese national infrastructure used by Hezbollah.”
More than 600 people have been killed in Lebanon since the latest fighting between Israel and Hezbollah militants began, the health ministry said.
Iranian officials say more than 1,300 people have been killed in Iran, while Israel reported 12 deaths. The United States lost at least 13 soldiers and eight were seriously injured.
Nearly 60 people were injured in northern Israel after Hezbollah said it had fired multiple salvoes of rockets into the area and at Israeli troops in southern Lebanon. It was stated that almost all of the injuries were minor.
