Iran rejects Trump’s demand for unconditional surrender as a ‘dream’ | US-Israel war on Iran
Iran’s president has made a rare apology for Iranian attacks that have hit neighboring countries as missiles and drones continue to hit Gulf states, as he dismissed Donald Trump’s call for the country’s unconditional surrender as a “dream”.
In a pre-recorded speech broadcast on state television on Saturday, Iranian president Massoud Pezeshkian said the country would never surrender, responding to remarks by the US president who said on Friday that only Iran’s complete surrender could end the war.
Iran’s enemies “must take their dreams of the unconditional surrender of the Iranian people to the grave,” Pezeshkian said, in remarks that further escalated the eighth day of the conflict that has blocked global oil supplies and cut off world air transportation.
During his speech, Pezeshkian also apologized to neighboring countries for Iran’s recent “actions” in an attempt to ease regional anger following Iran’s attacks on civilian targets in Gulf Arab countries.
Tehran responded to attacks on its territory by targeting Israel as well as Gulf Arab countries that host US military facilities. Israel also launched intense attacks on Lebanon, where the Iranian-backed armed group Hezbollah is located.
Last week, the United Arab Emirates, Kuwait, Qatar, Bahrain and Saudi Arabia all reported drone and missile attacks.
Pezeshkian said Iran’s interim leadership council approved the suspension of attacks on nearby countries as long as an attack on Iran does not originate from those countries.
“I personally apologize to neighboring countries affected by Iran’s actions,” he said.
It remains unclear whether Pezeshkian’s remarks signaled a broader decision by Tehran to scale back its campaign, or what led to the apparent shift, as reports suggested Saturday morning that some attacks were still directed at Gulf states.
The video obtained and published on social media on Saturday BBC It shows an apparent drone attack on Dubai international airport property.
According to the report, drone A appears to have crashed near concourse and at least four aircraft can be seen near the crash site.
The UAE announced on Saturday the capture of 15 ballistic missiles and 119 unmanned aerial vehicles.
Pezeshkian’s words were immediately followed by a warning from Trump, who said that Tehran faced the possibility of “total destruction” if it did not surrender, and that Iran’s apology to neighboring countries was the result of increasing US military pressure.
Trump said on the Truth Social platform that if Iran does not surrender, “it will be hit very hard!” he replied. He added that the country was “under serious consideration of its complete destruction and certain death.”
Trump also said Iran had apologized and surrendered to its neighbors in the Middle East “for the relentless attack by the United States and Israel.”
Western officials were trying to interpret Pezeshkian’s comments on his apology and the authority with which he spoke, but they said it was best to remain cautious that Iran was looking for a way out.
One official said: “We certainly don’t know what prompted the Iranian president’s remarks. This is one data point and nothing more. We can infer that Iran’s capability has diminished. There is no reason to doubt Centcom’s briefing that the number of attacks has decreased recently.”
Iran’s offer to states in the region was implicitly conditional, officials said, but added that it was not clear whether that meant attacks could stop if countries did not allow U.S. bases to be used to attack Iran, or whether the presence of a U.S. base was sufficient reason for an attack.
Later in the day, Mehdi Tabatabaei, Pezeshkian’s office deputy for communications and announcements, issued a statement about the Iranian president’s remarks, saying his message was “clear.”
“If the countries in the region do not cooperate with the US attack on Iran, we will not attack them,” Tabatabaei said. “Iran will never bow to pressure. Our strong armed forces will respond decisively to any attack from US bases in the region.”
Pezeshkian’s speech is as follows: Israel announced that it has launched a new wave of attacks against IranIt sent 80 warplanes in a pre-dawn attack that set fire to one of Tehran’s main airports.
Israeli officials said the targets included a military academy, an underground command center and a missile storage facility.
Photos show flames and thick clouds of smoke rising from Mehrabad International Airport, one of two airports serving Iran’s capital Tehran.
Iran also retaliated on Saturday. Air raid sirens went off and Explosions reported over Jerusalem in Gulf cities such as Dubai and Manama, and near Riyadh, where Saudi Arabia said it intercepted a ballistic missile targeting an air base housing US military personnel.
Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps said they shot a Marshall Islands-flagged tanker as it tried to pass through the Strait of Hormuz, a narrow seaway for global shipping that Iran has effectively closed, Iran’s state media reported on Saturday.
The war, now in its second week, was triggered by joint Israeli and US air strikes that killed Iran’s supreme leader Ali Khamenei.
Since then, the conflict has grown rapidly, spreading to Lebanon and reaching as far as the Eastern Mediterranean and the Indian Ocean.
Iran’s health ministry said at least 926 civilians were killed and nearly 6,000 were injured. Israel has also intensified its air strikes in Lebanon, repeatedly targeting Beirut’s southern suburbs.
Lebanon’s health ministry said at least 217 people had died, while prime minister Nawaf Salam warned that a humanitarian disaster was looming. The Norwegian Refugee Council said about 300,000 people had fled their homes.
