President Donald Trump doubled down on his aggressive military posture toward Iran on Friday, signaling that the worst of the American bombardment was yet to come and calling Iranian leaders “deranged scumbags” in an unfiltered social media post. The comments came as US and Israeli aircraft pounded targets across the Iranian capital in coordinated waves throughout the day and into the night. Trump framed the campaign as a matter of historical justice, claiming that Iranian leaders had been killing innocent people around the world for 47 years.
Tehran’s civilian population has been trapped in the middle of an unrelenting assault that has left the city battered and its residents terrified. A retired professor, 66, said she had not experienced a day free of explosions since the war broke out following Israel’s strike that killed Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Another resident, a 42-year-old shopkeeper, described taping newspapers over her windows and barely sleeping as bombs fell through the night, noting the explosions had become so continuous she could no longer even hear drones.
Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth told reporters in Washington that Iranian leaders were “desperate and hiding,” having gone underground to escape the strikes. He stated that the new supreme leader Mojtaba Khamenei had been wounded and was likely disfigured, with no voice or video to accompany his most recent written statement. More than 15,000 targets had been struck by US and Israeli forces combined, Hegseth confirmed, with Israel alone reporting hits on over 200 targets in 24 hours.
The violence has spread far beyond Iran’s borders, engulfing Lebanon, Iraq, the Gulf states, and threatening global energy supplies. Hezbollah continued firing rockets at northern Israel, wounding nearly 60 people, while Israeli forces killed at least eight in a strike on the Lebanese coastal city of Sidon. Saudi Arabia shot down close to 50 Iranian drones, and two people died in Oman when drones crashed in an industrial zone near Sohar.
Iran’s effective blockade of the Strait of Hormuz remained a central concern for global markets and governments alike, with roughly one-fifth of world oil and gas passing through the narrow waterway. Trump warned that he would “immediately reconsider” sparing Iran’s oil infrastructure at Kharg Island if Tehran interfered with shipping. European governments, reportedly including France, began quiet negotiations with Iran seeking to guarantee their ships safe passage, adding an urgent diplomatic dimension to an already catastrophic crisis.