‘No deal, only unconditional surrender’: Trump hardens stance as Iran war enters second week
Kartavya Desk Staff
As the US-Israel war with Iran enters its second week, US President Donald Trump has said he will accept nothing short of Tehran’s “unconditional surrender”. Trump made the remark on Friday on Truth Social, hours after Iran’s President Masoud Pezeshkian announced that several countries had begun mediation efforts.
US-Israel-Iran War Live Updates
“There will be no deal with Iran except UNCONDITIONAL SURRENDER!” Trump wrote.
“After that, and the selection of a GREAT & ACCEPTABLE Leader(s), we, and many of our wonderful and very brave allies and partners, will work tirelessly to bring Iran back from the brink of destruction, making it economically bigger, better, and stronger than ever before.”
Trump’s claims since the conflict began
Since the start of the conflict, Trump has repeatedly revised his war aims. In an eight-minute video statement released on Truth Social on Saturday (February 28), he said the objective was regime change in Iran. Trump said the operational goals included destroying Iran’s missile and military capabilities, preventing the country from acquiring nuclear weapons, and ultimately toppling its regime.
On Tuesday, he said the Iranian leadership “wants to talk” amid the joint US-Israel strikes on Tehran, but added that “it’s too late”. Trump also claimed that Iran’s “Air Defence, Air Force, Navy, and Leadership is gone”.
Earlier, he had said the US has “the capability to go far longer” than its projected four-to-five-week time frame for military operations against Iran.
Meanwhile, visiting Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Saeed Khatibzadeh criticised Trump’s call for leadership change in Tehran while speaking at the Raisina Dialogue in New Delhi on Friday. The US also said that it should have a say in the new leadership selection in Iran and Trump must be involved in the process.
Describing Iran as an “anchor of stability” in the Strait of Hormuz and a “responsible power”, Khatibzadeh said: “President Trump is asking for a leadership change in Iran while he can’t even appoint the Mayor of New York. Can you imagine this colonial approach? While he would like to see democracy at home, he would like to topple the democratically-elected President of Iran.”
Iran’s response
Iran has targeted Israel as well as multiple Gulf states that host US military installations. Inside Israel on Friday, explosions were heard as Israeli air defences activated to intercept incoming Iranian missiles and drones. The UAE, Kuwait, Qatar, Bahrain and Saudi Arabia also reported fresh drone and missile attacks.
Meanwhile, Israel expanded the war into Lebanon, pounding the capital Beirut on Friday after ordering an unprecedented evacuation of the city’s entire southern suburbs. Israel also launched a new wave of strikes on Iran, saying 50 of its warplanes had hit a bunker still being used by Iran’s leadership beneath slain Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei’s destroyed Tehran compound.
Markets tumble
Trump’s demand for Iran’s surrender, and the likelihood that it could complicate any quick path to ending the conflict, sent European and US stock indexes tumbling on Friday. Oil prices surged to their highest levels in years as the critical shipping lane of the Strait of Hormuz was effectively closed. Damage to major oil and gas facilities and continued missile and drone strikes have interrupted supplies, pushing prices above $90 a barrel and raising fuel costs worldwide.
Trump on rising gas prices
Trump also said that he isn’t concerned about the rising petrol or gas prices in the US, stating that the military campaign remains his main focus, Reuters reported. He said “I don’t have any concern about it. They’ll drop very rapidly when this is over, and if they rise, they rise, but this is far more important than having gasoline prices go up a little bit.”
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