Despite quiet diplomatic efforts by European nations to create space for negotiations with Tehran, President Donald Trump made abundantly clear on Friday that the military campaign against Iran was unstoppable. Calling Iranian leaders “deranged scumbags” and declaring their deaths an honor, Trump promised that the strikes would intensify in the coming days. US and Israeli aircraft continued to pound Tehran in successive bombing waves, and Trump late in the day announced the obliteration of every military installation on Kharg Island in one of the most powerful raids in Middle Eastern history.
France and other European nations reportedly opened back-channel talks with Tehran aimed at securing safe passage for their commercial vessels through the Strait of Hormuz, which Iran has effectively blockaded by attacking shipping. Italy denied involvement in the talks. The European effort appeared to be proceeding entirely separately from the US military campaign, with no indication that Washington viewed the diplomatic outreach as compatible with its aggressive military posture. Trump’s warnings about striking Kharg Island’s oil infrastructure further complicated the diplomatic landscape.
Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth confirmed that combined US-Israeli forces had struck over 15,000 enemy targets since the conflict began. Israel alone reported more than 200 strikes in the most recent 24-hour period. New supreme leader Mojtaba Khamenei, who assumed power after Israel killed his father Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, was described by Hegseth as wounded and likely disfigured, hiding underground and communicating only through written statements. His Thursday statement calling for unity was dismissed as weak and desperate by US officials.
The broader regional conflict showed no signs of abating. Lebanon reported over 600 dead and 800,000 displaced, with eight more killed in Sidon on Friday. Hezbollah fired rockets at northern Israel, wounding about 60. Saudi Arabia neutralized close to 50 Iranian drones. Qatar ordered Doha evacuations before a missile interception. Two died in Oman from drone crashes. Dubai’s financial district sustained building damage. Iran’s Revolutionary Guards announced coordinated strikes on Israel as part of the al-Quds Day observance.
American losses in the conflict total 13 service members killed, including six who died when a tanker aircraft crashed in Iraq. France lost a soldier to a pro-Iranian militia drone strike in Iraq. Tehran residents described a city under siege, with explosions too continuous to count, power going on and off, rubble everywhere, and fuel too scarce to permit escape. Iran has reported over 1,300 deaths. With Trump promising harder strikes, European diplomacy stalling, and Iran showing no sign of capitulating, the war appeared certain to intensify further.