President Donald Trump unleashed some of his most inflammatory language yet against Iran on Friday, calling its leaders “deranged scumbags” on social media while declaring their deaths a great personal honor. The comments came as US and Israeli warplanes conducted successive bombing waves over Tehran, with residents describing a city under siege. Trump promised that even harder strikes were coming in the days ahead.
Tehran’s civilians described a nightmare existence of constant explosions, power cuts, and rubble-filled streets. A retired professor begged the world to intervene, while a shopkeeper described counting six explosions in a single hour. Iran has officially reported over 1,300 deaths since the conflict began with Israel’s killing of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth confirmed that combined US-Israeli forces had struck over 15,000 targets since the war began. He described new supreme leader Mojtaba Khamenei as wounded, disfigured, and hiding underground. Israel alone reported over 200 strikes in the most recent 24-hour period targeting missile systems and weapons facilities across Iran.
The war spread violence across the broader region, with Lebanon recording over 600 deaths and 800,000 displaced. Saudi Arabia intercepted close to 50 Iranian drones, Qatar ordered Doha evacuations before a missile interception, and two people died in Oman from drone crashes. Hezbollah fired rockets into northern Israel, injuring about 60 people.
Trump announced late Friday that US forces had obliterated every military installation on Kharg Island, Iran’s primary oil export hub, warning that oil infrastructure would be struck next if Iran continued to disrupt Strait of Hormuz shipping. The United States has lost 13 service members in the conflict, including six in a tanker aircraft crash in Iraq. European governments quietly sought diplomatic channels with Tehran, hoping to negotiate safe passage for their ships through the increasingly dangerous waterway.