Celebrating the killing of Iranian officials with language usually reserved for the most bitter personal enemies, Donald Trump wrote on social media Friday that it was a “great honor” for him as the 47th president to be killing Iran’s leaders, whom he described as “deranged scumbags.” His post came during a day of intense US and Israeli aerial bombardment of Tehran that left residents cowering in their homes amid near-constant explosions. Trump vowed that even harder strikes were coming in the days ahead.
The war has transformed Tehran into a city barely functioning under the weight of relentless bombardment. Residents reported that the explosions had become so frequent and powerful that they could no longer distinguish the sound of individual drone strikes. A shopkeeper in central Tehran described taping newspaper over her windows, losing sleep, and fearing the complete loss of electricity as temperatures dropped and the bombs kept falling. A retired professor said people were trapped, unable to flee for lack of fuel.
Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth told reporters that the combined US-Israeli campaign had struck more than 15,000 targets since the war began, with over 1,000 hits per day. He described Iran’s new supreme leader, Mojtaba Khamenei, as wounded and disfigured, basing the assessment on his failure to appear in any video or audio communication following a recent written statement. Israel confirmed over 200 strikes in the previous 24 hours alone, hitting missile launchers, weapons production facilities, and air defence systems across the country.
The violence had spread in every direction from Iran. Hezbollah launched rocket salvoes at northern Israel, injuring around 60 people. Israeli forces struck the Lebanese city of Sidon, killing eight and wounding nine. A French soldier was killed in Iraq by a pro-Iranian militia drone strike, and six American service members died in a tanker aircraft crash in the same country. Saudi Arabia intercepted nearly 50 Iranian drones, while Oman reported two fatalities from drone crashes.
Qatar became the latest country drawn into the crisis when its interior ministry ordered evacuations from parts of Doha before explosions were heard in the city centre. Iran’s Revolutionary Guards simultaneously announced fresh missile and drone attacks on Israel, declaring the operation part of their annual al-Quds Day. With the Strait of Hormuz effectively blockaded by Iranian attacks on shipping, and Trump threatening to strike Iran’s oil infrastructure, the economic consequences of the conflict were being felt far beyond the region.