Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei dismissed Donald Trump’s call for unconditional surrender on Wednesday, while the U.S. president indicated that his patience had been exhausted, although he did not provide any indication of his forthcoming actions.
Speaking to journalists outside the White House, Trump refrained from confirming whether he had made a decision regarding participation in Israel’s bombing campaign against its long-standing adversary, Iran.
“I may do it. I may not do it. I mean, nobody knows what I’m going to do,” he stated.
Trump mentioned that Iranian officials had initiated contact regarding negotiations, which could include a potential meeting at the White House, but he remarked, “it’s very late to be talking.”
“Unconditional surrender, that means I’ve had it.”
When asked for his reaction to Khamenei’s rejection of his surrender demand, Trump replied: “I say, good luck.”
Iranians congested the highways leading out of the capital Tehran, escaping from intensified Israeli airstrikes.
In its most recent bombing operation, Israel announced that its air force had obliterated Iran’s police headquarters.
“As we promised – we will persist in targeting symbols of governance and strike the ayatollah regime wherever it may be,” Defence Minister Israel Katz stated. Khamenei, 86, criticized Trump in a recorded address broadcast on television, marking his first public appearance since Friday.
The Americans “should understand that any U.S. military intervention will inevitably result in irreparable damage,” he asserted.
“Wise individuals who are familiar with Iran, the Iranian nation, and its history will never address this nation in a threatening manner because the Iranian nation will not capitulate.”
Trump has shifted from advocating for a rapid diplomatic resolution to the five-day-old conflict to implying that the United States might engage in it. In social media posts on Tuesday, he contemplated the possibility of eliminating Khamenei, subsequently demanding Iran’s “UNCONDITIONAL SURRENDER!”
A source knowledgeable about internal discussions indicated that Trump and his team were exploring options that involved collaborating with Israel in attacks on Iranian nuclear facilities. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth informed a Senate committee that the Pentagon was ready to carry out any directive issued by Trump.
Iran’s mission to the United Nations ridiculed Trump in messages on X: “Iran does NOT negotiate under duress, shall NOT accept peace under duress, and certainly NOT with a has-been warmonger clinging to relevance,” it stated.
“No Iranian official has ever requested to beg at the gates of the White House,” it added. “The only thing more contemptible than his falsehoods is his cowardly threat to ‘take out’ Iran’s Supreme Leader.”
Israel’s military reported that 50 Israeli jets targeted approximately 20 locations in Tehran overnight, including facilities responsible for producing raw materials, components, and manufacturing systems for missiles. The military advised Iranians to evacuate certain areas of the capital for their own safety while it conducted strikes on these targets.
