Trump rejects settling Iran war as Tehran nears decision on new leader

Beirut/Miami/Tel Aviv/Dubai: US President Donald Trump has said he is not interested in negotiating with Iran and has raised the possibility that the Iranian war will end only once Tehran no longer has a functioning military or any remaining leadership in power.

Shortly after Trump spoke to reporters aboard Air Force One, US ally Israel announced fresh strikes across Iran early on Sunday, with the war that has brought chaos to the Middle East and roiled global oil markets in its second week.

“At some point, I don’t think there will be anybody left maybe to say, ‘We surrender’,” Trump said.

Trump also blamed Tehran, without providing evidence, for last week’s airstrike on a girls’ school in Iran that killed more than 165 people, mostly children.

That is despite satellite images, expert analysis, a US official and public information released by the American and Israeli militaries suggesting that the explosion was probably caused by US airstrikes that also hit an adjacent compound associated with the regime’s Revolutionary Guard.

“No, in my opinion, based on what I’ve seen, that was done by Iran,” Trump told reporters.

Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth, standing behind Trump aboard Air Force One, said the matter was still under investigation.

Trump then cut in. “We think it was done by Iran because they’re very inaccurate, as you know, with their munitions,” he said. “They have no accuracy whatsoever. It was done by Iran.”

Trump has justified the US-Israeli operation against Iran by saying it posed an imminent threat to the US and was getting too close to being able to build a nuclear weapon.

The US and Israel had discussed sending special forces into Iran to secure its stockpile of highly enriched uranium at a later stage of the war, news website Axios reported, citing four people with knowledge of the discussions.

Asked about the possibility of sending ground troops to secure nuclear sites on Saturday, Trump said it was something they could do “later on”.

The governments of Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain reported Iranian drone attacks in their countries on Saturday and early Sunday, with a huge fire engulfing a government office block in Kuwait.

The US embassy in Norway’s capital, Oslo, was also hit by an explosion early on Sunday, causing minor damage but no injuries, police said. It was not immediately clear what caused the blast or who was involved.

Saudi Arabia has told Tehran that continued Iranian attacks on the kingdom and its energy sector could push Riyadh to respond in kind, people familiar with the matter told Reuters.

In an apparent attempt to cool anger across the Gulf, Iran’s president apologised to neighbouring states for its attacks on US facilities in those countries on Saturday.

He dismissed Trump’s earlier demand for the Islamic Republic’s unconditional surrender as “a dream”, but said its temporary leadership council had agreed to suspend attacks on nearby states unless strikes on Iran originated from their territory.

Pezeshkian’s comments caused a political stir in Iran, prompting his office to reiterate that Iran’s military would respond firmly to attacks from US bases.

The clerical body charged with choosing Iran’s next supreme leader, to replace Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, slain in an attack last week, could meet as soon as Sunday (Tehran time), Iranian media reported. A majority consensus over a successor had more or less been reached, said Assembly of Experts member Ayatollah Mohammadmehdi Mirbaqeri, according to the Mehr news agency.

Huge explosions were heard in parts of Tehran, state media reported, while Israel said it had struck Iranian missile sites, command centres and fuel depots.

The US-Israeli attacks have killed at least 1332 Iranian civilians and wounded thousands, according to Iran’s UN ambassador, Amir Saeid Iravani.

Iranian attacks have killed 10 people in Israel. At least six US service members have also been killed, with Iran saying on Sunday it had struck US bases in Kuwait. The American service members’ remains arrived on Saturday at an air force base in Delaware.

With the conflict spreading, Israel warned Lebanon of a “very heavy price” if it did not rein in Iran-allied Hezbollah militants, as it pounded the group’s strongholds with airstrikes and mounted a deadly airborne raid in the east. The death toll from Israel’s attacks on Lebanon since Monday rose to about 300.

Trump continued his criticism of the United Kingdom’s response to the conflict, saying, “We don’t need people that join Wars after we’ve already won!

“The United Kingdom, our once Great Ally, maybe the Greatest of them all, is finally giving serious thought to sending two aircraft carriers to the Middle East,” Trump posted on Truth Social. “That’s OK, Prime Minister Starmer, we don’t need them any longer – But we will remember.”

He suggested last week that British Prime Minister Keir Starmer had helped “ruin” the countries’ historically close relationship after London blocked the US’s initial use ‌of British bases to attack Iran.

Iran’s apparent strategy of maximum chaos has driven up the costs of the conflict by raising energy prices, hurting global business and logistics links and snarling air travel.

Kuwait’s national oil company began cutting output on Saturday, adding to earlier oil and gas cuts from Iraq and Qatar. Oil prices have hit multi-year highs as the conflict has effectively shut the Strait of Hormuz.

China’s Foreign Minister, Wang Yi, said on Sunday that “this is a war that shouldn’t have happened, and is one that doesn’t bring any benefit to anyone”. He called on major powers to “play a constructive role” and for an immediate end to military actions.