President Donald Trump made sweeping historical claims on Friday, describing the US bombing campaign against Iran as among the most justified military actions in American history. He called Iranian leaders “deranged scumbags” in a social media post and declared their deaths a great personal honor, while promising that strikes would intensify dramatically in the coming days. The declaration came as US and Israeli warplanes continued to carry out successive waves of bombing raids over Tehran, reducing more sections of the Iranian capital to rubble with every passing hour.
The war’s origins lie in Israel’s targeted killing of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Iran’s supreme leader for 37 years, an act that unleashed the cascade of violence now consuming the region. Iran’s new supreme leader, Mojtaba Khamenei, has been described by US officials as wounded, disfigured, and hiding underground, his only public communication a written statement on Thursday that US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth dismissed as weak and unconvincing. Combined US-Israeli forces have struck more than 15,000 targets since the conflict began, at a pace exceeding 1,000 strikes per day.
Israel alone reported more than 200 individual strikes in the most recent 24-hour period, targeting Iranian missile systems, weapons factories, and air defence networks. Trump’s late Friday announcement described US Central Command obliterating every military facility on Kharg Island, Iran’s primary oil terminal, in one of the most powerful bombing raids in Middle Eastern history. He warned that the island’s oil infrastructure would be struck next if Iran continued to disrupt shipping in the Strait of Hormuz, through which roughly one-fifth of global energy supplies travel.
The human cost of the conflict is enormous across every nation involved. Iran has reported over 1,300 deaths. Lebanon has counted over 600 killed and 800,000 displaced, with eight more dying in Sidon Friday. Israel reports 12 deaths. Thirteen US service members have died, including six in a tanker aircraft crash in Iraq. France lost one soldier to a pro-Iranian militia drone in Iraq. Hezbollah injured about 60 Israelis in rocket salvoes at northern Israel. Saudi Arabia intercepted close to 50 Iranian drones in a single day.
Qatar ordered Doha evacuations before a missile interception was confirmed. Two died in Oman in drone crashes. Dubai’s financial district sustained damage from intercepted debris. Tehran residents described constant explosions, power cuts, fuel shortages, and trapped civilians. A shopkeeper counted six explosions in one hour. A retired professor pleaded for international intervention. Iran’s Revolutionary Guards launched new coordinated strikes on Israel with Hezbollah as part of al-Quds Day. European governments sought diplomatic back-channels with Tehran for Strait of Hormuz shipping safety as global energy markets watched the crisis with growing dread.