Iran’s Supreme Leader says his country will show Israel “no mercy” as Donald Trump demands Tehran’s “unconditional surrender”. Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said his country must deliver a “strong response” as both Israel and Iran exchanged fire overnight, with the conflict entering its sixth day.
Mr Khamenei called Israel a “terrorist Zionist regime”. “We will show the Zionists no mercy,” he said in a post on social media. It came after Mr Trump claimed the US knows where Iran’s Supreme Leader is “hiding”, adding American forces would not kill him “at least not for now”.
He later wrote on his Truth Social platform that he wanted a “real end” and “not a ceasefire”, before later calling for Iran’s “UNCONDITIONAL SURRENDER”.
The conflict broke out on Friday after Israel launched a surprise attack on Iran, largely targeting Tehran’s nuclear programme and top generals.
Israel said the attacks were “pre-emptive” and carried out in order to stop Iran from developing atomic bombs.
Iran says its nuclear programme is peaceful, with no plans to build such weapons.
Two of Iran’s main nuclear sites have been hit in Israeli strikes, but the uranium enrichment facility at Fordow, which is buried deep beneath a mountain, has not yet been damaged.
It is thought that the only weapon capable of piercing the hundreds of feet of rock protecting it would be a US bomb called the GBU-57F/B Massive Ordnance Penetrator (MOP).
The 3,000lb bomb is only operated by the US Air Force.
Israel carried out more strikes overnight on Wednesday, hitting nuclear and missile sites in Tehran.
Iran also launched a small number of missiles, with the Israeli military claiming 10 were intercepted.
Iran has fired fewer missiles as the fighting has continued.