Iran’s president has rejected Donald Trump’s call for the country’s “unconditional surrender” as a “dream”, while issuing a rare apology for Iranian attacks that had targeted sites in neighboring Gulf states.
In a pre-recorded speech broadcast on state television on Saturday, Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian said the country would never capitulate, responding to remarks by the US president who said on Friday that only Iran’s total submission could end the war.
Iran’s enemies, Pezeshkian said, “must take the dream of the unconditional surrender of the Iranian people to the grave,” in remarks that further escalate the eighth day of conflict, which has choked off global oil supplies and cut off global air travel.
At the same time, Pezeshkian apologized to neighboring states for Iran’s recent “actions,” in an apparent attempt to ease regional anger after Iranian attacks hit civilian targets in Arab Gulf countries.
Tehran has responded to attacks on its territory by attacking Israel, but also the Gulf Arab states that host US military facilities, while Israel has also launched intense attacks against Lebanon, where the Iranian-backed Hezbollah armed group is based.
Over the past week, the United Arab Emirates, Kuwait, Qatar, Bahrain and Saudi Arabia have reported drone and missile attacks.
Pezeshkian said Iran’s temporary leadership council had approved suspending attacks on neighboring countries unless an attack on Iran originated in those states.
“I personally apologize to neighboring countries that were affected by Iran’s actions,” he said.
It is not yet clear whether Pezeshkian’s comments indicate a broader decision by Tehran to scale back its campaign, or what prompted the apparent change, with reports suggesting some attacks were still aimed at Gulf states on Saturday morning.
The Iranian president’s speech came as Israel said it had launched a new wave of attacks against Iran, sending 80 fighter jets in a pre-dawn bombing raid that set fire to one of Tehran’s main airports.
Israeli officials said the targets included a military academy, an underground command center and a missile storage facility.
Photos showed flames and thick plumes of smoke rising from Mehrabad International Airport, one of two airports serving the Iranian capital, Tehran.
Iran also retaliated on Saturday. Air raid sirens sounded and explosions were reported over Jerusalem, as well as in Gulf cities including Dubai and Manama, and near Riyadh, where Saudi Arabia said it intercepted a ballistic missile aimed at an air base housing US military personnel.
Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps also said it had attacked the Prima tanker in the Gulf as it attempted to pass through the Strait of Hormuz, a narrow maritime chokepoint for global shipping that Iran has effectively closed.
The war, now entering its second week, was triggered by joint Israeli and US airstrikes that killed Iran’s supreme leader, Ali Khamenei.
Since then, the conflict has expanded rapidly, spreading into Lebanon and reaching the eastern Mediterranean and Indian Ocean.
Iran’s Health Ministry said at least 926 civilians had been killed and about 6,000 wounded. Israel has also stepped up airstrikes in Lebanon, repeatedly targeting Beirut’s southern suburbs.
Lebanon’s Health Ministry said at least 217 people had died, while Prime Minister Nawaf Salam warned that a humanitarian disaster was looming. The Norwegian Refugee Council said some 300,000 people had fled their homes.
