United States President Donald Trump declared on Saturday that Iran would face severe military consequences, while warning that additional targets were now under consideration. Writing on his Truth Social platform, Trump stated: "Today Iran will be hit very hard!" He added that "areas and groups of people that were not considered for targeting up until this moment in time" were now being evaluated for "complete destruction and certain death" owing to what he described as Iran's bad behaviour.
Trump's remarks followed a defiant statement from Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian, who said on Saturday that his country would never capitulate to Israel and the United States. The US and Israel launched their military campaign against Iran on 28 February, prompting Tehran to retaliate with missile and drone strikes aimed at Israel and American interests across regional nations, predominantly in the Gulf.
During a televised address, Pezeshkian offered an apology to neighbouring Gulf states for Iranian attacks on their soil, emphasising that Tehran had no intention of targeting its neighbours unless strikes were launched from their territory. Trump seized on the apology in his post, claiming Iran "has apologized and surrendered to its Middle East neighbors, and promised that it will not shoot at them anymore."
The US president attributed the shift to sustained military pressure, writing: "This promise was only made because of the relentless U.S. and Israeli attack." He went further, declaring that "Iran is no longer the 'Bully of the Middle East,' they are, instead, 'THE LOSER OF THE MIDDLE EAST,' and will be for many decades until they surrender or, more likely, completely collapse!"
