President Donald Trump brushed off Iran’s latest barrage of missiles and drones against Israel on Friday as “expected desperation” from a regime he described as crumbling under the weight of the US-Israeli military campaign. Trump called Iranian leaders “deranged scumbags” and promised that the next round of US strikes would be even harder, even as Iran’s Revolutionary Guards announced new coordinated attacks on Israeli targets in coordination with Hezbollah. The competing offensives underlined that neither side was close to seeking a negotiated resolution.
Iran’s Revolutionary Guards declared in a formal statement that the new waves of missiles and drones aimed at Israel were being launched as part of the annual al-Quds Day observance, expressing solidarity with the Palestinian cause. Hezbollah simultaneously fired multiple rocket salvoes from Lebanon into northern Israel, injuring close to 60 people in a series of coordinated barrages. Iran said the coordinated operation with Hezbollah reflected the decades-old alliance between Tehran and the Lebanese militant group. Israel responded with continued intensive strikes in both Iran and Lebanon.
The US-Israeli campaign against Iran has struck more than 15,000 combined targets since the war began. Israel alone confirmed over 200 individual strikes in the most recent 24-hour period. Trump’s late announcement that US Central Command had obliterated every military installation on Kharg Island described one of the most powerful bombing raids in the history of the Middle East. He threatened to strike the island’s oil infrastructure next if Iran continued to blockade the Strait of Hormuz. Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth said Iran’s new supreme leader Mojtaba Khamenei was wounded and hiding underground.
Lebanon’s death toll from the conflict continues to climb, with over 600 killed and 800,000 displaced since the latest fighting began. Israeli strikes killed at least eight more in Sidon Friday and targeted the Zrarieh Bridge over the Litani River. Gulf states continued to face Iran’s daily barrage, with Saudi Arabia intercepting close to 50 drones, Qatar ordering Doha evacuations before a missile interception, two deaths in Oman, and building damage at the Dubai International Financial Centre. Iran has reported over 1,300 deaths, Israel 12, and the United States has lost 13 service members.
Tehran residents described another devastating day of constant bombardment, power cuts, fuel shortages, and trapped civilians. A shopkeeper counted six explosions in one hour. A retired professor begged the world to intervene. France lost a soldier to a pro-Iranian militia drone in Iraq. Six American service members died in a tanker aircraft crash in Iraq. European governments sought diplomatic channels with Tehran for Strait of Hormuz shipping safety. Trump’s warnings about striking Iranian oil infrastructure added further pressure to global energy markets already severely disrupted by the ongoing conflict.