US Secretary of War Pete Hegseth has said that strikes on Iran will ‘surge dramatically’ as Donald Trump warned the regime’s military force to surrender or face ‘guaranteed death’.
It comes as Iran unleashed its ‘most intense barrage’ yet on Thursday night with a series of bombardments on Israel and US allies in the Gulf as it threatened to drag even more countries into the Middle East conflict.
The Islamic Republic had vowed the US would ‘bitterly regret’ torpedoing one of its warships as it sent hundreds of drones and missiles at its Arab neighbours.
Speaking at a press conference in Tampa on Thursday, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth warned the regime: ‘We have only just begun to fight and fight decisively. If you think you’ve seen something, just wait.’
He said: ‘Iran is hoping that we cannot sustain this, which is a really bad miscalculation. Our munitions are full up and our will is ironclad.’
The US Secretary of War also hit out at Sir Keir for not allowing the US to launch attacks from British bases from day one, before warning: ‘The amount of firepower over Iran and over Tehran is about to surge dramatically.’
Mr Hegseth said it was ‘unfortunate’ access wasn’t granted ‘from day one’.
He added: ‘But we got there. We got there, and that’s now part of the way that we’re operationalising bomber runs… It’s more fighter squadrons, it’s more capabilities, it’s more defensive capabilities, and it’s more bomber pulses more frequently.’
Speaking at the White House, in front of David Beckham’s Inter Miami squad, Donald Trump warned the Iranian regime to ‘surrender’ or face ‘guaranteed death’
Mr Trump also said it was ‘too late’ for Iran to talk as the US and Israel ramp up attack on the country
Israel has continued to pound Tehran (pictured on Thursday) with missiles since the outbreak of war on Saturday
Mr Hegseth also said Trump would be ‘having a heck of a say in who runs Iran given the ongoing operation’.
Iran’s threats were met with fury from the US leader, who urged members of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), the military and police to lay down their arms or face the same fate as Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
He said it was ‘too late’ for Iran to talk and told its diplomats across the globe to defect and be ‘on the right side of history’.
Speaking at the White House, in front of David Beckham’s Inter Miami squad, Mr Trump said: ‘I’m once again calling on all members of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard, the military and the police to lay down their arms.
‘Now is the time to stand up for the Iranian people and help take back your country.
‘You’re gonna have a chance after all these years to take back your country. Accept immunity, we’ll give you immunity.
‘You’ll be perfectly safe with total immunity or you’ll face absolutely guaranteed death, and I don’t want to see that.’
Mr Trump also claimed Iran has reached out to ‘make a deal’ to end the US military operation.
He said: ‘They’re calling, they’re saying, “How do we make a deal?”
‘I said, “You’re being a little bit late,” and we want to fight now more than they do.’
He also claimed the Iranian navy ‘is gone’ and the US wiped out ’24 ships in three days’, adding: ‘They have no air force, they have no air defence.
‘The United States military, together with the wonderful Israeli partners, continues to totally demolish the enemy, far ahead of schedule and at levels that people have never seen before.’
Mr Trump and Mr Hegseth’s comments came as the IDF claimed it was ‘moving to the next phase of the operation’ against Iran, insisting it will ‘further dismantle the regime and its military capabilities’.
IDF Chief of staff Lt Gen Eyal Zamir said Israel and the US had been ‘strategically isolating’ Iran and bringing it to a point of weakness ‘unlike any it has known’.
He said Israel has pounded Iran ‘without pause’ and the ‘operation is proceeding at the pace we planned it to advance at’.
Smoke could be seen rising from the world famous Yas Marina, home to Abu Dhabi’s F1 grand prix circuit, following Iranian attacks on Abu Dhabi
Smoke was seen billowing in Saudi Arabia’s capital Riyadh as Tehran continues to attack US allies in the region
Pete Hegseth lashed out at Sir Keir Starmer, saying it was ‘unfortunate’ the UK did not give the US permission to strike from its bases ‘from day one’
Khamenei’s second-oldest son Mojtaba Khamenei is tipped to be his successor as Supreme Leader after gaining the support of the Revolutionary Guards.
But Mr Trump said he would personally select a new leader and Mojtaba was ‘unlikely’.
Iran continued to bombarded Saudi Arabia with missiles on Thursday.
Plumes of smoke could be seen billowing across the capital Riyadh after a barrage of cruise missiles thumped into the city on the sixth day of the conflict.
And following a mass drone attack on the United Arab Emirates, smoke could be seen rising from the world-famous Yas Marina, home to Abu Dhabi’s F1 grand prix circuit and hugely popular with tourists.
A number of alerts rang out across Dubai, Abu Dhabi and Fujairah, warning residents and visitors to stay safe after the UAE confirmed it was struck with a ballistic missile and six out of a barrage of 131 suicide drones.
Six people were injured in Abu Dhabi as a result of falling debris when drones were intercepted by air defence systems.
Explosions were also heard in Qatar and Kuwait while an Iranian missile struck Bahrain’s largest petroleum refinery, capable of producing 267,000 barrels of oil per day, sending a huge fireball into the sky.
Meanwhile, Azerbaijan became the latest country dragged into the escalating conflict as Iranian-made drones struck the country near the border with Iran and injured four civilians.
Israel continued to trade blows with Hezbollah, targeting the Iranian-backed terror group’s stronghold of Dahieh (pictured) in the southen suburbs of Beirut
Explosions rocked an oil facility in Bahrain as Iranian missile struck the country’s largest petroleum refinery
Mr Trump said he would personally select a new leader of Iran and Mojtaba Khamenei was ‘unlikely’
One hit the terminal building of an airport in Nakhchivan, sparking a fire, and the other came down beside a nearby school.
Azerbaijan president Ilham Aliyev accused Iran of ‘terrorism’ and threatened retaliation as he demanded an apology and explanation. However, Tehran denied the allegation and blamed Israel, Azerbaijan’s ally, of trying to stage a provocation.
The Iranians claimed a US oil tanker was on fire after being hit in the Strait of Hormuz, though images of the unconfirmed attack are yet to emerge.
Iranian military is targeting American sites and energy infrastructure in the region in retaliation for the US-Israeli air offensive which killed its Supreme Leader and several senior officials.
The American embassy in Riyadh issued a security threat after Saudi Arabia’s defence ministry said three Iranian cruise missiles were intercepted and destroyed outside nearby Al-Kharj.
But Iran denied attacking the US embassy in Saudi Arabia after it was struck with drones on Tuesday night.
‘We confirmed that Iran has no role in the attack on the US embassy in Riyadh,’ Iran’s ambassador to Saudi Arabia Alireza Enayati said.
Israel announced multiple incoming missile attacks and air sirens sounded in Tel Aviv and Jerusalem on Thursday.
It also continued to trade blows with Hezbollah, targeting the Iranian-backed terror group’s stronghold of Dahieh in the southen suburbs of Beirut.
The Israeli military also said it launched a ‘large-scale wave of strikes against infrastructure’ in Iran’s capital, without elaborating.
The Israeli Air Force said it has dropped more than 5,000 munitions on Iran since the conflict started on Saturday. Pictures coming out of Tehran show the destruction levelled on the country with extensive damage to key buildings in the capital and the sports stadium severely damaged.
In one of the few clerical statements so far from Iran, Ayatollah Abdollah Javadi Amoli used state television to call for ‘the shedding of Zionist blood, the shedding of Trump’s blood’.
The latest exchanges came after a US submarine sank an Iranian warship, the Iris Dena, off the coast of Sri Lanka on Tuesday night, killing at least 87 Iranian sailors with a further 70 missing and presumed drowned.
Mr Hegseth said the ship had been hit by a torpedo and had died a ‘quiet death’. It is the first time a US submarine has sunk an enemy warship by torpedo since the Second World War.
Iranian foreign minister Abbas Araghchi decried it as ‘an atrocity at sea, 2,000 miles away from Iran’s shores’, and warned the US would ‘bitterly regret’ it.
Sri Lankan officials said they had evacuated more than 200 crew members from a second Iranian naval vessel.
President Anura Kumara Dissanayake said his navy would take custody of the second ship and move it to the northeastern port of Trincomalee for safekeeping, amid fears it could be targeted.
He added that his government had held discussions with Iranian officials and the captain of the ship.
It also emerged that Iranian bombers were just ‘minutes away’ from striking the largest military base housing US troops in the Middle East before Qatari planes shot them down.
The IRGC flew two Soviet-era Su-24 tactical bombers towards al-Udeid Air Base, which houses around 10,000 US military personnel, on Monday morning.
But a Qatari F-15 fighter jet managed to down them after engaging in ‘aerial combat’, a source told CNN.
