President Donald Trump cast the military campaign against Iran as a model for how the United States would deal with rogue states in the future, calling Iranian leaders “deranged scumbags” and promising dramatically intensified strikes in the coming days. The framing came as the human cost of the conflict became increasingly difficult to comprehend, with Iran reporting over 1,300 deaths, Lebanon counting over 600 killed and 800,000 displaced, and the United States having lost 13 service members. Trump declared that the only language rogue states understood was overwhelming military force.
The day’s military operations were consistent with that doctrine. US and Israeli forces have combined to strike more than 15,000 enemy targets since the war began. Israel alone confirmed over 200 individual strikes in the most recent 24 hours, targeting missile systems, weapons factories, and air defence networks. Trump’s late announcement described US Central Command executing one of the most powerful raids in Middle Eastern history, obliterating every military installation on Kharg Island, Iran’s primary oil export terminal. He warned that oil infrastructure would be struck immediately if Iran continued its Strait of Hormuz blockade.
Iran’s new supreme leader Mojtaba Khamenei, described by US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth as wounded, disfigured, and hiding underground, issued only a written statement of defiance on Thursday. Hegseth dismissed the communication as weak and said Iranian leaders were desperate, having gone underground to escape the strikes. Iranian state media showed other senior officials attending demonstrations in Tehran, chanting slogans against the United States and Israel amid the ongoing bombardment. Iran’s Revolutionary Guards simultaneously launched new coordinated strikes on Israel with Hezbollah.
The broader conflict continued to spread violence across the region. Eight more people died in Lebanon in an Israeli strike on Sidon, adding to a national toll of over 600 killed and 800,000 displaced. Hezbollah fired rockets at northern Israel, injuring about 60 people. Saudi Arabia intercepted close to 50 Iranian drones. Qatar ordered Doha evacuations before a missile interception. Two died in Oman. Dubai’s financial district sustained damage from intercepted debris. France lost a soldier to a militia drone in Iraq on the same day six American service members died in a tanker aircraft crash in the same country.
Tehran residents described a city of constant explosions, power cuts, fuel shortages, and trapped civilians. A retired professor pleaded with the world to intervene before the city was entirely destroyed. A shopkeeper counted six explosions in a single hour. European governments sought diplomatic channels with Tehran for Strait of Hormuz shipping safety. Trump’s warnings about striking Iranian oil infrastructure kept global energy markets in a state of deep anxiety. With no ceasefire talks underway and both sides escalating, the blueprint for dealing with rogue states was producing an enormous human and economic cost that the world was only beginning to fully reckon with.
