Trump demands “unconditional surrender”

Donald Trump is weighing up the prospect of launching US strikes on Iran as he demands the ‘unconditional surrender’ of the regime and threatens Ali Khamenei.

Donald Trump speaks to reporters aboard Air Force One while travelling back to Washington. Picture: AFP.

Donald Trump is demanding the “unconditional surrender” of Tehran as White House officials briefed media outlets that American strikes inside Iran were on the table and under consideration.

The US President, who has been meeting with his national security team in the Situation Room in the White House, posted on his Truth Social platform that “we now have complete and total control of the skies over Iran.”

He also said that “we know exactly where the so-called ‘Supreme Leader’ is hiding.” But he made clear that no decision had been made to take him out “for now.”

Nevertheless, Mr Trump warned that American patience with the Iranian regime and Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei was “wearing thin.”

Mr Trump said he was seeking a “real end” to the conflict between Israel and Iran which has now extended into a fifth day. The US President has firmly dismissed suggestions of a ceasefire and is calling on Tehran to de-escalate hostilities by “giving up entirely.”

He posted on his Truth Social platform on Tuesday morning local time “UNCONDITIONAL SURRENDER!”

Returning to Washington on Air Force One after leaving the G-7 in Canada, Mr Trump told journalists that he wanted “an end, a real end” to the conflict, and said that “we’ll come down so hard if they do anything to our people.”

While the White House has denied reports that America would join Israeli strikes on Iran, the US President posted on Truth Social on Tuesday morning that “we now have complete and total control of the skies over Iran.”

“Iran had good sky trackers and other defensive equipment, and plenty of it, but it doesn’t compare to American made, conceived, and manufactured “stuff”. Nobody does it better than the good ol’ USA,” Mr Trump said.

In another post, the US President declared that “we know exactly where the so-called “Supreme Leader” is hiding. He is an easy target, but is safe there.”

“We are not going to take him out (kill!), at least not for now. But we don’t want missiles shot at civilians, or American soldiers. Our patience is wearing thin. Thank you for your attention to this matter!”

Opinions are divided on what approach Mr Trump should take. But US Vice President JD Vance said that Mr Trump “may decide he needs to take further action to end Iranian enrichment. That decision ultimately belongs to the president.”

“And of course, people are right to be worried about foreign entanglement after the last 25 years of idiotic foreign policy,” Mr Vance said. “But I believe the president has earned some trust on this issue.”

“And having seen this up close and personal, I can assure you that he is only interested in using the American military to accomplish the American people’s goals. Whatever he does, that is his focus.”

Some are calling for Mr Trump to capitalise on this moment of Iranian vulnerability and deploy the US Air Force’s 30,000 pound “bunker buster” bombs to target the uranium enrichment facilities buried deep underground at Fordow.

The centrifuges housed in the Fordow facility are too deep for the Israelis to reach on their own, but calls are growing for the US to send in its B-2 bombers which are believed to have a better chance of inflicting major damage.

In Israel, the IDF has been briefing the media that it is on track to achieve its objectives within a week or two. It has also targeted two other Iranian nuclear enrichment facilities at Natanz and Isfahan, causing major damage to both while it has also killed a range of Iran’s top military leaders and nuclear scientists.

Democratic Congressman John Fetterman on Tuesday urged the administration take out Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and to use the bunker buster bombs in strikes against the Fordow facility.

“Take this facility out,” he told Fox News. “Use the B-2 and those gigantic bunker buster ones and partner up with Israel.”

Republican Senator for South Carolina Lindsey Graham said on Monday evening on Fox News that Mr Trump should be “all in on helping Israel eliminate the nuclear threat.”

“If we need to provide bombs to Israel, provide bombs. If we need to fly planes with Israel, do joint operations,” he said. “But here is the bigger question: wouldn’t the world be better off if the Ayatollahs went away and were replaced with something better?”

On Tuesday, Senator Graham argued there could be peace in the Middle East if the Iranian regime fell.

“I think what will happen is the Iranian people will know freedom for the first time since 1979,” he said. “Taking the Ayatollah’s regime down is a good thing, not a bad thing. And I’m willing to risk what happens next.”

But opinions with the GOP are divided. Posting on social media on Monday, Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene declared that: “anyone slobbering for the US to become fully involved in the Israel/Iran war is not America First/MAGA.”

“Wishing for murder of innocent people is disgusting. We are sick and tired of foreign wars. All of them. And this one will quickly engulf the Middle East, BRICS, and NATO as countries are required to take a side,” she said.

“Real America First/MAGA wants world peace for all people and doesn’t want our military killed and forever injured physically and mentally … I don’t want to see Israel bombed or Iran bombed or Gaza bombed.”

She said that “taking this position is NOT antisemitic” but was “rational, sane, and loving toward all people.”

The USS Nimitz strike group is already leaving the South China Sea to head to the Middle East to join the USS Carl Vinson strike group amid the unfolding conflict, with US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth saying the deployments were intended to “enhance our defence posture in the region.”

Mr Trump has repeatedly said that Iran “cannot have a nuclear power,” and earlier posted a message on Truth Social he received from the US Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee. It said the US President had been spared by God from assassination in Butler, Pennsylvania, last year “to be the most consequential President in a century – maybe ever.”

“The decisions on your shoulders I would not want to be made by anyone else. You have many voices speaking to you Sir, but there is only ONE voice that matters. HIS voice,” the message said. “I trust your instincts. No president in my lifetime has been in a position like yours. Not since Truman in 1945.”

Mr Trump has warned Iran that, if it attacked the US, “the full strength and might of the US armed forces will come down on you at levels never seen before”.