BEIRUT/WASHINGTON/JERUSALEM, March 6 (Reuters) – U.S. President Donald Trump demanded Iran’s “unconditional surrender” on Friday, a dramatic escalation of his demands a week into the war he launched alongside Israel, which could make it more difficult to negotiate a swift end to hostilities.
Trump made the remarks on social media just hours after Iran’s president announced that unspecified countries had begun mediation efforts, one of the first signals of any diplomatic initiative to end the conflict, as Israel launched fresh attacks on Iran and Lebanon and Iran sent missiles into Israel and Gulf states that host U.S. military bases.
“There will be no deal with Iran except UNCONDITIONAL SURRENDER!” Trump wrote. “After that, and the selection of a GREAT & ACCEPTABLE Leader(s), we, and many of our wonderful and very brave allies and partners, will work tirelessly to bring Iran back from the brink of destruction, making it economically bigger, better, and stronger than ever before.”
The surrender demand, and the likelihood that this would complicate any quick path to ending a conflict that has interrupted global energy supplies, caused immediate shock in financial markets. European share markets, open at the time of Trump’s post, suffered a sudden swoon. Wall Street opened sharply lower soon after.
On Thursday Trump had told Reuters in a telephone interview that he was demanding the right to help select Iran’s new supreme leader, to replace Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, killed in the war’s first day.
A White House spokeswoman said consideration was already underway.
“I know there’s a number of people that our intelligence agencies and the United States government are looking at, but I won’t get any further on that,” Karoline Leavitt told reporters on Friday at the White House.
ISRAEL POUNDS BEIRUT AFTER MASS EVACUATION ORDER
On the ground, Israel pursued a major expansion of the war in Lebanon, pounding the capital Beirut on Friday after ordering an unprecedented evacuation of the entire southern suburbs of the city.
It said it had carried out a strike in Beirut targeting a command centre used by the Iranian Revolutionary Guard’s navy unit, along with strikes on command centres that it said were used by the Hezbollah militant group.
There was no immediate comment from Iran’s Revolutionary Guard, or Hezbollah.
It also launched a new wave of attacks on Iran, saying 50 of its warplanes had struck a bunker still being used by Iran’s leadership beneath Khamenei’s destroyed Tehran compound.
Iran’s President Masoud Pezeshkian posted on social media: “Some countries have begun mediation efforts.” He did not identify the countries or provide further details.
“Let’s be clear: we are committed to lasting peace in the region, but we have not the slightest hesitation in defending the dignity and authority of our country,” he wrote.
Israel has extended its bombing to Lebanon to root out Hezbollah, the Shi’ite militia allied to Iran that has been a dominant faction in Lebanese politics since the 1980s. Hezbollah fired on Israel this week to avenge the death of Khamenei.
“We’re sleeping here in the streets – some in cars, some on the street, some on the beach,” said Jamal Seifeddin, 43, who fled Beirut’s southern suburbs and spent the night on the streets in the capital’s downtown district. “No one even brought a blanket.”
Israel has intervened in Lebanon repeatedly over decades, most recently in 2024. But the ferocity of Friday’s strikes had little precedent.
About 300,000 people have been displaced in Lebanon in the past four days, according to the Norwegian Refugee Council.
Inside Israel, explosions could be heard as Israeli defences activated to shoot down incoming Iranian fire. The UAE, Kuwait, Qatar, Bahrain and Saudi Arabia all reported fresh drone and missile attacks.
The Israeli military says it has destroyed 80% of Iran’s air-defence systems in the first week of the campaign and disabled more than 60% of its missile launchers.
Russia is providing Iran with locations of U.S. warships and aircraft in the Middle East after Iran’s ability to locate U.S. forces was degraded, the Washington Post reported, citing three officials familiar with the intelligence.
Russian missions in the U.S. did not immediately respond to requests for comment on the report.
Meanwhile, Trump and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth expect to meet with major defense contractors on Friday, the White House spokeswoman said. Sources earlier said the Trump administration was set to discuss accelerating weapons production as Iran and other recent operations drew down supplies.
Leavitt said the U.S. has enough weapons stockpiles to meet the needs of its Iran operations, which she said would take about four to six weeks to complete.
‘WE’RE GOING TO HAVE TO CHOOSE THAT PERSON’, TRUMP SAYS
In insisting on the right to help choose Iran’s next leader – meant to be a senior Shi’ite Muslim cleric selected by a panel of religious experts – Trump made his most explicit demand for control over a country of more than 90 million people.
Israel has said openly that it aims to overthrow Iran’s ruling system. It has been bombing parts of western Iran to support Iranian Kurdish militias who hope to exploit the war to seize towns near the frontier, according to three sources familiar with Israel’s talks with the factions.
There was no immediate Iranian response to Trump’s remarks. Iran has cast the war as an unprovoked attack and describes the killing of its leader, Khamenei, as an assassination.
It says the panel that will choose the new leader is conducting its work.
At least 1,230 people have been killed in Iran since the U.S. and Israel launched strikes on February 28, according to the Iranian Red Crescent Society. The Lebanese health ministry has reported 123 people killed and 683 wounded as a result of Israeli attacks. Iranian attacks have killed 11 people in Israel since the war started.
Two U.S. officials told Reuters that military investigators believed it was likely that U.S. forces were responsible for an apparent strike on an Iranian girls’ school that killed scores of children on the first day of the war. The investigators have not yet reached a final conclusion.
(Reporting by Maya Gebeily in Beirut, Steve Holland in Washington, Pesha Magid in Jerusalem and Reuters bureaux; Writing by Peter Graff, Charlie Devereux and Jonathan Allen; Editing by Alex Richardson, Aidan Lewis, Sharon Singleton and Diane Craft)
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