Israeli Strikes Pound Tehran After Trump Demands Iran’s ‘Unconditional Surrender’

Israeli Strikes Pound Tehran After Trump Demands: Intense Israeli airstrikes targeted Iran's capital early Wednesday after it issued a warning about a new area it could target, a day after US President Donald Trump demanded “unconditional surrender.”

Uncertainty roiled the region, and residents of Tehran fled their homes in droves on the sixth day of Israel's air campaign aimed at Iran's military and nuclear programme.

As the US sent warplanes to the Middle East, Trump warned Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei that the US knows where he is hiding and called for Iran's “UNCONDITIONAL SURRENDER” in a post online, without elaborating.

The strikes came just hours after US President Donald Trump warned Tehran’s residents to evacuate and demanded Iran’s “unconditional surrender.”

The early-morning bombardment sent shockwaves across Tehran as explosions lit up the predawn sky and shook buildings. While Iranian officials made no formal acknowledgment of the attacks, continuing a pattern of silence amid escalating strikes, residents reported a deafening blast around 5 am, with earlier detonations in the darkness.

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At least 224 Iranians have been killed in the Israeli campaign so far, while Iran’s retaliatory missile and drone attacks have left 24 Israelis dead. Over 400 missiles and hundreds of drones have been launched by Iran since Friday, with Israel’s air defence intercepting the majority.

Trump posted that there were no plans to kill Khamenei “at least not for now.”

The UN nuclear watchdog also said for the first time that Israeli strikes on Iran's main uranium-enrichment facility at Natanz had damaged its main underground centrifuge facility, not just an above-ground facility.

Authorities in Iran offered no acknowledgement of the attacks, which have become increasingly common as the Israeli airstrike campaign has intensified since they began on Friday.

At least one strike appeared to target Tehran’s eastern neighborhood of Hakimiyeh, where the paramilitary Revolutionary Guard has an academy.

The Israelis earlier warned they could strike a neighborhood south of Mehrabad International Airport, which includes residential neighborhoods, military installations, pharmaceutical companies, and industrial firms.

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Israel also claimed that it had killed Iran’s Gen. Ali Shadmani, whom Israel described as the country’s most senior remaining military commander, in Tehran.

The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) confirmed Wednesday that Israeli airstrikes had damaged the underground centrifuge halls at the Natanz uranium enrichment site - an escalation from initial reports indicating only above-ground destruction.

“Satellite imagery reveals direct impacts on the underground enrichment halls,” the IAEA reported, calling it the first confirmed hit on the deeply buried facility, where Iran is believed to house 10,000 centrifuges enriching uranium up to 60%.

Iran maintains its nuclear program is peaceful, but Western intelligence agencies and the IAEA warn that Tehran now possesses enough enriched uranium to produce multiple nuclear weapons if it decides to do so.

Israel claimed that in the strikes, it had killed General Ali Shadmani, Iran’s newly appointed top military commander. Shadmani, little known until last week, had just taken over the role of commander at the Khatam al-Anbiya Central Headquarters following the death of his predecessor in another Israeli strike.

The Israeli military also warned of future strikes near Mehrabad International Airport, targeting both military and industrial zones within residential neighborhoods, raising concerns about civilian casualties.

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