Iran has issued a serious message after its former supreme leader was killed in a missile attack carried out by the US.
Donald Trump, who has called the war on Iran ‘very complete’, has claimed recently that the nation now has ‘nothing left’.
Speaking with CBS News, President Trump claimed: "I think the war is very complete, pretty much.
“They have no navy, no communications, they've got no air force. Their missiles are down to a scatter. Their drones are being blown up all over the place, including their manufacturing of drones. If you look, they have nothing left. There's nothing left in a military sense."
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The US and Israel began the war on the nation after bombarding Iran with missiles on 28 February, which led to retaliatory attacks from the country to others in the Middle East.
During the conflict, Trump told Iran they must 'surrender or die', while the regime then apologised to certain countries for the attacks on surrounding countries.
In the initial bombings, the supreme leader of Iran, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, was killed in Tehran – leading to national mourning.
However, now, his son has been elected as the next ruler, and Iran has sent a message to the world to reveal its thoughts on surrendering to the US and Israel's demands on scrapping its nuclear programme.
They did this via a personalised missile.
The Islamic Republic went on to send its drones and missiles in fresh attacks just yesterday (9 March), which seemingly reaffirmed its allegiance to its leader – Mojtaba Khamenei.
Iranian state TV revealed the missile was inscribed with the words: “At your service, Sayyid Mojtaba.”
Trump previously warned that any supreme leader elected in Iran who doesn't have the approval of the US would not 'last long'.
The Israel Defense Force vowed in a tweet that it would target anyone who attended Iran's Assembly of Experts to select a new leader.
Trump has been on a warpath on Truth Social ever since the war began, with him recently claiming that Iran is the ‘loser of the Middle East’.
He wrote: “Iran, which is being beat to HELL, has apologized and surrendered to its Middle East neighbors, and promised that it will not shoot at them anymore. This promise was only made because of the relentless U.S. and Israeli attack.
“They were looking to take over and rule the Middle East. It is the first time that Iran has ever lost, in thousands of years, to surrounding Middle Eastern Countries.
"They have said, ‘Thank you President Trump.’ I have said, ‘You’re welcome!’ Iran is no longer the ‘Bully of the Middle East,’ they are, instead, ‘THE LOSER OF THE MIDDLE EAST,’ and will be for many decades until they surrender or, more likely, completely collapse!”
He said on 7 March: “Today Iran will be hit very hard! Under serious consideration for complete destruction and certain death, because of Iran’s bad behavior, are areas and groups of people that were not considered for targeting up until this moment in time. Thank you for your attention to this matter! President DONALD J. TRUMP.”
Why the sinking of Iran’s Iris Dena warship by a US submarine is so controversial
On 4 March, Iranian warship the Iris Dena was torpedoed by a US submarine in international waters.
According to Iran, 104 crew members were killed, while 32 were injured.
Iran's Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi called the sinking ‘an atrocity at sea, 2,000 miles away from Iran's shores’.
Iran's Deputy Foreign Minister Saeed Khatibzadeh claimed: “That vessel was by invitation of our Indian friends, attending an international exercise. It was ceremonial. It was unloaded. It was unarmed.”
The U.S. Indo-Pacific Command branded the claim that the Iris Dena was unarmed ‘false’ on X.
Regardless, it marks a troubling widening of the conflict geographically, with the ship sunk off Sri Lanka.
The Iris Dena was one of three ships taking part in a naval exercise hosted by India, who had offered sanctuary to the Iris Dena and given it permission to dock on its shores days before it was attacked.
According to non-partisan law and policy journal Just Security, ships belonging to the armed forces of an enemy state ‘need not be armed, have weapons, or be engaged in military operations’ to become targets in a war.
Topics: Iran, US News, Donald Trump, Politics, Israel
Britt Jones