Iran war: Trump demands 'surrender' as Israel strikes Tehran

US President Donald Trump on Friday took to social media to announce that he had met with US defense contractors and that they "agreed to quadruple production of the 'Exquisite Class' weaponry" — meaning precision guided missiles — "as rapidly as possible."

Claiming the US has a "virtually unlimited supply" of "medium and upper-medium-grade munitions," Trump said he had "increased orders at these levels."

Trump said Lockheed Martin, Raytheon parent company RTX, BAE Systems, Boeing, Honeywell Aerospace, L3Harris and Northrop Grumman were among the defense contractors in attendance. 

The Trump administration has been putting pressure on defense contractors to prioritize production over shareholder payouts, with Trump signing an executive order in January aimed at identifying contractors thought to be underperforming on contracts while at the same time distributing profits to ‌shareholders.

Trump himself has repeatedly criticized US arms going to Ukraine, saying the US military needs its stockpiles. At the same time, he has shown great interest in selling as many US arms as possible to NATO allies — at full price as he often emphasizes.

The Pentagon is currently reported to be in negotiations with Lockheed Martin, which said in January that it had reached ⁠a seven-year agreement ​with the Department of Defense to increase annual production capacity for its PAC-3 missile interceptors from 600 ​to 2,000 units. 

Additionally, the company announced it expects to quadruple production of its Terminal High Altitude Area Defense, or THAAD, ​missile interceptors from 96 to 400 per year.

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt on Friday clarified statements by President Donald Trump saying he would only accept "unconditional surrender" from Iran.

"What the president ‌means is that when he, as commander in chief of the US armed forces, determines that ​Iran no longer poses ⁠a threat to the United States of America, and the goals ⁠of Operation Epic Fury ​has [sic] been fully realized, then Iran will essentially be in a place of unconditional surrender, whether they say it themselves or not," Leavitt said.

Leavitt, who claimed US forces are "well on its way toward controlling Iranian airspace," said military operations are expected to end in ⁠four to six weeks, when US aims have been achieved.

The press secretary's timeline counters reporting by US news outlet Politico, which reported that US Central Command has requested additional intelligence officers be dispatched by the Pentagon for at least 100 days, or potentially into autumn, as operations against Iran move ahead. 

This also comes amid reports that Russia has provided intelligence to ally Iran, helping the Islamic Republic target US assets across the Middle East.

Asked about the claim, Leavitt said: "It clearly is not making a difference with respect to the military operations in Iran because we are completely decimating them. We are achieving the military objectives of this operation, and that is going to continue."

On Sunday, six US service members were killed in an Iranian drone attack on a US base in Kuwait.

US Central Command, or CENTCOM, claimed the US military hit over 3,000 targets in the first seven days of its war against Iran. 

CENTCOM also said it destroyed or damaged 43 Iranian ships in the first week of "Operation Epic Fury." 

CENTCOM said a wide array of jets, bombers, missile systems and destroyers have been used in the fighting so far. 

The military said it hit Iranian command and control centers, navy submarines and the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Joint Headquarters, among other targets. 

The US military has also come under heavy criticism for an attack, thought to have been launched by the US, that struck a girls' school and killed over 100 people, including scores of children.

Iranian Ambassador to the UN Amir Saeid ​Iravani ​said at ​least ‌1,332 Iranian civilians had been killed one week into the war started by the United States and Israel. Thousands ​more people have been injured, he added. 

He made ‌his comments while ​speaking ⁠to reporters at ⁠the United ​Nations in New York 

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A NATO intercept of an Iranian missile headed for Turkish airspace brought the Iran conflict to Ankara's doorstep — pressuring Turkey's careful balance between its US alliance and ties with Tehran.

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) has said its air force struck more than 400 targets across Iran on Friday.

The targets included ballistic missile launchers and Iranian drone storage facilities, the IDF said in a statement.

The IDF also provided updates on its campaign against Hezbollah in Lebanon. It said air strikes had hit an Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) command center used by Hezbollah.

The IRGC is a paramilitary armed force tasked with defending Iran's clerical regime.

In addition to the IRGC command center, the Israeli Air Force struck three command centers used by Hezbollah's navy unit, its financial unit and its operating council, the IDF said.

Following Friday's strikes, Israel has now hit over 500 targets in Lebanon since the start of the war against Iran, the IDF said.

Israel issued large‑scale evacuation orders for southern Lebanon and Beirut's southern suburbs, a stronghold of Iran‑backed Hezbollah.

The move triggered panic and chaos across the Lebanese capital. 

The United States has accused Iran of targeting civilian residential areas in Bahrain.

In a statement published on X, the head of the US Central Command (CENTCOM), Admiral Brad Cooper, vowed to respond to Tehran's targeting of civilians across the Middle East.

Cooper said Iran had "attacked 12 different countries and continues to deliberately target civilians throughout the Middle East."

On Thursday night, "Iranian forces fired seven attack drones at civilian, residential neighborhoods in Bahrain," Cooper said.

"This is unacceptable and will not go unanswered," the US admiral added.

Later on Friday, an Iranian military spokesman told state media that Tehran had launched an attack on US forces in Bahrain.

Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) has said its forces targeted an American base in the United Arab Emirates, which the IRGC claims was used as a launchpad to strike a primary school in southern Iran.

Iran says at least 175 people, including many schoolchildren, were killed when a girls' elementary school in Minab was hit in an air strike on Saturday.

"Al-Dhafra air base, belonging to American terrorists in the region, was targeted using drones and precision missiles," the IRGC said in a statement on Iranian state television. 

It was initially unclear if the base was actually hit by strikes. 

Foreign media have been unable to verify Tehran's claims about the strike on the girls' school, which was reportedly close to sites that are controlled by the IRGC.

Israel has said it was "not aware" of the reported strike. The White House has pushed back against allegations that the US is responsible, while the Pentagon has said that it is investigating the matter.

According to reports in the US, however, American military investigators believe that US forces were likely behind the strike.

If a US role were to be confirmed, the strike would rank among the worst cases of civilian casualties in decades of US conflicts in the Middle East.

UN rights chief Volker Turk on Friday condemned "this absolutely tragic incident," and said he hoped investigations would be "prompt, and that they will be done in full transparency."

"We also expect accountability to be served, because obviously mistakes were clearly made," he told reporters in Geneva.

US President Donald Trump is encouraging Iranian Kurds to fight against the regime in Tehran. A Kurdish offensive, however, could create new challenges in Iran and in the wider region.

Read more about how the US is reportedly looking to bring in Kurdish rebels to join the campaign against the clerical regime in Tehran in our report.

Iranian drones struck near an airport in northern Iraq on Friday, according to Kurdish sources.

The drones targeted a camp belonging to an Iranian Kurdish opposition group, the Kurdistan Democratic Party of Iran (PDKI), on the outskirts of Erbil.

"Our bases are under attack from the Iranian enemy," the PDKI official told the AFP news agency.

It was not immediately clear how many casualties there were.

Several Iranian Kurdish opposition groups operate out of camps and bases in northern Iraq.

Tehran has been targeting Kurdish groups in Iraq since the start of the conflict, which was sparked by the joint US-Israeli attack last Saturday.

US President Donald Trump has reportedly been urging Iranian Kurds to join the fight against the regime in Tehran.

Meanwhile, in southern Iraq's Basra province, drones hit an airport and oil facilities.

One drone crashed into a cargo terminal at Basra airport, while two others hit a US oil company at the Burjesia complex. A fourth drone hit an oil field at Rumaila, where major oil company BP operates, officials told AFP.

Israel has been launching deadly airstrikes on Beirut and parts of southern Lebanon since the start of the joint US-Israeli attacks against Iran on Saturday.

Israel says it has been targeting Hezbollah sites and strongholds in Lebanon.

Here is what you need to know about Hezbollah and its ties to Tehran:

• Hezbollah (Arabic for "Party of God") emerged in 1982 during the Lebanese Civil War (1975-1990) and the Israeli invasion of southern Lebanon
• It is a political and militant group that is inspired by the Shiite Islamist ideology that underpinned the 1979 Islamic Revolution in Iran
• Since its foundation, it has been supported, trained and equipped by Iran's powerful Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC)

• It functions as a proxy of Iran, its largest benefactor

• The US government estimated in late 2023 that Iran funds Hezbollah to the tune of around $700 million (€661 million) annually.