Iran war: Revolutionary Guards spokesman killed in strike

The Iran war is accelerating fast — but the real question is how it ends. We ask a top military strategist to map out the endgame scenarios.

President Donald Trump has drawn criticism after comparing US strikes on Iran to Japan's 1941 attack on Pearl Harbor during a meeting with Japan's prime minister.

Trump made the comments in the Oval Office while meeting Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi, saying the US had wanted to "surprise" Iran.

"You believe in surprise, I think ​much more so than us," the US president said.

Takaichi appeared visibly uncomfortable during the exchange, shifting in her seat as Trump invoked the attack that brought the US into World War II.

Japan's 1941 attack on the U.S. naval base in Hawaii killed 2,390 Americans and prompted Washington to declare war the next day.

The US later defeated Japan in 1945 following atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki that killed hundreds of thousands of civilians.

In Tokyo, reactions to Trump's remarks have been mixed.

Engineer Yuta Nakamura told the Reuters news agency that Takaichi was put in "a very difficult situation" but handled it well by avoiding upsetting Trump, adding he personally saw the comment as a joke.

“Personally, I took ‌President Trump's remark as just a joke. But because of her position, if she laughed too much, she'd likely face criticism, ​so I imagine it was quite hard for her to react."

Retiree Tokio Washino said he was less relaxed about the comment.

"Given the historical context of Japan having done that, ​and with Donald bringing it up as an example, it makes me feel a bit uneasy as a Japanese citizen," Washino told Reuters.

Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) says their spokesman Ali Mohammad Naini was killed in US and Israeli strikes, marking another high-level casualty in the conflict.

Naini "was martyred in the criminal cowardly terrorist attack by the American-Zionist side at dawn," the Guards announced on their Sepah News website.

Iranian state media also reported that Naini, who had served as the IRGC's spokesperson since 2024, was killed during the strikes, though there has been no immediate confirmation from Israel or the US.

Nowruz, the start of the Persian New Year, begins at the start of spring in the northern hemisphere, when day and night are of equal length.

Iran's most important national holiday is a time when families come together in the hope of renewal and a fresh beginning.

Traditionally, on Nowruz, people decorate a table with seven symbolic items that begin with the letter "S" in Persian, such as coins, apples, garlic and grass.

When Nowruz starts on Friday afternoon, however, there will be fewer celebrations as the festival remains overshadowed by war and conflict.

As darkness falls again, Iran's cities will be plunged into gloom. Shops will close and the lights of the metropolises will be switched off while muffled explosions echo in the distance and fighter jets roar overhead.

The United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Kuwait both reported Iranian missile attacks early on Friday morning, with air defenses in action in both countries.

The Emirati interior ministry and the Kuwaiti military made the announcements in separate statements.

Elsewhere in the region, Saudi Arabia's defense ministry said it had intercepted a drone in the east of the country, while Bahrain's interior ministry said air raid sirens were activated.

Lebanese President Joseph Aoun on Thursday reiterated calls for "a full truce" between Hezbollah and Israel, to "disarm" the Iran-backed Islamist group and for "direct negotiations" with Israel.

Lebanon was pulled into the regional war on March 2 when Hezbollah fired rockets from Lebanese territory towards neighboring Israel in response to the killing of Iran's supreme leader in Israeli-US attacks.

Israel has responded with heavy airstrikes across Lebanon and ground incursions in the border area. More than 1,000 people have been killed — including two Israeli soldiers.

After meeting French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot on Thursday, Aoun stressed "the necessity of a ceasefire, and to provide the necessary guarantees for its success by the parties concerned."

He said a proposed framework for such a ceasefire was "still on the table."

According to the French ministry, Barrot's snap visit was a sign of "solidarity with the Lebanese people, who have been dragged into a war they did not choose."

After Lebanon, Paris said Barrot would on Friday visit Israel for the first time since France recognized the State of Palestine last year, angering the Israeli government.

Barrot is expected to "hold talks with the Israeli authorities to discuss the security situation, humanitarian issues, and prospects for de-escalation."

The Israeli military said early on Friday that it was continuing to strike unspecified "infrastructure" in the Iranian capital Tehran, as Iranians prepared to mark marked Nowruz, or the Persian New Year.

A statement said Israeli forces had "begun a wave of strikes targeting infrastructure of the Iranian terror regime across Tehran," without giving details.

Earlier, late on Thursday evening, Iran had fired several waves of missiles at Israel, with no injuries or serious damage reported.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told the Times of Israel newspaper that "Iran is weaker than ever" and unable to produce ballistic missiles or enrich uranium after three weeks of war.

Netanyahu said the attacks on Iran would continue "for as long as necessary."

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu pledged late on Thursday to refrain from more strikes on a key Iranian natural gas field at the request of US President Donald Trump.

Israeli attacks on the South Pars gas field in the Persian Gulf, the largest such field in the world, led to retaliatory Iranian strikes against liquified natural gas (LNG) facilities in Qatar.

Trump called on Israel to stop targeting South Pars and on Iran to stop targeting Qatar, threatening to "massively blow up the entirety" of the gas field himself if Tehran didn't comply.

After a top US intelligence official resigned claiming that Washington had been dragged into the war by Israel, President Trump claimed that the United States had not been informed about the Israeli intention to strike South Pars.

Netanyahu insisted in comments to foreign journalists: "I misled no one. And I didn't have to convince President Trump about the need to prevent Iran from developing its nuclear program."

Hello and welcome to DW's coverage of the ongoing war in the Middle East.

Israel and Iran continued to exchange missiles strikes overnight with the Israeli military claiming to have hit unspecified infrastructural targets across Tehran.

But Israel has said it will refrain from launching further strikes against the key South Pars natural gas field.