Trump calls for 'unconditional surrender' if Iran deal is to be made

by · UPI

March 6 (UPI) -- President Donald Trump said Friday he will not agree to end deadly military strikes on Iran without an unconditional surrender as Israel launches new attacks.

Trump reiterated his stance that he wants to be involved in installing Iran's new leadership.

"There will be no deal with Iran except unconditional surrender!" Trump wrote on social media. "After that, and the selection of a great [and] 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 before."

The president said in another post that the United States is moving thousands of people out of multiple countries in the Middle East.

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Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian, also posting on social media, said "Some countries have begun mediation efforts," to end the war.

"Let's be clear: we are committed to lasting peace in the region yet we have no hesitation in defending our nation's dignity and sovereignty. Mediation should address those who underestimated the Iranian people and ignited this conflict."

More details are slowly coming to light about the extent of the strikes by the United States and Israel, including a strike by the United States that targeted and hit an area where there was an elementary school. At least 168 people, many of them children, were killed at the Shajareh Tayyebeh girls' school on Saturday.

U.S. Central Command said the strike is being investigated.

Strikes by the United States and Israel have killed nearly 800 people so far.

Israel's attacks continue to pick up in Lebanon, where it has targeted the capital city of Beirut. The Lebanese Ministry of Public Health said 217 people have been killed in the bombings by Israel.

Israel has also launched new strikes on the Iranian capital of Tehran.

On Friday, the Israel Defense Force said it hit an underground bunker in central Tehran that was used by Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. The supreme leader was killed in Saturday's bombings.

This week in Washington

Sen. Markwayne Mullin, R-Okla., speaks to the press outside the U.S. Capitol on Thursday. Earlier today, President Donald Trump announced Mullin would replace Kristi Noem as Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security. Photo by Bonnie Cash/UPI | License Photo