US President Donald Trump affirmed on Friday that there would be no deal with Iran and that the US would only accept the Islamic regime’s “unconditional surrender.”
In his remarks, which were posted to his Truth Social account, Trump went on to assert that following Iran’s surrender, the US and its allies would “work tirelessly to bring Iran back from the brink of destruction, making it economically bigger, better, and stronger than ever before.”
The American president added that Iran would have a “great future" following intervention from the US and its allies.
Iran announces possible mediation efforts
Trump made the remarks on social media just hours after Iran's President Masoud Pezeshkian announced that unspecified countries had begun mediation efforts, one of the first signals of any diplomatic initiative to end the conflict.
“Let’s be clear: we are committed to lasting peace in the region, yet we have no hesitation in defending our nation’s dignity & sovereignty,” he said in a post on X/Twitter. “Mediation should address those who underestimated the Iranian people and ignited this conflict."
Trump said on Thursday that Iranian leaders had been asking for an agreement to end the war. “They’re calling, they’re saying, ‘How do we make a deal? You're a little bit late," he said. “We want to fight now more than they do.”
The US president also told Reuters in a telephone interview that he was demanding the right to help select Iran's new supreme leader, to replace Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who was killed on the first day of the war.
The US president's demand for Iran's surrender, as well as the likelihood that this would complicate any quick path to ending a conflict that has interrupted global energy supplies, caused immediate shock in financial markets. European share markets, open at the time of Trump's post, suffered a sudden swoon. Wall Street opened sharply lower soon after.
Reuters contributed to this report.