The president of Iran has rejected Donald Trump’s call for the country’s unconditional surrender as a “dream”, while issuing a rare apology for Iranian attacks that hit neighbouring states, even as missiles and drones continued to strike Gulf countries.
In a prerecorded address broadcast on state television on Saturday, Iran’s president, Masoud Pezeshkian, said the country would never capitulate, responding to remarks by the US president, who said on Friday that only Iran’s total submission could bring the war to an end.
Iran’s enemies, Pezeshkian said, “must take their dream of the Iranian people’s unconditional surrender to their graves”, in remarks that further escalate the eighth day of conflict, which has choked global oil supplies and cut world air travel.
During his speech, Pezeshkian also issued an apology to neighbouring states for Iran’s recent “actions”, in an apparent attempt to ease regional anger after Iranian strikes hit civilian targets in Gulf Arab countries.
Tehran has responded to attacks on its territory by targeting Israel, but also Gulf Arab states that host US military installations, while Israel has also launched intense strikes on Lebanon, where the Iran-backed armed group Hezbollah is based.
Over the past week, Bahrain, Kuwait, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates have all reported drone and missile attacks.
Pezeshkian said Iran’s temporary leadership council had approved suspending attacks on nearby countries unless an assault on Iran originated from those states.
“I personally apologise to neighbouring countries that were affected by Iran’s actions,” he said.
It remains unclear whether Pezeshkian’s remarks signal a broader decision by Tehran to scale back its campaign, or what prompted the apparent shift, with reports suggesting some strikes were still being directed at Gulf states on Saturday morning.
On Saturday, video published on social media and obtained by the BBC shows an apparent drone strike on the property of Dubai international airport.
The UAE said it intercepted 15 ballistic missiles and 119 drones on Saturday.
Pezeshkian’s remarks were swiftly followed by a warning from Trump, who said Tehran faced the prospect of “complete destruction” if it did not capitulate, adding that Iran’s apology to neighbouring states was the result of mounting US military pressure.
On his Truth Social platform, Trump replied that if Iran did not surrender, “it will be hit very hard!” adding that the country was “under serious consideration for complete destruction and certain death”.
Trump also said that Iran had apologised and surrendered to its Middle East neighbours, “because of the relentless U.S. and Israeli attack”.
Israeli and US officials said strikes had destroyed about 60% of Iran’s missile launchers and large stockpiles, while roughly 80% of its air defence systems had been neutralised, allowing Israel to claim aerial superiority over Iran.
Western officials were trying to decipher President Pezeshkian’s apology and the authority behind it, but urged caution in reading it as a sign Tehran was seeking an off-ramp.
“We do not know what is driving the Iranian president’s remarks,” one official said. “It is one data point, no more.”
Officials say Iran’s capabilities appear degraded and recent attacks have declined, citing US Centcom briefings. Tehran’s regional offer seems conditional, but it remains unclear whether attacks hinge on the use of US bases – or their mere presence.
Later, Mehdi Tabatabaei, deputy for communications in Pezeshkian’s office, said the president’s message was “clear”.
“If countries in the region do not cooperate in a US attack on Iran, we will not attack them,” he said, adding that Iran would not submit to coercion and that its armed forces would respond decisively to any aggression launched from US bases in the region.
Pezeshkian later wrote on X that Iran had not attacked neighbours but targeted US bases in the region, adding that Tehran’s commitment to regional ties did not negate its right to self-defence.
Pezeshkian’s speech came as Israel said it had launched a fresh wave of strikes on Iran, sending 80 fighter jets in a pre-dawn blitz that set one of Tehran’s main airports on fire.
Israeli officials said the targets included a military academy, an underground command centre and a missile storage facility.
Photos showed flames and thick plumes of smoke rising from Mehrabad international airport, one of the two airports serving the Iranian capital, Tehran.
Iran also retaliated on Saturday. Air raid sirens sounded over Jerusalem, while explosions were reported in Gulf cities including Dubai and Manama. Saudi Arabia said it intercepted a ballistic missile aimed at an airbase hosting US personnel near its capital, Riyadh.
Iran’s Revolutionary Guards (IRGC) said they struck a Marshall Islands-flagged tanker in the strait of Hormuz, the strategic shipping chokepoint that Tehran has effectively closed.
Now entering its second week, the war was triggered by joint airstrikes by Israel and the US that killed Iran’s supreme leader, Ali Khamenei.
Hardline clerics have called for the swift selection of a new supreme leader withing 24 hours to help guide Iran. Mojtaba Khamenei, the late supreme leader’s son, wields significant influence and ties to the IRGC, but dynastic succession is frowned upon in revolutionary Iran.
The conflict has rapidly widened, spilling into Lebanon and reaching as far as the eastern Mediterranean and the Indian Ocean.
Iran’s health ministry said at least 926 civilians had been killed and about 6,000 injured. Israel has also intensified airstrikes in Lebanon, repeatedly targeting the southern suburbs of Beirut.
Lebanon’s health ministry said at least 339 people had been killed. The Norwegian Refugee Council said about 300,000 people had fled their homes.
Meanwhile, as Israel fights war on multiple fronts, violence continues to surge in the occupied West Bank, where a 27-year-old Palestinian was shot dead near Masafer Yatta after settlers reportedly opened fire.