The Iran war entered its second week on Saturday with growing uncertainty about when hostilities will end, as US President Donald Trump demanded Tehran's "unconditional surrender" and Israel traded attacks with Iran and Lebanon.
Trump's comments came hours after Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian posted on social media that unidentified countries had begun mediation efforts, briefly raising hopes for a resolution a week after the US and Israel launched attacks on Iran.
"There will be no deal with Iran except UNCONDITIONAL SURRENDER!" Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform on Friday.
"After this, and the election 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 ever before.", he added.
Trump has offered shifting explanations for his war aims, raising the possibility of a protracted conflict that has already spread beyond Iran's borders, roiled global financial markets and sent oil prices soaring.
Iran has responded by striking Israel and several Gulf states that host US military installations.
US-Israeli attacks have killed at least 1,332 Iranian civilians and wounded thousands more, according to Iran's UN ambassador, Amir Saeid Iravani. Iranian attacks have killed 11 people in Israel and at least six US service members have been killed.
Early Saturday, rockets were seen flying toward Israel, as the Israeli military said it had identified missiles fired from Iran toward Israel. Explosions were heard as Israeli defenses were activated to shoot down the incoming Iranian fire.
Immediately after the barrage, the Israeli military said it had launched a wave of strikes targeting infrastructure in the capital Tehran. Israel also attacked neighboring Lebanon, where it said it was hitting Iranian and Hezbollah targets.
Tehran's Mehrabad airport was hit, the semi-official Tasnim news agency reported. There was no immediate comment from Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps or the Iranian-backed Hezbollah militants in Lebanon, it said. Reuters.
Landings have resumed at Dubai International Airport, according to aviation tracking website Flightradar24.
On Friday, Israel said 50 of its fighter jets had struck a bunker in Iran still used by its leadership, beneath the destroyed compound in Tehran of slain supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
Israel has expanded its war in Lebanon, striking Beirut on Friday after ordering an unprecedented evacuation of all of the capital's southern suburbs. Israel says its bombing of Lebanon is aimed at rooting out Hezbollah, the Shiite militia that has been a dominant faction in Lebanese politics since the 1980s.
Hezbollah fired on Israel this week to avenge the assassination of Khamenei on the first day of the war.
"We are sleeping here on the streets - some in cars, some on the road, some on the beach," said Jamal Seifeddin, 43, who fled Beirut's southern suburbs and spent the night on the streets of the city center.
About 300,000 people have been displaced in Lebanon in the past four days, according to the Norwegian Refugee Council. The Lebanese Ministry of Health has reported 123 people killed and 683 injured as a result of Israeli attacks.
European and US stocks fell on Friday as oil prices hit multi-year highs, with the Strait of Hormuz virtually closed. About a fifth of global oil moves through the strait every day.
Iran rejects Trump's call for a say in choosing new leader
Washington will provide reinsurance for losses of up to $20 billion in the Gulf region to bolster confidence for oil and gas shippers, the U.S. International Development Finance Corporation said.
Trump has said the US Navy could escort ships in the Persian Gulf. But Iran's Revolutionary Guards challenged him to do so, with spokesman Alimohammad Naini saying Iran "welcomes" and "expects" any US presence in the strait, state media said.
Russia is providing Iran with the locations of US warships and aircraft in the Middle East after Iran's ability to locate US forces deteriorated, the Washington Post reported, citing three officials familiar with the intelligence.
Russian missions in the US did not immediately respond to requests for comment on the report.
Trump also reiterated his demand to have a say in choosing Iran's new supreme leader, an idea rejected by Iravan.
The ambassador said the new leadership would be elected "in accordance with our constitutional procedures and solely by the will of the Iranian people - without any foreign interference."
Iran has described the conflict as an unprovoked attack and Khamenei's assassination as an assassination.
The Trump administration is pushing to increase weapons stockpiles as the Iran operation reduces supplies. The president met Friday with the heads of seven defense contractors, who he said had agreed to speed up weapons production.
White House spokeswoman Caroline Leavitt said the US had enough weapons for the campaign in Iran, which she said would take about four to six weeks to complete.
The State Department on Friday approved a $151.8 million sale of ammunition and support to Israel, bypassing the usual congressional review. Secretary of State Marco Rubio determined that an emergency existed that required the immediate sale.
U.S. military investigators believe it is likely that American forces were responsible for an apparent attack on an Iranian girls' school that killed dozens of children on the first day of the war, two U.S. officials told Reuters. The investigators have not yet reached a final conclusion.
Suitable for Hashtag.al, Aurora Hoxha
