Iran on Friday played down the prospect of talks to end its war with the US and Israel, as 50 fighter jets struck the bunker of assassinated supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei in Tehran.
The Israeli military attacked Iran's capital and other cities on a seventh consecutive day of explosions. Red Crescent aid workers said 11 of their buildings had been damaged in the strikes.
Six days after killing Mr Khamenei, Israel said it struck an underground command centre in Tehran that had been prepared for his use. “Khamenei was eliminated before he could use the bunker … but the compound continued to be used by senior Iranian regime officials,” the Israeli military said.
Despite fears of a prolonged conflict, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said Tehran is seeking neither a ceasefire nor peace talks. “We don’t see any reason why we should negotiate with the US when we negotiated with them twice, and every time they attacked us in the middle of negotiations,” he said.
“There is no request for a ceasefire and no request for negotiations with the US from us.” Iran's President Masoud Pezeshkian also responded coolly to proposals by Egypt and others for mediation, saying their efforts should be directed at the US and Israel.
“We are committed to lasting peace in the region yet we have no hesitation in defending our nation's dignity and sovereignty,” Mr Pezeshkian said. “Mediation should address those who underestimated the Iranian people and ignited this conflict.”
The US launched a joint military campaign with Israel against Iran last Saturday, killing senior officials and military commanders, including Mr Khamenei. The US and Iran had been holding nuclear talks that were making progress, according to both delegations and mediator Oman.
As the conflict entered its seventh day, blasts were heard in central, eastern and western parts of Tehran, Iran’s semi-official Mehr news agency reported. Some strikes happened before dawn, with the US and Israel saying they carried out further attacks on ballistic missile launchers and other military sites.
Mr Araghchi said Iran was waiting for US troops to enter the country as the war drags on. “We are waiting for them, because we are confident that we can confront them and that would be a big disaster for them,” he said.
'End US presence in Gulf’
Iran’s Deputy Foreign Minister Saeed Khatibzadeh warned there is “no option but to end the US presence” in the Gulf, as Tehran widened its retaliatory campaign across the region in response to US and Israeli air raids in the country.
“We were all on the same page when they [the Americans and the Israelis] started these atrocities,” Mr Khatibzadeh told the Raisina Dialogue in New Delhi on Saturday.
“The Americans have decided to put an end to the existence of Iran and the Israelis have been promising this for many decades because of their delusion about a 'greater Israel'. And this is our response: we have no option but to put an end to the presence of the United States in the surrounding areas of Iran.
“We told the Americans and we told our neighbours that if they would like to put an end to the existence to the greatest or the oldest civilisation on Earth, then we have no option but to put an end to the existence and presence of the United States in the Gulf, [where] they do have multiple military bases, equipment and assets targeting us.”
Gulf nations have borne the brunt of Iran’s retaliation, despite previously announcing that their airspace and territory would not be used against the Islamic Republic. The attacks have targeted not only US military assets in the region but also civilian and energy infrastructure, including airports and five-star hotels.
Ten people have been killed in countries around the Gulf since the war began, including an 11-year-old girl in Kuwait.
'They lost everything'
On Thursday, US President Donald Trump said that a ground invasion of Iran would be “a waste”, despite earlier reports suggesting the military could send in troops. He said the US and Israel have continued to “totally demolish” Iran’s weapons capabilities, claiming the campaign was progressing ahead of schedule.
Tehran has “lost everything”, he added. “They’ve lost their navy. They’ve lost everything they can lose.”
“The United States military, together with our wonderful Israeli partners, continues to totally demolish the enemy – far ahead of schedule and at levels people have never seen before,” Mr Trump said.
The US President also said he believes Washington should be involved in choosing Iran's next supreme leader after the killing of Mr Khamenei. He acknowledged that Mojtaba Khamenei, the assassinated leader’s son, is widely regarded as the most likely successor but dismissed that possibility, calling him a “lightweight”.
He said he wanted to see Iran's leadership structure fully removed and that he has some names in mind for a “good leader”.
“We want to go in and clean out everything,” Mr Trump told NBC News on Thursday. “We don’t want someone who would rebuild over a 10-year period.
“We want them to have a good leader. We have some people who I think would do a good job,” he added, without naming anyone.
Meanwhile, US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth said there was “no expansion” of US objectives in Iran and that Washington has the necessary supplies and capabilities to carry on the campaign as long as needed. He had previously said the war on Iran will involve “no nation-building and no democracy-building exercise”.
Mr Khatibzadeh mocked the US president for wanting to choose Iran's next leader.
“President Trump is asking for a change in the leadership of Iran, and he says I have to have a voice on that, while he cannot even appoint the mayor of New York,” he said.
Mounting death toll
The death toll from the US and Israeli attacks on Iran has risen to 1,230, according to Iranian state media, with more than 1,300 attacks recorded across the country, including on civilian targets.
The World Health Organisation said it has verified 13 attacks on healthcare sites in Iran, saying “attacks on health care violate humanitarian law”.
Meanwhile, Unicef said it was “deeply concerned about the deadly impact the continuing military escalation in Iran is having on children”. At least 180 children have reportedly been killed since the US and Israel launched attacks, the UN body said in a statement.
It said casualties included 168 girls who were killed in a strike on a girls’ school in Minab, southern Iran, on February 28, while classes were in session. US military investigators believe it is likely that American forces carried out the strike, but no final conclusion has yet been reached, US officials told Reuters.
Images and videos broadcast by Iranian state media showed rows of small coffins draped in Iranian flags as funerals were held for the girls.
