US President Donald Trump called on Iran’s armed forces on Thursday to surrender or face the consequences and urged the nation’s diplomats to request asylum at their postings around the world.
“I’m once again calling on all members of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard, the military and the police, to lay down their arms,” Trump said. “So you’ll be perfectly safe with total immunity, or you’ll face absolutely guaranteed death, and I don’t want to see that.”
Speaking at the White House at a sports celebration, he also encouraged Iran to downgrade its global profile.
“We also urge Iranian diplomats around the world to request asylum and to help us shape a new and better Iran with great potential as a country,” Trump added.
The president framed the US-Israeli military campaign in Iran as a successful continuum, as he took a victory lap over Venezuela.
Former leader Nicolas Maduro was abducted by US special forces to New York, where he faces narcotrafficking charges. On Thursday, Washington said it agreed with Caracas to re-establish bilateral diplomatic and consular relations.
Trump suggested that Cuba was next, following his comments last week suggesting a possible “friendly takeover” of the island about 150km from Florida. The nation’s economy, already troubled, has been crippled by the US-directed end of Venezuelan oil shipments.
“Let’s get this one finished first,” he said, adding, “we can do them all at the same time, but bad things happen”, without specifying what those bad things were.
The president was speaking at the White House during a reception for the 2025 Major League Soccer champions, Inter Miami.
Lionel Messi, the captain of Inter Miami, laughed when asked by Trump who was better, him or the late soccer legend Pelé.
David Beckham, the co-owner of the football club, did not attend due to a scheduling conflict, opting instead to attend his wife Victoria Beckham’s fashion show in Europe.
Trump’s latest comments come as the House voted down a war powers resolution that would stop the president from launching further attacks on Iran, a day after it failed to pass the Senate.
The Republican-controlled House voted 219 to 212, largely along party lines, against the resolution introduced by more than 20 Democrats and Republican Senator Rand Paul of Kentucky in late January, as concerns about a US attack on Iran intensified.
Earlier on Thursday, Trump said he wanted to be personally involved in selecting Iran’s new supreme leader, following the killing of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, whose son he called an “unacceptable” option.
“We want someone that will bring harmony and peace to Iran,” he told Axios on Thursday, adding that he thought the supreme leader’s son Mojtaba Khamenei was a “lightweight”.
Israel’s Defence Minister Israel Katz warned this week that any successor who continues hostile policies would be a “target for elimination”.
“I have to be involved in the appointment, like with Delcy,” Trump said, referring to Venezuela’s interim president Delcy Rodriguez, who was named leader after US forces kidnapped Maduro.
Without an acceptable leader in Iran, Trump claimed the US would likely return to war within five years.
The decision would be made by an assembly of senior Shiite Muslim clerics known as the Assembly of Experts, which is overwhelmingly opposed to the US, making it unclear how Trump could play a role.
Amid growing instability in the Middle East, the Dow Jones Industrial Average closed down 784 points on Thursday, or 1.6 per cent, after oil prices spiked to their highest level since mid-2024, before partly recovering. The S&P 500 and Nasdaq composite also fell by sizeable amounts.
“In the long term, the actions we’re taking will dramatically increase the stability of the region, and oil prices, stock markets and everything else,” Trump claimed.
Testifying before the House Armed Services Committee on Thursday, Undersecretary of Defence for Policy Elbridge Colby declined to say the US was at war with Iran, calling it a “military action at this point”.
“I’m not the right person to weigh in on exactly the criteria,” Colby added.
This contrasts with Trump’s repeated use of the term, including his assessment that Operation Epic Fury was a “15 out of 10” success. The sensitivity may relate to growing criticism that the administration did not seek authority from Congress as outlined under the US Constitution.
Iran ready for any potential ground invasion
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi also said Iran was prepared for any potential ground invasion and that it would be a “big disaster” for his country’s enemies, suggesting that Washington’s bid for a quick “win” could be difficult.
“We are waiting for them,” he told NBC, adding Iran was confident it could confront the US if that happened.
Responding to Trump’s comments about picking the new supreme leader, Araghchi said “that is absolutely the business of the Iranian people, and nobody can interfere”.
Araghchi added defiantly that Iran is not requesting a ceasefire with the United States and Israel and sees no reason to negotiate with Washington.
On other fronts, Sri Lanka assumed control of the Iranian naval vessel IRIS Bushehr and offloaded its 208-member crew on Thursday, a day after a deadly US submarine attack on another ship. The vessel requested permission to enter the nation’s waters, Sri Lankan President Anura Kumara Dissanayake said, citing engine trouble.
The Bushehr, along with the IRIS Dena, which was torpedoed off Sri Lanka’s southern coast on Wednesday, killing 84, had recently taken part in a naval exercise in eastern India, Dissanayake said, adding that his country was not taking sides.
“But while maintaining our neutrality, we are taking action to save lives,” he said.
The US military said on Thursday it had sunk over 30 Iranian ships, including a large drone carrier, the IRIS Shahid Bagheri.
US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth touted the US action on Wednesday. “Quiet death. The first sinking of an enemy ship by a torpedo since World War II,” he told Fox News, referring to the IRIS Dena. “Like in that war, back when we were still the War Department. We are fighting to win.”
Araghchi denounced that attack and warned Washington it would “bitterly regret” establishing such a precedent.
This comes as Iran, despite the loss of numerous leaders, continues to lash out across the region with missiles and drones at military facilities or civilian infrastructure. The war, which entered its seventh day on Friday, has seen Iran target Israel, the Gulf states, Cyprus, Turkey and Azerbaijan.
The human toll continues to climb, with at least 1,230 deaths reported in Iran and dozens more across the Middle East, including Lebanon, where the war has rekindled fighting between Israel and Iran-allied Hezbollah militants. The Pentagon has confirmed that six US troops have been killed.
China reportedly in talks with Iran over oil
Reuters, meanwhile, reported on Thursday that China is in talks with Iran to allow crude oil and Qatari liquefied natural gas vessels safe passage through the Strait of Hormuz, citing sources, as the war enters its sixth day and all but shuts the critical waterway.
The passageway handles a fifth of global shipborne oil and liquefied natural gas supplies.
A House Foreign Affairs Committee hearing saw heated moments when Democrats pressed Under Secretary of State for Public Diplomacy Sarah Rogers about the State Department’s role leading up to US armed conflicts with Iran.
Gregory Meeks, ranking member of the committee, said that coordination appeared lacking between the State Department and US military entities in the weeks leading up to US strikes, leaving many American citizens stranded in the region.
Rogers pushed back, saying the State Department had “constantly” prepared for conflicts and crises, as the two officials continuously talked over each other. -- SOUTH CHINA MORNING POST
