Trump Demands 'Unconditional Surrender' by Iran as Tensions Rise

Israel's War Heading for Pivotal Moment as US Weighs Up Involvement

- Julian Borger, Jaffa, Patrick Wintour and Peter Walker, Banff

Israel's war on Iran appeared to be approaching a pivotal moment last night after five days of bombing and retaliatory Iranian missile strikes as Donald Trump demanded "unconditional surrender" from Tehran and weighed up his military options.

Trump convened a meeting of his national security team in the White House situation room after a day of febrile rhetoric, in which the president gave sharply conflicting signals over whether US forces would participate directly in Israel's bombing campaign over Iran.

He told journalists in the morning that he expected the Iranian nuclear programme to be "wiped out" long before US intervention would be necessary. Later he took to his own social media platform, Truth Social, to suggest that the US had Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei in its bomb-sights, and could make an imminent decision to take offensive action.

"We know exactly where the so-called 'Supreme Leader' is hiding. He is an easy target, but is safe there. We are not going to take him out (kill!), at least not for now," Trump said. "But we don't want missiles shot at civilians, or American soldiers. Our patience is wearing thin."

Just a few minutes later, Trump demanded "UNCONDITIONAL SURRENDER" in another post.

It was not just Trump's all-caps threats that triggered speculation the US might join the offensive. They were accompanied by the sudden forward deployment of US military aircraft to Europe and the Middle East amid a general consensus that Iran's deeply buried uranium enrichment facilities could prove impregnable without huge bunker-busting bombs that only the US air force possesses.

"If Iran does not back down, complete destruction of the Iranian nuclear programme is on the agenda, which Israel cannot achieve alone," Germany's chancellor, Friedrich Merz, told ZDF television a day after meeting Trump at the G7 summit in Canada.