Iran warns ‘regional country’ against aiding US raid on key island

Iran’s joint military command has claimed that US forces have abandoned most of their military bases in the region, and urged the residents of friendly neighboring states to report their hiding locations.

“All US bases in the Middle East have been destroyed, and we are now searching for commanders and soldiers,” said Ebrahim Zolfaghari, the spokesperson for Iran’s Khatam al-Anbiya Central Headquarters, which coordinates operations between the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and the regular armed forces.

“If people in the Middle East know where they are hiding, report it. To prevent your country from being harmed, remove them from your territory,” he added.

President Trump has claimed that officials in Tehran are negotiating with Washington behind the scenes but do not want to admit it publicly – out of fear of being killed as traitors by their own people, or of being assassinated by the US if those talks go the wrong way.

“They are negotiating, by the way, and they want to make a deal so badly, but they’re afraid to say it because they figure they’ll be killed by their own people,” Trump said at a fundraiser for Republicans in Washington DC.

“They’re also afraid they’ll be killed by us,” he said, before joking that no one wanted to lead Iran. “There’s never been a head of a country that wanted that job less than being the head of Iran. We listen to some of the things they say. They say, ‘I don’t want it!’ We’d like to make you the next Supreme Leader. ‘No thank you, I don’t want it!’”

Tehran is “waiting” for the American troops to come and die for Israel, according to Mohsen Rezaee, a member of the Expediency Discernment Council, an advisory board of Iran’s supreme leader.

READ MORE: No peace until US moves out of Persian Gulf – senior Iranian official

“When they haven’t gotten any results from their air force, which is their strong point, what do they expect from ground action? Do American soldiers want to die for Israel? We’re waiting,” he wrote in a post on X.

Rezaee, a retired major general and former commander of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), previously said that for the ongoing conflict to conclude, the US must withdraw its military forces from the Persian Gulf. He also said that Tehran would seek full restitution for the damage done and ironclad security guarantees from Washington.

The United States and Israel have temporarily removed Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi and Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf from their hit list of top Iranian officials, according to sources cited by the Wall Street Journal. However, the officials may end up back on the kill list after “four or five days” if Washington’s push for negotiations fails.

Israeli air strikes across southern Lebanon have killed at least five people and wounded 19 others, with attacks targeting the towns of Harouf, Qounine, Toulene, and Deir Amas, according to Lebanon’s state-run National News Agency. The strikes come as Israel continues to threaten a ground invasion and annexation of southern Lebanon.

Iran’s Lamerd International Airport in southwestern Fars province has been targeted in a US-Israeli raid, according to a report by the IRNA news agency.

The White House warned to Tehran that President Donald Trump is prepared to “unleash hell” if Iran does not agree to his terms of the deal to end the war.

“If Iran fails to accept the reality of the current moment, if they fail to understand that they have been defeated militarily and will continue to be, President Trump will ensure they are hit harder than they have ever been hit before,” Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters.

“President Trump does not bluff and he is prepared to unleash hell,” Leavitt added. “Iran should not miscalculate again.”

The warning comes as the administration simultaneously pursues a reported 15-point proposal to end the conflict, with US officials describing the diplomatic push as an effort to find an “offramp” from the war. Tehran has repeatedly denied that any talks with Washington are taking place.

Iran has issued a warning to an unnamed regional country, alleging that Tehran’s enemies – backed by a local state – are preparing to occupy one of its islands.

READ MORE: Military sites and 90% of crude oil trade: Why this Iranian island struck by the US is so important

“The enemies of Iran, with the backing of a regional country, are preparing to occupy one of the Iranian islands,” Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf said on X, without specifying which island or which country. “If they step out of line, all the vital infrastructure of that regional country will, without restriction, become the target of relentless attacks.”

The warning comes amid growing speculation that US forces could target Kharg Island, Iran’s main oil export hub in the northern Persian Gulf, which processes 90% of the country’s oil exports. US bombers struck military facilities on the island last week but stopped short of targeting its oil infrastructure.

Concerns over a potential ground operation have intensified following reports that the Pentagon is preparing to deploy 2,000 additional troops from an airborne assault unit to the region.

US Central Command released its fifth update on Operation Epic Fury with Commander Adm. Brad Cooper claiming the four-week campaign remains “on plan or ahead of plan” in achieving what he described as “very clear military objectives.”

Cooper announced that US forces have struck more than 10,000 Iranian targets, destroyed 92% of the Iranian Navy’s largest vessels, and damaged over two-thirds of Iran’s missile, drone, and naval production facilities. Drone and missile launch rates, he said, are down by more than 90%.

“We are on a path to completely eliminate Iran’s wider military manufacturing apparatus,” Cooper said, adding that US forces maintain air superiority over Iranian skies with more than 10,000 combat flights flown.