While President Donald Trump focused his most colorful language on Iran on Friday, calling its leaders “deranged scumbags” and promising intensified US strikes, the Israeli campaign in Lebanon was simultaneously producing fresh casualties. At least eight people were killed and nine wounded in an Israeli strike on the southern coastal city of Sidon. Israeli forces also struck the Zrarieh Bridge over Lebanon’s Litani River, claiming it was being used by Hezbollah for troop movements. Israel’s defence minister warned that Lebanon’s government would pay an escalating price for infrastructure used by Hezbollah.
Lebanon has been dragged into the war by Hezbollah’s close alliance with Iran and its ongoing rocket campaign against Israel. More than 600 people have been killed in Lebanon and over 800,000 displaced since the latest fighting resumed. Hezbollah continued to fire rockets into northern Israel on Friday, injuring about 60 people in a series of coordinated salvoes. Israel’s military responded with strikes not only in Lebanon but continued its intensive campaign in Iran, reporting more than 200 individual strikes across the country in a single 24-hour period.
The US-Israeli campaign against Iran as a whole has now struck more than 15,000 targets combined since the conflict began. Trump announced late Friday that US Central Command had obliterated every military installation on Kharg Island, Iran’s primary oil terminal, calling the operation one of the most powerful raids in the history of the Middle East. He warned that the island’s oil infrastructure would be the next target if Iran continued to blockade the Strait of Hormuz. Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth confirmed that Iran’s new supreme leader Mojtaba Khamenei had been wounded and was hiding underground.
Iran’s campaign against Gulf states continued on Friday. Saudi Arabia intercepted close to 50 Iranian drones. Qatar issued Doha evacuation warnings before confirming a missile interception. Two people died in Oman in drone crashes. Dubai’s financial district sustained damage. Iranian Revolutionary Guards announced new coordinated strikes on Israel with Hezbollah, framing the campaign as part of the annual al-Quds Day observance. Iran simultaneously maintained pressure on the Strait of Hormuz, attacking shipping in the critical waterway that carries roughly one-fifth of global oil and gas supplies.
Tehran residents described conditions that have become increasingly dire since the war began with the killing of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. A retired professor described buildings shaking, rubble in the streets, sick relatives unable to leave, and fuel too scarce for escape. A shopkeeper described counting six explosions in an hour and taping newspapers over her windows as a desperate measure. Iran has reported over 1,300 deaths. The United States has lost 13 service members in the conflict. France lost one soldier in Iraq. With no ceasefire talks underway and both sides escalating, the war appeared set to grow more destructive in the days ahead.