This update will be added to over the course of the day.
Iranian Supreme Leader declares ‘the battle begins’ after warning Israel about ‘great surprise… that the world will remember for centuries’ as Trump weighs whether to order US strikes
MELISSA KOENIG FOR DAILYMAIL.COM, June 17, 2025
Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has sent out some eerie messages as US President Donald Trump continues to weigh his options on the ongoing war between the Iranian regime and Israel.
In an X post on Tuesday night, Khamenei shared a disturbing image showing balls of fire raining down on an ancient city.
‘In the name of the noble Haidar, the battle begins,’ he wrote in Farsi, referring to Ali – whom Shia Muslims consider the first Imam and the rightful successor to the prophet Mohammed.
Khamenei also shared a separate message in English, saying: ‘We must give a strong response to the terrorist Zionist regime.
‘We will show the Zionists no mercy,’ he declared.
Meanwhile, Iranian state television ominously reported that ‘tonight, a great surprise will occur – one that the world will remember for centuries.’
Amid the threats, Trump is said to be considering a US strike on Tehran following Situation Room crisis talks with security advisers.
Inside sources say the US President is weighing up whether to join Israel in striking Iranian nuclear sites, including in Fordow, CBS reports.
Trump has already urged Iran’s ‘UNCONDITIONAL SURRENDER’ and even issued a death threat to Khamenei.
He said the US knows where the Supreme Leader is hiding out, but doesn’t want him killed ‘for now.’
‘We know exactly where the so-called “Supreme Leader” is hiding,’ the U.S. President wrote on Truth Social.
‘He is an easy target, but is safe there – We are not going to take him out (kill!), at least not for now.
‘But we don’t want missiles shot at civilians, or American soldiers. Our patience is wearing thin,’ he warned.
The president also spoke with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Tuesday, though it remains unclear what the two world leaders discussed as drone strikes between Israel and Iran continued for a fifth consecutive day.
Israeli attack, Tehran, June 17, 2025
Both Israel and Iran launched fresh strikes at each other overnight, as Iran’s Revolutionary Guard said it launched a ‘more powerful’ new wave of missiles at Israel.
Yet Gen. Abdul Rahim Mousavi, the commander in chief of Iran’s army, claimed that all of the attacks ‘carried out so far have been solely for the purpose of warning and deterrence.
‘The punishment operation will be carried out soon,’ he warned.Residents in Tel Aviv were seen running for shelter as missiles rained down on the city and the Iron Dome sprang into action.
At the same time, Israel’s military said it killed Iran’s wartime chief of staff and carried out extensive strikes on Iranian military targets.
The International Atomic Energy Agency even reported that there appears to have been a ‘direct impact’ on Iran’s Natanz nuclear facility.
Iran has claimed its nuclear program is peaceful, and the US and others have assessed that Tehran has not had an organized effort to pursue a nuclear weapon since 2003.
But the IAEA has repeatedly warned that the country already has enough enriched uranium to make several nuclear bombs.
I agree.
HRH Reza Pahlavi: The solution is in front of your eyes. The Iranian people are your solution. Not negotiating with a regime that cannot be trusted.
(“Exiled Crown Prince [Reza Pahlavi] Says Iranian People have ‘Tremendous Opportunity’ to Topple Weakened Regime,” June 16, 2025, at https://goldenageofgaia.com/2025/06/16/exiled-crown-prince-says-iranian-people-have-tremendous-opportunity-to-topple-weakened-regime/.)
.@IsraeliPM: “To the brave people of Iran: our fight is not with you. Our fight is with the brutal dictatorship that has oppressed you for 46 years.” pic.twitter.com/T2lD399Tf5
— Israel Foreign Ministry (@IsraelMFA) June 13, 2025
Trump Threatens Strike on Khamenei as Israel Pounds Iranian Military Command
‘UNCONDITIONAL SURRENDER’: Trump Warns Iran as Israel Kills Top General
The Bureau, Jun 17, 2025, by email.
WASHINGTON — In a dramatic escalation Tuesday, President Donald Trump issued a direct and unprecedented warning to Iran’s leadership, stating that U.S. intelligence has positively identified the location of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and could kill him—though, for now, the U.S. is choosing not to.
“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 posted to his Truth Social account Tuesday afternoon. “But we don’t want missiles shot at civilians, or American soldiers. Our patience is wearing thin. Thank you for your attention to this matter!”
Minutes later, Trump posted again: “UNCONDITIONAL SURRENDER!”
The remarks came after Trump met with top national security officials in the White House Situation Room, following fresh reports from the Pentagon and U.S. intelligence agencies indicating that Iran is preparing further ballistic missile launches after Israeli strikes rocked key military sites in Tehran.
The president’s language—a blend of strategic ambiguity and a raw, public threat against a sitting head of state—appears unprecedented in modern diplomatic history, and marks the clearest signal yet that the United States is prepared to intervene militarily if Iran refuses to abandon its nuclear enrichment program or if American forces come under attack.
Meanwhile, Germany’s political leadership broke its relative silence with statements backing the U.S.-Israel alliance and condemning Tehran. Chancellor Friedrich Merz, still at the G7 meetings in Alberta that Trump abruptly left Monday night, said in a blunt interview with ZDF: “This is the dirty work Israel is doing for all of us. We are also victims of this regime. This mullah regime has brought death and destruction to the world.” Merz warned that unless Iran backs down, “it will mean the total destruction of its nuclear program — which Israel cannot achieve alone, not without the United States.”
The conflict, now in its fifth day, has reportedly claimed nearly 300 lives—about 240 in Iran and more than two dozen in Israel. Israeli military sources say a “third wave” of operations is underway, focusing on Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps units and missile launchers in western Iran. The Israeli Air Force has reportedly conducted deep-penetration strikes using U.S.-built F-35 stealth fighters.
Meanwhile, Israel claimed Tuesday that it had killed another top Iranian military official, and international monitors said Israeli strikes had inflicted greater damage to a key Iranian nuclear facility than previously understood. Since Israel began bombing Iran on Friday, it has effectively crippled Iran’s military leadership—killing at least 11 senior generals—and disrupted command-and-control operations tied to Iran’s nuclear infrastructure.
On Tuesday morning, the Israel Defense Forces announced it had killed Maj. Gen. Ali Shadmani, describing him as the most senior military commander in Iran. Shadmani had reportedly been appointed to his position just four days earlier, replacing another general killed in an Israeli strike on the first day of hostilities.
While Israeli bombardment shows no signs of slowing, Iran’s retaliatory missile barrages appear to have diminished in intensity over the past 48 hours.
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