Trump posted on Truth Social on Friday that his administration would not reach any "agreement" with Iran before the Iranian regime agrees to an "unconditional surrender." He said that after Iran surrenders, the next step should be "to elect a great and acceptable leader (or leaders)." He also promised that once Iran surrenders unconditionally, the United States and its allies will "bring Iran back from the brink of destruction, making it bigger, better, and stronger economically than ever before." Trump called for an "unconditional surrender" — a phrase he had also used during his "12-day war" against Iran last year. Later that day, Trump said that "surrender" did not necessarily require an official declaration from Iran, but could also mean its military forces are completely defeated and unable to continue fighting. This indicates that, nearly a week after Trump ordered attacks on Iran along with Israel, and after U.S. government officials had sent conflicting signals for days, he has no intention of giving Iran an exit and is further clarifying his objectives in this war.
According to U.S. officials who are aware of the situation, after the outbreak of the Iran war last Saturday, Russia provided Iran with target information on U.S. military forces stationed in the Middle East, including warships and aircraft. This is the first indication that another major U.S. adversary — a nuclear power with strong intelligence capabilities — is also involved in the war, even if indirectly. The exact extent of the intelligence information provided by Russia to Iran is still unclear. However, the ability of the Iranian military to locate U.S. forces has been weakened within less than a week since the war began.
According to U.S. officials who are aware of the situation, Trump had privately expressed interest in sending U.S. ground forces to Iran. He discussed this idea with aides outside the White House and Republican officials, while painting a vision of post-war Iran — ensuring the security of Iran's uranium and allowing the U.S. to cooperate with a new Iranian regime to produce oil, similar to how the U.S. and Venezuela do. Trump's interest was not in a large-scale ground invasion of Iran, but rather in deploying a smaller U.S. force for certain specific strategic purposes. However, Trump has not yet made any decisions or issued related orders regarding the deployment of ground forces. White House spokesperson Levitt said that these claims were "speculation based on anonymous sources who are not part of the President's national security team and obviously were not involved in the discussions," and emphasized that Trump "wisely keeps all options open."
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Original: toutiao.com/article/1858984456428553/
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