Even as Donald Trump called Iranian leaders “deranged scumbags” on social media and declared their deaths a personal honor, French diplomats were quietly opening negotiations with Tehran in hopes of finding a way to de-escalate the conflict that has consumed the Middle East. France reportedly sought to negotiate guaranteed safe passage for European commercial vessels through the Strait of Hormuz, which Iran has effectively blockaded through attacks on shipping. Italy denied any involvement in similar talks. The divergence between American and European approaches to the crisis was sharply apparent.
Trump’s public comments throughout Friday made clear that he had no interest in any diplomatic off-ramp, promising that Iran would be struck “very hard” in the coming days and announcing that US forces had already obliterated every military installation on Kharg Island, Iran’s primary oil export hub. He framed the campaign as historically inevitable, describing himself as the 47th president settling accounts with a regime that had spent 47 years killing innocent people around the world. Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth reinforced the message, describing Iran’s leadership as desperate and hiding.
Combined US and Israeli forces have struck more than 15,000 targets since the war began, with Israel confirming over 200 strikes in the most recent 24-hour period. Iran’s new supreme leader Mojtaba Khamenei, installed after Israel killed his father Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, issued a defiant written statement Thursday but provided no voice or video, which US officials cited as evidence of physical injury. Hegseth said the leader had been wounded and likely disfigured.
The war continued to generate casualties across the entire region. Iran has reported over 1,300 deaths. Lebanon has seen more than 600 killed and 800,000 displaced. Israel reports 12 deaths. Thirteen US service members have died, including six in a refuelling aircraft crash in Iraq. A French soldier was also killed in Iraq by a pro-Iranian militia drone, giving France a particular stake in finding a diplomatic solution. Lebanon suffered eight more deaths in an Israeli strike on Sidon, while Hezbollah injured about 60 Israelis in rocket attacks on the north.
The Strait of Hormuz remains the most pressing global concern, with roughly one-fifth of the world’s oil and gas supplies at risk as Iran continues to attack shipping in the waterway. Oil prices, which had fallen sharply Thursday, recovered slightly Friday as markets tried to assess whether the military or diplomatic track would ultimately prevail. With Tehran facing obliteration from the air and threatening to take the global economy down with it through energy disruption, the pressure on all parties to find some form of resolution was becoming increasingly intense.
