US President Donald Trump has seized on Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian’s apology to neighbouring Gulf states as vindication of the ongoing American and Israeli military campaign against Iran, asserting that Tehran’s conciliatory gesture was a direct product of the strikes being carried out against it.
Taking to his Truth Social platform on Saturday (March 7), Trump was characteristically blunt. “Iran, which is being beaten to HELL, has apologised and surrendered to its Middle East neighbours, and promised that it will not shoot at them anymore. This promise was only made because of the relentless U.S. and Israeli attacks.
“They were looking to take over and rule the Middle East. It is the first time that Iran has ever lost, in thousands of years, to surrounding Middle Eastern Countries. They have said, ‘Thank you, President Trump.’ I have said, ‘You’re welcome!’ Iran is no longer the ‘Bully of the Middle East,’ they are, instead, ‘THE LOSER OF THE MIDDLE EAST,’ and will be for many decades until they surrender or, more likely, completely collapse!” he further wrote.
Trump also issued a stark new threat, signalling that fresh strikes were imminent and that the scope of potential targets had widened. “Today, Iran will be hit very hard! Under serious consideration for complete destruction and certain death, because of Iran’s bad behaviour, are areas and groups of people that were not considered for targeting until this moment in time,” he wrote.
‘I Apologise…’
Trump’s response came after Pezeshkian addressed the nation on the eighth day of the war involving Iran, the United States, and Israel. Speaking in remarks broadcast on Iranian state television, the Iranian president offered an unusual acknowledgment of responsibility, apologising to the countries whose territories had been struck by Iranian attacks in the opening week of the conflict.
Pezeshkian assured neighbouring states that Iran would not target them again unless attacks against the Islamic Republic first originated from their soil. “I must apologise on my own behalf and on behalf of Iran to the neighbouring countries that were attacked by Iran,” he said.
At the same time, Pezeshkian showed no willingness to yield to Washington’s demands, flatly rejecting Trump’s call for Iran’s complete capitulation. He insisted that Iran’s adversaries “must take their wish for the unconditional surrender of the Iranian people to their graves” — a direct rebuke of Trump’s earlier ultimatum.
The Iranian president reiterated that while Tehran intended to restrain itself from striking neighbouring countries during the ongoing conflict, that restraint was conditional: any future attacks on Iran traced back to those territories would be met with a response.
