‘Everyone should immediately evacuate Tehran!’ Trump says
Donald Trump has said “Everyone should immediately evacuate Tehran!” hours after Israel issued an evacuation order to residents of a large part of Tehran on Monday.
“Iran should have signed the “deal” I told them to sign. What a shame, and waste of human life. Simply stated, IRAN CAN NOT HAVE A NUCLEAR WEAPON. I said it over and over again! Everyone should immediately evacuate Tehran!,” the US president said in a post on his social media platform Truth Social.
Washington and Tehran had been in the midst of nuclear negotiations when Israel launched its shock attack on Iran on Friday.
Tehran has a population of about 9 million and it’s currently just after 4am.
Hours before Trump’s comments Israeli forces had issued an evacuation order to residents of a large part of Tehran, warning them of the imminent bombing of “military infrastructure” in the area in a social media post very similar to those regularly directed at Palestinians in Gaza over the past 20 months.
The post on X was from the account of the Israel Defense Forces’ Arabic spokesperson, Col Avichay Adraee.
It is a further sign of the evolving nature of the Israeli campaign against Iran, which began with attacks on air defences, nuclear sites and the military chain of command, but appears to have drifted towards a war of attrition focused on Iran’s oil and gas industry and on the capital.
Key events
US defense secretary Pete Hegseth has told Fox News that Donald Trump still wants a nuclear deal with Iran, just hours after the US president told residents of Tehran to “immediately evacuate”.
“Of course,” Hegseth said on Fox News’ Jesse Watters Primetime show when asked if Trump was still aiming for a nuclear deal with Iran. “His position has not changed”. He continued:
What you’re watching in real time, is peace through strength and America First … We are postured defensively in the region to be strong in pursuit of a peace deal. And we certainly hope that’s what happens here …
President Trump has made it clear it [a deal] is on the table, the question is whether Iran will take it.
He insisted Israel’s shock attack on Iran on Friday – which came amid US and Iranian negotiations on a nuclear deal – was “self-defence”.
Fox earlier reported that Trump had directed national security staff to convene in the situation room after leaving the G7 leaders summit in Canada early.
US media reported that secretary of state Marco Rubio has also left the summit early.
Donald Trump has encouraged vice president JD Vance and his Middle East envoy, Steve Witkoff, to offer to meet the Iranians this week, the New York Times has reported, citing a US official.
Iranian foreign minister Abbas Araghchi had earlier indicated that Tehran was open to negotiations, also suggesting Trump could stop the war with “one phone call” to Israeli leader Benjamin Netanyahu. In a post on X he wrote:
If President Trump is genuine about diplomacy and interested in stopping this war, next steps are consequential. Israel must halt its aggression, and absent a total cessation of military aggression against us, our responses will continue.
It takes one phone call from Washington to muzzle someone like Netanyahu. That may pave the way for a return to diplomacy.
Macron says Trump has made ceasefire ‘offer’, says overthrow of Tehran regime would be ‘strategic error’
Patrick Wintour
French President Emmanuel Macron has claimed Donald Trump is considering the prospect of a ceasefire between Israel and Iran and said that an attempt to overthrow the Iranian regime would be a “strategic error”. Macron told reporters at the G7:
There is indeed an offer to meet and exchange. An offer was made especially to get a ceasefire and to then kick-start broader discussions … We have to see now whether the sides will follow.
Macron described Trump’s early exit as a positive development.
Right now I believe negotiations need to restart and that civilians need to be protected.
He added that he didn’t believe things would change in the next few hours, but “since the US assured they will find a ceasefire and since they can pressure Israel, things may change”.
Macron called on both Israel and Iran to “end” strikes against civilians and warned that aiming to overthrow Tehran’s clerical state would be a “strategic error.” He said:
All who have thought that by bombing from the outside you can save a country in spite of itself have always been mistaken.
Trump told reporters he had to leave early for “obvious reasons”. Throughout the day he repeated his mantra that Iran must never possess a nuclear weapon, an ambition Iran denies, but which Israel insists is Tehran’s true and imminent objective.
A ‘bloodbath’ in Tehran
William Christou
The stream of wounded in Imam Khomeini hospital in Tehran had been steady since Friday. On Sunday evening it became a flood. A renewed wave of Israeli strikes on Iran’s capital overwhelmed the hospital’s emergency unit, turning it into what one doctor described as a “bloodbath”.
“It was a bloodbath. We were overwhelmed by chaos and the screams of grieving family members. Dozens upon dozens of people with life-threatening injuries, minor wounds and even bodies were brought in,” a doctor at the emergency unit of the hospital told the Guardian on Monday under condition of anonymity.
As fighting between Israel and Iran entered its fourth day, Iranian hospitals were receiving a surge of wounded people, overwhelming medical facilities and exhausted personnel. Medical staff described scenes of bloody chaos and an influx of injured people that has only seemed to grow as Israeli strikes increased in intensity.
“I’ve seen toddlers, teenagers, adults and the elderly alike. Profusely bleeding mothers were rushing in with their children injured by shrapnel,” the doctor said, adding that some parents did not realise they themselves were injured until they put their children down.
They rattled off a list of injuries: metal lodged in femur bones and the soft tissues of the hip joints, internal bleeding and severe burns. Many of those wounded had been nearby when an Israeli bomb dropped, peppering them with deadly shrapnel.
Staffer killed in Israeli attack on Iranian state broadcaster
A staffer at the Iranian state broadcaster IRIB has died after an Israeli attack on the building during a live broadcast, Iranian media has reported.
Masoumeh Azimi succumbed to severe injuries caused by the shockwave from the attack, Press TV, which is owned by IRIB, reported. Several other journalists were also injured, it said. It was not possible to independently confirm the report.
Iranian newsreader Sahar Emami was showered with rubble and her studio filled with dust live on air when the strike hit the broadcaster.
Footage showed the newsreader fleeing from her desk late on Monday.
The station later said its building was hit by four bombs.
Iran condemned the attack on a state television building in Tehran as a war crime, and called on the UN to take action.
The strike was a “wicked act” and a “war crime”, said a foreign ministry spokesperson. “The UN [security council] must act now to stop the genocidal aggressor from committing further atrocities against our people.”
Journalists are considered civilians under international humanitarian law and deliberately targeting them is a war crime.
After the strike, Israeli foreign minister Israel Katz wrote on X, “The propaganda and incitement broadcasting authority of the Iranian regime was attacked by the IDF after a widespread evacuation of nearby residents. Strike the Iranian dictator everywhere.”
Hugo Lowell
“You probably see what I see and I have to be back as soon as I can,” Donald Trump said in an apparent nod to the intensifying conflict in the Middle East, when asked why he’s cutting short his G7 trip and heading back to Washington tonight.
Johana Bhuiyan
President Trump has directed national security staff to convene in the situation room, both CNN and Fox News are reporting, citing a White House official. Trump will be leaving the G7 Summit in Canada early.
There are few other details available.
US defence spokespeople deny US is attacking Iran
US defence ministry spokespeople have denied reports online that the US has joined attacks on Iran. “This is not true”, chief Pentagon spokesperson Sean Parnell wrote on X in response to one such post. In another, he wrote:
American Forces are maintaining their defensive posture & that has not changed. We will protect American troops & our interests.
Hours before Trump’s post about evacuating Tehran, US defence secretary Pete Hegseth confirmed that he had ordered the deployment of “additional capabilities” to the Middle East.
Hegseth did not disclose what military capabilities he sent to the region. But Reuters was the first to report earlier on Monday a deployment of a large number of US military refueling aircraft and the movement of an aircraft carrier to the Middle East.
In a post on social media Hegseth wrote:
Protecting US forces is our top priority and these deployments are intended to enhance our defensive posture in the region.
Trump leaves G7 early citing situation in Middle East
Moments after Donald Trump’s social media post telling Tehran’s 9 million residents to evacuate, the White House announced he was leaving the G7 leaders summit in Canada early citing the situation in the Middle East.
“Much was accomplished, but because of what’s going on in the Middle East, President Trump will be leaving tonight after dinner with Heads of State,” press secretary Karoline Leavitt said on X.
Trump was originally supposed to arrive back in the US in the early hours of Wednesday morning, according to people familiar with the matter.
‘Everyone should immediately evacuate Tehran!’ Trump says
Donald Trump has said “Everyone should immediately evacuate Tehran!” hours after Israel issued an evacuation order to residents of a large part of Tehran on Monday.
“Iran should have signed the “deal” I told them to sign. What a shame, and waste of human life. Simply stated, IRAN CAN NOT HAVE A NUCLEAR WEAPON. I said it over and over again! Everyone should immediately evacuate Tehran!,” the US president said in a post on his social media platform Truth Social.
Washington and Tehran had been in the midst of nuclear negotiations when Israel launched its shock attack on Iran on Friday.
Tehran has a population of about 9 million and it’s currently just after 4am.
Hours before Trump’s comments Israeli forces had issued an evacuation order to residents of a large part of Tehran, warning them of the imminent bombing of “military infrastructure” in the area in a social media post very similar to those regularly directed at Palestinians in Gaza over the past 20 months.
The post on X was from the account of the Israel Defense Forces’ Arabic spokesperson, Col Avichay Adraee.
It is a further sign of the evolving nature of the Israeli campaign against Iran, which began with attacks on air defences, nuclear sites and the military chain of command, but appears to have drifted towards a war of attrition focused on Iran’s oil and gas industry and on the capital.
Opening summary
Hello and welcome to our live coverage of the Middle East.
Donald Trump has said “Everyone should immediately evacuate Tehran!” even as French President Emmanuel Macron said his US counterpart had made an offer for a ceasefire between Israel and Iran.
“There is indeed an offer to meet and exchange. An offer was made especially to get a ceasefire and to then kick-start broader discussions,” Macron told reporters at the G7.
“We have to see now whether the sides will follow.”
Macron’s remark came only an hour after Trump issued his evacuation warning, adding in a post on his social media platform Truth Social “Iran should have signed the ‘deal’ I told them to sign. What a shame, and waste of human life.”
Moments later the White House announced Trump was leaving the G7 leaders meeting in Canada early, citing the situation in the Middle East.
Washington and Tehran had been in the midst of nuclear negotiations when Israel launched its shock attack on Iran on Friday. Trump’s comments came hours after Israel issued an evacuation order to residents of a large part of Tehran.
Iran and Israel have exchanged waves of missiles since Friday. Iran says more than 224 Iranians have been killed, most of them civilians. Israel says 24 people have been killed, all of them civilians.
In other developments:
-
Israel indicated that its attacks on Iran are unfinished, and that it would not rule out targeting the country’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, in interviews with US media today. Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu told the Associated Press that Israeli strikes have set Iran’s nuclear program back a “very, very long time” and he would “not be surprised” if the attacks toppled the Iranian government. Speaking on ABC News, Netanyahu added that killing Khamenei would not “escalate the conflict” but rather “end it.” On social media, Israel’s foreign minister Gideon Sa’ar wrote that he had told the European Union’s foreign minister Kaja Kallas that its military operation in Iran was unfinished and that “Israel will act to complete it.”
-
Meanwhile, Iran said its counter-attacks on Israel were self-defense and appealed to Gulf State leaders for aid asking Donald Trump to help negotiate a ceasefire with Israel. Iran’s ambassador to the United Nations told the body’s Security Council that its strikes on Israel are “proportionate defensive operations directed exclusively at military objectives and associated infrastructure”, Reuters reports. Iranian officials have also asked the leaders of Qatar, Saudi Arabia and Oman to mediate discussions with the United States, Reuters reports.
-
The United States has relocated refueling aircraft to Europe in order to give Donald Trump military options as hostilities escalate between Iran and Israel, Reuters reports. Reuters and the New York Times also report that the USS Nimitz, an aircraft carrrier, is en route to the Middle East as part of a planned deployment. The news comes even as US senator Tim Kaine introduced legislation to restrict Donald Trump’s war powers.
-
Group of Seven leaders drafted a joint statement calling for de-escalation of the Israel-Iran conflict, according to two sources and a draft seen by Reuters. The draft commits to safeguarding market stability, including energy markets, and says Israel has the right to defend itself. Donald Trump does not intend to sign the statement, CBS News reports, citing unnamed US officials.
-
European countries have begun evacuating their citizens from Israel. Germany will evacuate its citizens via Jordan’s capital Amman, with a charter flight scheduled for Wednesday. Meanwhile, the UK is establishing a system for UK nationals to register their presence in Israel.
-
Russia believes Iran is exercising its right to defend itself against attack by Israel, deputy foreign minister Sergei Ryabkov said. Russian news agencies also quoted Ryabkov as saying that Russia was discussing the crisis with the United States as well as maintaining contacts with both Israel and Iran.