U.S. President Donald Trump claimed the right to join Iran in deciding its next leader as the war escalated on Thursday, with U.S. and Israeli jets ​hitting areas across the country and Gulf cities coming under renewed bombardment.

In a phone interview with Reuters, Trump said Mojtaba Khamenei, the son of the late Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei – a hardliner who has been considered ‌a favorite to succeed his father – was an unlikely choice.

“We want to be involved in the process of choosing the person who is going to lead Iran into the future,” he said.

Trump also encouraged Iranian Kurdish forces to go on the offensive.

“I’d be all for it,” said Trump, whose administration has had contact with Iranian Kurdish groups since the U.S.-Israeli strikes began. He would not say whether the United States would provide air cover for any Kurdish offensive.

The attack is a major political gamble for the Republican president, with opinion polls showing little public support and Americans concerned about the rise in ​gasoline prices caused by disruption to energy supplies. Trump dismissed that concern.

ISRAELIS WARN TEHRAN RESIDENTS

On the war’s sixth day, Iran launched a series of attacks on Israel, the United Arab Emirates and Qatar. Fire crews in Bahrain extinguished a blaze ​at a refinery following a missile strike.

Two drone attacks targeted an Iranian opposition camp in Iraqi Kurdistan, as well as an oil field operated by an American firm, security sources said.

The ⁠Israeli military warned residents to evacuate areas including eastern Tehran, while Iranian media reported blasts were heard in various parts of the capital. An air attack killed 17 people in a guest house on a road northwest of the capital, Iranian state ​television said.

“Today is worse than yesterday. They are striking northern Tehran. We have nowhere to go. It is like a war zone. Help us,” said Mohammadreza, 36, by phone from Tehran, with a shaky voice as explosions rang out from what Israel described ​as its latest wave of strikes on Iranian government targets.

MANY MUNITIONS, IRAN’S ATTACKS DROPPED

U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and Admiral Brad Cooper, who leads U.S. forces in the Middle East, said that the U.S. has enough munitions to continue its bombardment indefinitely.

“Iran is hoping that we cannot sustain this, which is a really bad miscalculation,” Hegseth told reporters at Central Command headquarters in Florida. “Our munitions are full up and our will is ironclad.”

Cooper said the U.S. had now hit at least 30 Iranian ships, including a large drone carrier that he said was the size of a World ​War Two aircraft carrier. He added that B-2 bombers had in the past few hours dropped dozens of 2,000 penetrator bombs targeting deeply buried ballistic missile launchers, and that bombings were also targeting Iran’s missile production facilities.

Iran’s ballistic missile attacks had decreased ​by 90% since the first day of the war, while drone attacks had decreased by 83% in that time frame, he said.

WARNING SIRENS BLARE IN MULTIPLE NATIONS

Azerbaijan on Thursday became the latest country drawn in, as it accused Iran of firing drones at its territory and ordered ‌its southern airspace ⁠closed for 12 hours. Iran, which has a significant Azeri minority, denied it had targeted its neighbor, but the episode underlined how rapidly the war has spread since the surprise U.S. and Israeli airstrikes that killed Khamenei on Saturday.

Along with the gleaming cities of the Gulf, in easy range of Iranian drones and missiles, Cyprus and Turkey have both been targeted. European nations have pledged to deploy ships to the eastern Mediterranean and hostilities have been seen as far afield as waters off Sri Lanka, where a U.S. submarine sank an Iranian warship on Tuesday, killing 80 crew members.

In Iran, at least 1,230 people have been killed, according to the Iranian Red Crescent Society, including 175 schoolgirls and staff killed at a primary school in Minab in the country’s south on the ​first day of the war. Another 77 have been killed in ​Lebanon, its Health Ministry says. Thousands fled southern Beirut ⁠on Thursday after Israel warned residents to leave.

NETANYAHU SAYS ‘MUCH WORK STILL LIES AHEAD’

Shares on Wall Street fell on Thursday, weighed by surging oil prices, as the economic impact, opens new tab of the campaign intensified, with countries around the world cut off from a fifth of global supplies of oil and liquefied natural gas and air transport still facing chaos and global logistics increasingly snarled.

On Thursday, Iran’s Revolutionary Guards said they ​had hit a U.S. tanker in the northern part of the Gulf and the vessel was on fire, the latest of numerous reports of such attacks.

Visiting an air force base ​in the south of the country, ⁠Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel’s achievements so far in Iran had been “great” but that “much work still lies ahead.”

Iran’s foreign minister said Washington would “bitterly regret” the precedent it had set by sinking a ship in international waters without warning. A commander of the Revolutionary Guards, General Kioumars Heydari, told state TV: “We have decided to fight Americans wherever they are.”

The body of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, killed in the first hours of the U.S.-Israeli air campaign in the first assassination of a country’s top ruler by an airstrike, had been due ⁠to lie in ​state in a Tehran prayer hall from Wednesday evening to launch three days of mourning.

But the memorial, expected to draw many thousands of mourners to ​the streets, was abruptly postponed.

Two sources familiar with Israel’s battle plans said that Israel, having killed many Iranian leaders, was now planning to enter a second phase when it would target underground bunkers where Iran stores its missiles.

A Pakistani man accused of planning to kill President Donald Trump told jurors on Wednesday that he did not willingly work with Iran’s elite ​Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps to devise the plot, media said.

The Justice ‌Department accused Asif Merchant of trying to recruit people in the United States in the plan targeting Trump and other U.S. politicians in retaliation for Washington’s killing of the ​Corps’ top commander, Qassem Soleimani, Reuters reported.

The Corps has a central role in Iran, with ​its combination of military and economic power and an intelligence ⁠network.

“I was not wanting to do this so willingly,” the New York ​Times quoted Merchant as telling a court during his trial for terrorism and ​murder-for-hire charges, adding that he participated to protect his family in Tehran.

Prosecutors rejected Merchant’s claim, citing a “lack of evidentiary support for a true duress or coercion,” according to a ​letter sent on Tuesday to the judge in the case dating from ​2024.

According to the newspaper, Merchant said he had never been ordered to kill a specific ‌person ⁠but that his Iranian handler named three people in the course of conversations in the Iranian capital.

In addition to Trump, these were Joe Biden, the president at the time; Nikki Haley, who unsuccessfully sought the Republican nomination for ​the 2024 presidential ​election.

Lawyers for Merchant ⁠did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The White House did not immediately comment.

The trial started last ​week, days before Trump ordered strikes on Iran carried out ​with Israel ⁠that killed Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and top officials in the Middle Eastern nation.

Trump cited an alleged Iranian plot when he spoke to ABC News on ⁠Sunday about ​a joint U.S.-Israeli operation that killed Khamenei, ​saying, “I got him before he got me.”

Tehran has denied accusations that it targeted Trump and other U.S. ​officials.

The U.S. Department of State has issued an extraordinary directive urging American citizens to immediately depart more than a dozen countries across the Middle East, citing rapidly deteriorating security conditions following joint U.S.-Israeli strikes that killed Iran’s Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

The sweeping advisory comes as retaliatory attacks, embassy closures and major air travel disruptions fuel growing instability across the region.

U.S. officials say the move reflects Washington’s assessment that the crisis could become prolonged and highly volatile, with potential consequences for global security and energy markets.

Broad Regional Advisory

The evacuation notice covers 14 countries and territories, including close U.S. partners such as Israel, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates. It marks one of the most expansive regional security alerts in recent history.

Officials described “serious safety risks” following coordinated weekend strikes on Iranian targets and subsequent retaliatory operations.

Americans have been urged to leave using commercial flights while they remain available, rather than waiting for potential government-organized evacuations should conditions worsen.

From Targeted Strike to Regional Crisis

The evacuation order follows the killing of Khamenei in coordinated operations that reportedly also targeted other senior Iranian officials. Tehran’s response has included strikes on U.S. and Israeli-linked sites, as well as threats directed at Gulf states and key energy infrastructure.

Concerns have intensified over security in the Strait of Hormuz, a vital shipping route for global oil supplies. Rising tensions in the waterway have already driven up energy prices amid fears of further disruption.

The United States has activated an inter-agency emergency task force to manage the unfolding crisis. President Donald Trump indicated the confrontation could extend beyond a month, underscoring expectations of sustained instability.

International Appeals for Restraint

Global leaders have called for urgent de-escalation. European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres both urged restraint and renewed diplomatic engagement, warning of severe humanitarian and security consequences.

Russia and China condemned the strike that killed Khamenei as a breach of international law, while France pressed Iran to return to negotiations over its nuclear and ballistic missile programs. The European Union has placed its Red Sea naval mission on heightened alert to safeguard maritime routes amid fears of spillover attacks.

Guidance for U.S. Citizens

Americans in affected countries are advised to contact 24-hour State Department assistance lines and enroll in the Smart Traveler Enrollment Program (STEP) to receive updates. Officials stress the urgency of departing while commercial flights are still operating, as mounting airspace closures and cancellations have already left large numbers of travelers stranded.

Analysts warn that transport disruptions and security risks could persist for days or weeks, urging U.S. citizens to prepare contingency plans in case of extended regional instability.