US Won’t Kill Khamenei ‘For Now’: Trump Demands ‘Unconditional Surrender’, Boasts ‘Total Control’ Of Iran’s Skies

<p>United States President Donald Trump on Tuesday made assertions about American military superiority over Iran, highlighting that the US has established &ldquo;complete and total control&rdquo; of the skies above the Islamic Republic. He also demanded that Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, surrender unconditionally, signalling that the US’s patience is “wearing thin”.</p>
<p>In a post shared on Truth Social, Trump declared that while Iran possesses extensive defensive capabilities, they are no match for American technology.</p>
<p>&ldquo;Iran had good sky trackers and other defensive equipment, and plenty of it, but it doesn&rsquo;t compare to American-made, conceived, and manufactured &lsquo;stuff&rsquo;. Nobody does it better than the good ol&rsquo; USA,&rdquo; Trump posted, adding that the US has information on the location of Iran&rsquo;s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, but has chosen not to target him &ldquo;for now&rdquo;.</p>
<p>&ldquo;We know exactly where the so-called &ldquo;Supreme Leader&rdquo; is hiding. He is an easy target, but is safe there – We are not going to take him out (kill!), at least not for now. But we don&rsquo;t want missiles shot at civilians, or American soldiers. Our patience is wearing thin. Thank you for your attention to this matter!&ldquo; he further wrote.</p>
<p>In a separate post on the same platform, Trump called for Iran&rsquo;s &ldquo;UNCONDITIONAL SURRENDER!&rdquo;</p>
<h3><strong>US Vice President Vance Backs Trump&rsquo;s Iran Strategy</strong></h3>
<p>US Vice President JD Vance on Tuesday publicly addressed growing speculation and commentary around President Donald Trump&rsquo;s Iran policy, offering what he called an &ldquo;inside&rdquo; perspective. Taking to social media platform X, Vance said he felt compelled to clarify the administration&rsquo;s stance in light of what he described as &ldquo;a lot of crazy stuff on social media&rdquo;.</p>
<p>&ldquo;Look, I&rsquo;m seeing this from the inside, and am admittedly biased towards our president (and my friend), but there&rsquo;s a lot of crazy stuff on social media, so I wanted to address some things directly on the Iran issue,&rdquo; Vance wrote.</p>
<p>Vance stressed that President Trump has maintained a consistent stance for over a decade that Iran must not be allowed to acquire a nuclear weapon. He revealed that the President had urged his foreign policy team in recent months to secure a deal with Tehran to ensure this objective.</p>
<p>&ldquo;The president has made clear that Iran cannot have uranium enrichment. And he said repeatedly that this would happen one of two ways&mdash;the easy way or the &lsquo;other&rsquo; way,&rdquo; Vance stated.</p>
<p>He added that the Trump administration had sought a diplomatic route, but Iran rejected offers that would have allowed civilian nuclear power without enrichment.</p>
<p>Clarifying the difference between civilian nuclear energy and uranium enrichment, Vance accused Iran of pushing well beyond what is necessary for non-military purposes.</p>
<p>&ldquo;These are distinct issues. Iran could have civilian nuclear power without enrichment, but Iran rejected that. Meanwhile, they&rsquo;ve enriched uranium far above the level necessary for any civilian purpose,&rdquo; he wrote.</p>
<p>Vance pointed to the International Atomic Energy Agency&rsquo;s (IAEA) findings, noting that the watchdog &mdash; which he emphasised is &ldquo;hardly a rightwing organisation&rdquo; &mdash; had found Iran in violation of its non-proliferation commitments.</p>
<p>&ldquo;I have yet to see a single good argument for why Iran needed to enrich uranium well above the threshold for civilian use,&rdquo; he added.</p>
<p>Acknowledging public fears of deeper foreign entanglements, Vance said such concerns were valid given the &ldquo;last 25 years of idiotic foreign policy&rdquo;. However, he urged trust in President Trump&rsquo;s judgment.</p>
<p>&ldquo;He may decide he needs to take further action to end Iranian enrichment. That decision ultimately belongs to the president,&rdquo; Vance noted.</p>
<p>&ldquo;But I believe the president has earned some trust on this issue. And having seen this up close and personal, I can assure you that he is only interested in using the American military to accomplish the American people&rsquo;s goals. Whatever he does, that is his focus.&rdquo;&nbsp;</p>
<p>His remarks come amid reports from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), which confirmed satellite imagery showing structural damage to underground uranium enrichment halls at Iran&rsquo;s Natanz facility. The damage reportedly occurred after Israeli airstrikes last Friday. The Natanz site is widely considered one of the most fortified in Iran&rsquo;s nuclear infrastructure.</p>