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Trump urges Iran's 'unconditional surrender,' says they know where ayatollah's hiding
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Published Jun 17, 2025 • 6 minute read
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A handout picture provided by the Iranian supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei's office shows him waving during a ceremony on the occasion of 36rd death anniversary of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, in Tehran on June 4, 2025. Photo by KHAMENEI.IR /AFP via Getty ImagesWASHINGTON — President Donald Trump said Tuesday the U.S. knows where Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei is hiding during the Israel-Iran conflict but doesn’t want him killed “for now.”
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Trump urged, in a social media posting, Iran’s “UNCONDITIONAL SURRENDER” as the five-day conflict continues to escalate.
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“We know exactly where the so-called ‘Supreme Leader’ is hiding,” Trump added. “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’t want missiles shot at civilians, or American soldiers. Our patience is wearing thin.”
Trump’s increasingly muscular comments toward the Iranian government come after he urged Tehran’s 9.5 million residents to flee for their lives as he cut short his participation in an international summit to return to Washington for urgent talks with his national security team.
The comments about Khamenei and calls for surrender came shortly after Trump in a separate posting touted complete control of the skies over Tehran.
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Trump in the opening days of the conflict rejected a plan presented by Israel to kill Khamenei, according to a U.S. official familiar with the matter, who was not authorized to comment on the sensitive matter and spoke on the condition of anonymity.
The Israelis had informed the Trump administration that they had developed a credible plan to kill Khamenei. But White House officials informed the Israelis that Trump opposed such a move. Administration officials were concerned that the plan to kill Khamenei could enflame the conflict and potentially destabilize the region.
Trump returned to the White House from his abbreviated trip to the G7 summit in the Canadian Rockies early Tuesday at a moment of choosing in his presidency.
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Israel says it killed top Iranian general, Trump warns people to flee Tehran
Israel, with five days of missile strikes, has done considerable damage to Iran and believes it can now deal a permanent blow to Tehran’s nuclear program — particularly if it gets a little more help from the Republican president.
But deepening American involvement, perhaps by providing the Israelis with bunker-busting bombs to penetrate Iranian nuclear sites built deep underground or offering other direct U.S. military support, comes with enormous political risk for Trump.
Trump, as he made his way back to Washington, expressed frustration with Iranian leaders for failing to reach an agreement. He said he was now looking for “a real end” to the conflict and a “complete give-up” of Tehran’s nuclear program.
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“They should have done the deal. I told them, ‘Do the deal,”‘ Trump told reporters on Air Force One. “So I don’t know. I’m not too much in the mood to negotiate.”
Iran has insisted that its nuclear program is for peaceful purposes only, and U.S. intelligence agencies have assessed that Tehran is not actively pursuing a bomb.
Trump, who held a Situation Room meeting with advisers on Tuesday afternoon, has been gradually building the public case for a more direct American role in the conflict. His shift in tone comes as the U.S. has repositioned warships and military aircraft in the region to respond if the conflict between Israel and Iran further escalates.
Meanwhile, the State Department created a special task force to assist Americans seeking to leave Israel and other Mideast countries, although no government evacuations are currently planned. There are some 700,000 Americans, many of them dual U.S.-Israeli citizens, now in Israel and thousands more in other Mideast countries, including Iran.
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President Donald Trump speaks with reporters while flying aboard Air Force One en route from Calgary, Alta., to Joint Base Andrews, Md., late Monday, June 16, 2025. Photo by Mark Schiefelbein /AP PhotoTrump made early departure from G7Trump left the G7 summit a full day early so he could return to Washington to focus his attention on the Mideast crisis. Trump, while at the summit, also raised alarms when he urged Iranians with a social media posting to “immediately evacuate Tehran.”
Asked about his evacuation comment, Trump told reporters: “I just want people to be safe.”
Trump said he wasn’t ruling out a diplomatic option and he could send Vice-President JD Vance and special envoy Steve Witkoff to meet with the Iranians.
He also dismissed congressional testimony from National Intelligence Director Tulsi Gabbard, who told lawmakers in March that U.S. spy agencies did not believe Iran was building a nuclear weapon.
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“I don’t care what she said,” Trump said. “I think they were very close to having it.”
Gabbard on Tuesday brushed off the inconsistency, blaming the media for misconstruing her earlier testimony and asserting that “President Trump was saying the same thing that I said.”
Speculation grows Trump may be tilting toward more direct involvementThe Israelis say their offensive has eviscerated Iran’s air defences and they can now strike targets across the country at will. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says the Israeli bombardment will continue until Iran’s nuclear program and ballistic missiles are destroyed.
So far, Israel has targeted multiple Iranian nuclear program sites but has not been able to destroy Iran’s Fordo uranium enrichment facility.
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The site is buried deep underground — and to eliminate it, Israel may need the 30,000-pound GBU-57 Massive Ordnance Penetrator, which uses its weight and sheer kinetic force to reach deeply buried targets and then explode. But Israel does not have the munition or the bomber needed to deliver it — the penetrator is currently delivered by the B-2 stealth bomber.
Israel’s defences remain largely intact in the face of Iran’s retaliatory strikes, but some of Tehran’s missiles are getting through and having deadly impact.
Trump and Netanyahu spoke by phone on Tuesday about the evolving situation, according to a White House official who was not authorized to comment publicly and spoke on the condition of anonymity.
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Widening schism over Iran among MAGA supportersTrump bristled when asked about some of his MAGA faithful, including conservative pundit Tucker Carlson, who have suggested that further U.S. involvement would be a betrayal to supporters who were drawn to his promise to end U.S. involvement in expensive and endless wars.
“Somebody please explain to kooky Tucker Carlson that,’ IRAN CAN NOT HAVE A NUCLEAR WEAPON!”‘ the president wrote on social media.
Other prominent Trump supporters and Republican lawmakers have also raised concerns about how far the president should go in backing Israel.
Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia, former Trump adviser Steve Bannon and Turning Point USA founder Charlie Kirk are among prominent Trump World allies who have noted that voters backed Trump because he promised not to entangle the nation in foreign clashes and to be wary of expanding U.S. involvement in the Mideast conflict.
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And Reps. Thomas Massie, a Republican from Kentucky, and Ro Khanna, a California Democrat, introduced a resolution on Tuesday that calls on Trump to “terminate” the use of U.S. armed forces against Iran unless “explicitly authorized” by a declaration of war from Congress.
In a Tuesday posting on X, Vance said he wanted to address “a lot of crazy stuff on social media” about Trump’s approach to Iran.
Vance made the case that Trump has been consistent that “Iran cannot have uranium enrichment” and has said “repeatedly that this would happen one of two ways — the easy way or the ‘other’ way.”
There are also Trump backers, including Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., who are making the case that this is Trump’s moment to deliver a decisive blow to Iran. Graham is calling for Trump to “go all-in” in backing Israel and destroying Iran’s nuclear program.
— Associated Press writers Josh Boak, Tara Copp, Kevin Freking, David Klepper, Matthew Lee, Darlene Superville and Will Weissert contributed to this report.
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