Iran’s political and military leadership is issuing stark threats against the United States and announcing further attacks in the region. An Iranian newspaper showed photos of American troops on its front page and warned that U.S. soldiers would leave Iranian soil “only in coffins.” Parliament Speaker Mohammad-Bagher Ghalibaf said the United States was publicly sending messages of negotiation while covertly planning a ground invasion; Iranian forces, he claimed, were waiting for troops to enter so they could “set them ablaze” and punish them and their regional partners permanently. At the same time, images circulated of destroyed aircraft at Saudi Arabia’s Prince Sultan Air Base near Riyadh, including an E-3G airborne early warning aircraft and several KC-135 tankers; contrary to earlier statements from within the U.S. administration’s orbit, the damage there was said to be substantial. The head of the Revolutionary Guards’ aerospace force, General Majid Mousavi, spoke of continued attacks to disable radar networks and logistics and of further planned strikes on “high-value targets,” while Iranian missile and drone attacks continued in several Gulf states and, according to the account, Israel suffered serious hits overnight; the report also mentioned 13 evacuated U.S. military bases in the Middle East.
Iran’s vice president said the “order” in the Strait of Hormuz would no longer be as it was in the past, and that the government aimed to turn military “achievements” into economic and security benefits. Iran’s naval commander, Rear Admiral Shahram Irani, threatened to target the U.S. carrier strike group centered on the “Abraham Lincoln” with coastal missiles once it entered range, referring to “Denna martyrs” in connection with an Iranian ship previously damaged by a U.S. torpedo near Sri Lanka in which more than a hundred people died. On the U.S. side, reactions and public statements by Donald Trump were portrayed mainly as social-media posts, including the claim that Iran was “weak” and was begging “like dogs” for a deal. In addition, it was reported that Pope Leo XIV said in unusually forceful remarks on Palm Sunday in St. Peter’s Square that God rejects the prayers of leaders who wage war and that Jesus cannot be used to justify wars, as the “Iran war,” under this account, entered its second month.