Iran Warns Trump: “Bring Enough Coffins” If US Starts All-Out War

An Iranian hardliner has warned Donald Trump to “bring enough coffins” if the US wages all-out war with the country.

Ebrahim Rezaei, a spokesperson for the Iranian parliament’s national security commission, said Tehran was “not willing to bury the bodies of American soldiers on the pure soil of Iran” following US strikes on three nuclear sites early on Sunday morning. Citing the use of US B-2 bombers in the campaign to destroy Iran’s nuclear programme, Rezaei added: “Bring a sufficient number of coffins with you, along with the B-2.”

The attack could signal a turning point in the Iran-Israel conflict, with Iranian authorities previously pledging to retaliate if Donald Trump’s administration increased its involvement in the war. While world leaders responded to the strikes by calling for diplomacy, hardliners including the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps warned of retaliation “beyond enemy calculations”.

US Secretary of Defence Pete Hegseth said America was not “seeking war” with Iran in the wake of the attack, adding that it was important to note that the strikes hadn’t targeted Iranian troops or people.

“This mission was not and has not been about regime change,” he said.

Trump also wrote on Truth Social shortly after news of the strikes emerged: “This is an HISTORIC MOMENT FOR THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, ISRAEL, AND THE WORLD. IRAN MUST NOW AGREE TO END THIS WAR. THANK YOU!”

The US President did not receive congressional authorisation for the strikes, but said he was prepared to launch further attacks if Tehran retaliates – warning that “there will either be peace or there will be tragedy for Iran”.

Iran’s foreign ministry responded that US had “betrayed diplomacy” by joining Israel’s nine-day campaign in the country, and had “itself launched a dangerous war against Iran”.

Experts have warned that the world could enter a “new era of terrorism” after the escalation of the Middle Eastern conflict.

Former UK national security advisor Lord Ricketts told the BBC: “This is a major strike against [Iran’s] key strategic assets and so I think we have to expect that they will try and get back at American bases, American economic installations, possibly even America’s allies in the Gulf.”

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He added that it would likely be a “relief” to the UK government that Trump didn’t ask to use the joint US-UK military base on Diego Garcia to launch the attack.

“That would have meant that the UK would have to take a view on the legality of this – that they avoided doing,” Lord Ricketts said.

Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer confirmed that there was no UK involvement in the attack and said his focus was on “de-escalating, getting people back around to negotiate what is a very real threat in relation to the nuclear programme”.