The United Nations Secretary-General and the UN high commissioner for human rights both made urgent public appeals on Friday for the parties to the Middle East conflict to step back from the brink. They were appealing to a president who has demanded unconditional surrender, a prime minister who has promised additional military surprises, and a revolutionary guard that has vowed to deploy new weapons. None of them is listening.
The military campaign pressed forward with undiminished intensity. American B-2 stealth bombers struck Iran’s underground missile infrastructure with dozens of penetrating munitions. A large Iranian naval vessel was hit and possibly sunk. Israel issued mass evacuation orders in Lebanon covering more than one million people and struck Hezbollah positions across Beirut and its suburbs. The defense secretary promised that US firepower was about to surge significantly. The IDF chief said Israel was entering a new and more destructive phase.
Iran continued its retaliatory operations across the Gulf. Missiles and drones were launched at US military bases in Kuwait, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and Bahrain. Several were intercepted; others caused damage, including strikes on civilian buildings in Bahrain. Additional missiles were fired at Israel. Hezbollah maintained its rocket campaign in Lebanon. The Revolutionary Guards promised new weapons and tactics. Iranian state television broadcast scenes of mass mourning and defiance in Tehran.
The humanitarian toll continues to mount. More than 1,230 Iranians have been killed. Six Americans have died. Lebanon counts 217 dead and nearly 800 wounded. An airstrike on an Iranian girls’ school killed more than 100 students, in what US investigators now believe was likely an American strike. Over one million Lebanese are displaced. Iran’s internet has collapsed to approximately 1% of normal capacity. The Red Cross has described scenes of mass panic across Lebanon.
The UN human rights chief’s words captured the despair of the international community: the world needs steps to contain this blaze, he said, but instead sees only more bombing, more destruction, and more escalation. France condemned an attack on the UN’s Ghanaian peacekeeping battalion. Ireland’s taoiseach called it reckless. The British government deployed additional fighters to the region while carefully avoiding any offensive operations. And Trump responded to all appeals by demanding Iran’s unconditional surrender. The blaze is spreading.