ERBIL, Kurdistan Region of Iraq – US President Donald Trump said Saturday that Iran will be “hit very hard” unless it “surrenders or, more likely, completely collapses,” adding that Tehran no longer holds the regional power it once had following what he described as its apology to neighboring countries after recent strikes.

Earlier on Saturday, Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian announced that Tehran has decided not to attack neighboring countries and suspend missile strikes unless they are attacked from them, coming after a week of incessant Iranian strikes on regional countries, while apologizing to regional countries. 

“Today Iran will be hit very hard! Under serious consideration for complete destruction and certain death, because of Iran’s bad behavior, are areas and groups of people that were not considered for targeting up until this moment in time,” Trump said in a post on his Truth Social account. 

The US president added that it is the “first time that Iran has ever lost, in thousands of years, to surrounding Middle Eastern Countries,” while stressing that “Iran is no longer the ‘Bully of the Middle East,’ they are, instead, ‘THE LOSER OF THE MIDDLE EAST.”

Tehran will stay in that situation “until they surrender or, more likely, completely collapse.”

“Iran, which is being beat to HELL, has apologized and surrendered to its Middle East neighbors, and promised that it will not shoot at them anymore. This promise was only made because of the relentless US and Israeli attack. They were looking to take over and rule the Middle East,” Trump said.

The US and Israel on Saturday morning launched a large-scale military offensive across Iran, leading to the death of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei in an airstrike.

Iran has responded to the US-Israeli attacks by launching ballistic missiles and drones toward US interests across the region, killing at least six US personnel, while also causing heavy material damage and additional casualties in the countries hosting the bases.

So far, Iran has targeted multiple countries amid the conflict, with Azerbaijan the latest addition, while Israel, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Qatar, Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Oman, Cyprus, Syria, and Turkey have also been struck, alongside military bases of the US and the United Kingdom.

The US and several Arab states on Monday issued a joint statement condemning Iranian missile and drone attacks targeting countries in the region, including the Kurdistan Region, and reiterated their right to self-defense.