The human cost of President Donald Trump’s military campaign against Iran has already reached devastating proportions, with more than 1,230 people confirmed dead in that country after seven days of relentless bombardment. Yet the defense secretary and the president himself have both signaled that the worst is not behind the region but ahead of it, as the United States prepares to surge its military power even further.
American B-2 stealth bombers have been at the forefront of the campaign, striking Iran’s most protected military assets with specialized penetrating munitions. On Friday alone, dozens of 2,000-pound bombs were dropped on deeply buried ballistic missile launch sites. A large Iranian naval vessel was struck and possibly sunk. The head of US Central Command confirmed the operations in detail. The defense secretary then told the world to expect dramatically more from American forces in the coming days.
Israel has matched American intensity in Lebanon. The Israeli military ordered the evacuation of over one million people from Beirut and surrounding regions, including the entire Dahiyeh district, a Hezbollah stronghold of more than 600,000 residents. When Israeli jets struck the emptied area, they found a ghost town of abandoned buildings that were quickly reduced to rubble. Hezbollah fought on regardless, firing rockets and wounding Israeli soldiers near the border with anti-tank weapons.
Iran continues its retaliatory campaign across the broader region. Missiles and drones have struck at US military bases in four Gulf states. Some attacks were intercepted; others caused civilian and infrastructure damage. Additional missiles have been aimed at Israel. The Revolutionary Guards have promised to deploy new, unspecified weapons. Iranian state television has broadcast scenes of mass mourning in Tehran, with Friday prayers drawing large crowds of people dressed in black, weeping for the slain supreme leader.
One of the war’s most tragic single incidents was an airstrike on an Iranian girls’ school that killed more than 100 students. US military investigators believe American forces were likely responsible, though a final determination has not been reached. The incident drew widespread international condemnation. Trump did not directly address it. He was focused instead on making Iran surrender — promising immunity to those who helped and destruction to those who did not.
Trump’s War Has Killed 1,230 Iranians. He Says the Worst Is Yet to Come.
