DONALD Trump last night boasted that US and Israeli forces had hammered Iran as he accepted a plea from the rogue state for talks and said: “They should’ve done it sooner.”
The US President said Iranian military bases and command centres had been smashed and nine warships sunk — with the rest of Iran’s navy in the line of fire.
Commander-in-chief Trump went on to reveal that surviving regime members had asked to negotiate after Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei was wiped out along with nearly 50 henchmen.
His agreement to talk came as Iranian forces continued to lash out wildly at US bases, warships, tankers and allies — sowing death and destruction across the region.
Mr Trump, who launched Operation Epic Fury after Iran blocked his no-nukes demand last week, said yesterday: “They want to talk, and I have agreed to talk.
“They should have done it sooner. They should have given what was very practical and easy to do sooner. They waited too long.”
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However, it was unclear last night when he would invite the Iranians back to resume negotiations which fell flat last week in Oman.
Asked about timings as war continued to rage across the Middle East, Mr Trump said: “I can’t tell you that.” He said several negotiators had been killed in the attacks.
The President added: “Most of those people are gone. . . because that was a big hit. They could have made a deal. They should’ve done it sooner. They played too cute.”
Mr Trump later went on his Truth Social platform to announce the success of strikes on Iran’s navy.
He said: “I have just been informed that we have destroyed and sunk 9 Iranian Naval Ships, some of them relatively large and important.
“We are going after the rest — they will soon be floating at the bottom of the sea, also! In a different attack, we largely destroyed their Naval Headquarters. Other than that, their Navy is doing very well!”
He continued to urge Iranians to rise up and “take back” their country. Iran’s missiles, drones and naval vessels unleashed a firestorm within hours of the death of Khamenei, 86, whose body was found in rubble at his compound in Tehran.
A state TV host broke down in tears as he announced 40 days of mourning for the “martyr” who had presided over the deaths of as many as 35,000 protesters since December.
Rabid anti-West former President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, 69 — who famously said Israel “must be wiped off the map” — was also dispatched.
“Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) launched what it called its “most intensive offensive” ever following the deaths, warning “the land and sea will increasingly become the graveyard of the terrorist aggressors”.
Yet Israel targeted the “heart” of Tehran as a massive blast struck the capital early yesterday, sending a plume of smoke into the sky.
It appeared centred on Iran’s police HQ and state television.
Key survivors of Israel and America’s withering attacks were baying for revenge last night.
They included Khamenei’s former top henchman, President Masoud Pezeshkian, who now heads the caretaker council holding power.
He called the US and Israeli joint operations “an open declaration of war against Muslims”.
Iran’s parliamentary speaker, Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf, said: “We will deliver such devastating blows you will be driven to beg.”
Iran claimed yesterday to have launched 541 drones and 165 missiles at targets across the Middle East, taking aim at Qatar, Bahrain, Abu Dhabi, Kuwait and Oman.
The IRGC said they attacked nearly 30 US military sites across the Middle East yesterday morning.
Three US service personnel were confirmed killed with at least five injured in air strikes.
In the UAE, at least three people died. Smoke was seen rising from Dubai International Airport for a second day and the Burj Al Arab hotel was hit, just hours after a nearby hotel went up in flames.
In Kuwait, one civilian was killed and 32 hurt by Iranian drones and debris from missile interceptions.
In Israel, a direct hit on a bomb shelter killed at least nine people and injured 28 others in Beit Shemesh, west of Jerusalem.
Iran claimed to have hit the USS Abraham Lincoln with four ballistic missiles. But US military chiefs said the rockets “didn’t even come close”.
Iran also claimed to have attacked three US and UK oil tankers in the vital Strait of Hormuz waterway.
No damage was reported and Mr Trump — commanding the biggest strike force assembled in the Middle East since 2003’s Gulf War II — fired back: “If they do that we will hit them with a force that’s never been seen before.”
A near-total internet blackout continued for a second day in Iran as Khamenei’s remaining henchmen desperately clung to power.
