Pezeshkian Says Middle East Wars Amount to ‘Ecocide’

Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian on Friday urged countries to condemn what he described as “ecocide” in the Middle East caused by “wars of aggression”.

Speaking at a nature summit in Armenia attended by UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, Pezeshkian said the conflicts in Gaza and across the Middle East had caused serious environmental damage that crossed national borders and required “international solutions”.

“What has occurred in our region as a result of wars of aggression is ecocide, or environmental genocide, and it must be condemned,” he said.

Trump Rules Out Nuclear Weapons Against Iran

US President Donald Trump ruled out using nuclear weapons against Iran, saying the United States did not need them. He also clarified that the “mother of all bombs” was a conventional weapon, not a nuclear bomb.

During an interview with Newsmax on Thursday, Trump said, “The mother of all bombs is not nuclear,” describing it as an extremely large bomb.

He also said the US was considering further strikes against Iran’s nuclear facilities, including a suspected underground site known as Pickaxe Mountain.

“Now, we’re looking at Pickaxe Mountain. We may have to go there,” Trump said.

However, he said he did not expect American ground troops to be involved in such an operation.

Trump added that the United States wanted to ensure Iran would never obtain nuclear weapons and suggested further military action might be needed within a year if that goal was not secured.

Trump Says Iran War Will End Soon

Trump predicted that the war with Iran would end soon, saying Tehran was negotiating with Washington.

“The Iran war will be over very soon. It’s going to end very soon,” he said.

He added that oil and gas prices would fall sharply once the conflict ended.

Trump also claimed that Iranian officials had asked the United States to stop military operations by America and Israel.

“They’ve asked us to please stop. And we do, because we’re negotiating with them,” he said.

Asked whether he trusted Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Trump replied, “I don’t trust anybody, honestly.”

Iran Says Strait of Hormuz Will Remain Closed Until Its Rights Are Respected

Iranian Army chief Major General Amir Hatami said the Strait of Hormuz would remain closed until the rights of the Iranian people were respected, according to Iran’s IRNA news agency on Friday.

Speaking at a ceremony in Tehran on Thursday, Hatami said the war began because Iran’s opponents underestimated the country’s strength and military capabilities.

He said the Iranian Army and the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) responded forcefully, launching attacks against their opponents from the early hours of the conflict.

Report Warns US Missile Defence Shortages Could Last Until 2030

Former US Army Chief of Staff General Randy George warned months before the US-Israeli war against Iran that American missile defence supplies were critically low and could take until 2030 to recover, CBS News reported on Thursday.

According to US officials familiar with his assessment, George raised the issue in late December, about two months before the war began. Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth removed him from his post in April while the conflict was underway.

The assessment identified shortages of Terminal High Altitude Area Defence (THAAD) interceptors and Patriot missiles. Supplies could remain at strategically low levels until 2030.

Officials reportedly linked the shortages to weapons sent to Ukraine, US military support for Israel and limited production capacity in the defence industry.

The war with Iran has put further pressure on US supplies. A Centre for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) estimate said the US entered 2026 with around 2,300 Patriot interceptors and used between 1,050 and 1,430 during the conflict.

The US had around 355 THAAD interceptors before the war, with an estimated 190 to 290 used during the conflict.

Mark Cancian, a retired Marine colonel and senior adviser at CSIS, told CBS News that missile defence systems would be crucial in a possible conflict with China.

“Air defence — missile defence — that will be huge,” he said, explaining that a major conflict with Beijing would require large numbers of interceptors.

Replacing the weapons takes time. According to CSIS estimates, new THAAD interceptor contracts take more than four years to complete, while Patriot PAC-3 orders take an average of three and a half years.

However, the Pentagon rejected claims of a shortage. Chief spokesman Sean Parnell told CBS News: “Claims of US munitions shortages are false.”

He added that Washington retains “everything required to strike at the time and place of the President’s choosing.”