TEHRAN — U.S. President Donald Trump appears to be in a completely different headspace from many fellow politicians in the United States and across the West, saying in a social media post that he wants “unconditional surrender” from Iran while U.S. regional bases continue to be struck and energy prices rise around the world.

In a post on Truth Social, the U.S. president said there “will be no deal with Iran except UNCONDITIONAL SURRENDER.” It is not clear what deal he is referring to, as Iran has said it will not negotiate with Washington again after being attacked twice by the United States in the middle of nuclear negotiations.

Trump, together with the Israeli regime led by convicted war criminal Benjamin Netanyahu, began their second war against Iran in eight months on February 28. They assassinated the Leader of the Islamic Revolution, Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei, along with several members of his family in the initial hours of the war by striking his Tehran office and residence, whose locations were publicly known.

The U.S. president appeared to believe the Islamic Republic would be toppled after Ayatollah Khamenei’s killing, analysts say. However, law and order has remained intact despite nonstop bombardment, and Iranian people have been taking to the streets every night not to topple the government—as the U.S. and Israel had hoped and called for—but to voice support for the Islamic Republic.

Decision-makers in Washington also did not appear to expect the scale of Iran’s retaliation, analysts add, as the U.S. government issued evacuation orders for its citizens in regional countries only three days into the war.

Billions of dollars’ worth of U.S. military equipment has reportedly been destroyed in Iranian attacks on American bases in Kuwait, Bahrain, the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Jordan, and Iraq. It took the U.S. military at least four decades to establish these installations.

Billions more have been lost due to the successful interception of U.S. assets by Iranian air defense systems. At least four F-15 fighter jets, 32 Hermes drones, two Heron drones, and five MQ-9 drones have been downed so far. Around 500 U.S. personnel have been killed, according to Iranian figures.

In his latest post on social media, Trump said he was going to “make Iran great again” through the ongoing war. He did not mention the more than 1,200 Iranians the U.S. military has killed so far in attacks on civilian sites, including 170 girls aged 7 to 13 in an attack on an all-girls school in southern Iran.

U.S. senators are voicing frustration with Trump’s decision to enter a war with Iran. They say the president did not appear to present clear reasons for the war and does not have a strategy for how to exit it.

“There are times when you go into a classified session and you walk out with a better understanding of the gravity of the situation and the rationale behind a military action,” Senator Cory Booker told reporters after attending a classified session on the Iran war with the Trump administration. “This is not one of those times,” he added, echoing similar remarks by several U.S. lawmakers who have attended such briefings in recent days.

“We remain as confused as the American people are,” the senator said.

Concern has also spread to Washington’s European allies, including the E3—Germany, Britain, and France. These countries backed the 12-day war against Iran in June and helped the Trump administration ramp up pressure on Tehran in August by triggering the snapback of pre-JCPOA UN sanctions. The 2015 accord had been designed to limit Iran’s nuclear activities in exchange for the termination of sanctions, but it was effectively torn up by Washington in 2018 and later abandoned by its European signatories.

German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said on Thursday that he is “appealing to both Washington and the Israeli government" to stop the destabilization of Iran. Merz had previously described the killing of Iranians as Europe’s “dirty work” carried out by Israel during the June war. This time, however, he appears concerned about the effects of the conflict on the European economy, given that Iran’s closure of the Strait of Hormuz has already significantly increased energy prices across the continent.

Iranians, meanwhile, say they will continue attacking U.S. assets in the region as well as Israeli positions in the occupied territories until the enemy has “learned its lesson.”

“We have decided that we will not back down or let the United States walk away without consequences. We will not stop this war,” said Brigadier General Kiomars Heidari, the deputy commander of the Khatam al-Anbiya Central Headquarters, the body overseeing the current war.

Iran will continue until the seas are filled with the coffins of American officers, NCOs, and soldiers being sent back to the United States, the commander added.

“For us, it does not matter how long this war lasts. We have already experienced an eight-year war before. We will end this war only when we have achieved our goals and forced the enemy to regret its disgraceful actions.”