Iranian official says Trump could face drone attack at Mar-a-Lago

Many are convinced it will start again.

“More homes will collapse. More people will die,” says Masoud, the electrician fixing the lights in our building’s corridors. “We have our carry-on ready by the door.”

Fears aren’t as sharp as last week, but many in the neighborhood still talk about safe and unsafe spots. The strike on Evin Prison—and the video of a blast at a busy junction in northern Tehran—hammered home the reality of war.

“We were at my in-laws’, right next to the prison. We thought it was the safest place—no way they’d hit a prison. But they did,” says Shadi, who lives with her husband and their two children in the apartment above us.

“The chandelier broke off and glass shattered everywhere. My son and his grandma had surface cuts. It could have been far worse.”

The prison bombing has seeded a new fear, Shadi says. “If even the prison isn’t safe, then what is? Not hospitals, not universities, not schools, not kindergartens.”

Kindergarten—that’s another image that cannot be unseen: shattered dolls and toys flung across the room. By sheer chance, it had closed 15 minutes before impact.

'Did they hit again?'

Officials say over 3,200 residential units were destroyed in Tehran. Thousands are now homeless. The wreckage has chipped away at war supporters.

One of them is a close friend of mine from university—Yara.

Before, when I warned that war meant destruction, he’d say: “This isn’t war. It’s just precision strikes against officials and bases, not civilians.”

Yara was lucky not to be physically hurt, but he was close enough to enough loud explosions to have nightmares—per his partner.

“He still jumps up at night and asks me, zadan (did they hit?)”

'They're still here'

Not all war supporters have changed their minds. In many homes, even emotional bonds were frayed under the bombs. When the ceasefire came, some were relieved, others angry.

“We endured the war, and they’re still here,” you hear many say.

They—who are still here—refers to Iran’s ruling elite, the Islamic Republic, the regime, as many prefer to call it.

Quite a few people I know hoped a few days of bombing would force the regime to collapse or walk away. The further you get from the epicenter, the deeper the divide, perhaps because you haven’t heard the blasts or watched the walls crumble.

I remember a conversation on day two of the war, before the full fear had set in. I asked a cousin and his wife to leave Tehran with us, for the sake of their kids.

“What if there are evacuation alerts like Beirut?” I implored. “Tehran will lock down. You won’t be able to leave.”

They refused, pointing me to their conversations with ChatGPT.

In the worst-case scenario, you could grab your bag and walk a couple of blocks to safety, they argued. “Any such alert would cover a couple of alleys at most. That’s what a precision strike is.”

ChatGPT had reassured them.

A new reality

Later, they told me what happened when evacuation orders hit districts six and seven—two major parts of the city. They had stayed. We had left.

“People were fleeing in panic in the middle of the night. Car horns nonstop,” my cousin’s wife said. “I sat in the car with my head in my hands, hoping nothing would explode nearby.”

That’s everyone’s fear these days—that the pause in fighting ends and they, or someone they love, are near an unannounced target of another “precision strike.”

And then there are the costs few talk about.

Many companies have laid off staff. It’s peak moving season in Tehran—leases ending, rents rising. People don’t know whether to stay, sign, or leave.

We thought we were used to suspended life—constant inflation, sudden, irreversible shifts in the economy and politics. But this is something else. A new phase entirely.

"Our so-called enemies were watching. They watched every minute of it," Trump said at a televised Cabinet meeting on Tuesday.

"It was a perfect military performance, the likes of which we haven't seen in a long time," he added recalling the operation codenamed Midnight Hammer.

“What was demonstrated on the world stage was American military might and capability,” Pete Hegseth said in his brief before the president spoke.

“It was not just Fordow and Isfahan and Natanz, but the whole world took notice of that.”

The June 22 strikes targeted Iran's three key nuclear sites with bunker-buster bombs. It was hailed "perfect" by the Trump administration but questioned by some Democratic lawmakers citing an early intelligence assessment.

Trump rejected doubts about the strikes' impact, praising the pilots and others involved.

“Those machines flew for 37 straight hours. They didn’t stop. They went skedaddle... They dropped the bombs, and somebody said skedaddle... And every bomb hit its mark—and hit it incredibly,” he said

"They were right in the most dangerous airspace in the world…and they went right through…by the time they (Iran) found out they were there, they were already gone. That was the word, skedaddle, get the hell out of here," he added.

The unnamed official, speaking under customary anonymity, said that “very few” sites were hit and all remained operational.

No further details were provided by the official on the specific locations or extent of the damage.

Iran launched multiple waves of missile against Israel during the 12-day war that began on 13 June when Israeli airstrikes hit Iranian nuclear and military sites and killed several IRGC top commanders.

Iranian strikes frequently targeted major cities including Tel Aviv and Haifa, as well as military areas around Beersheba.

Several residential buildings were also hit, though the Israeli military said most of the missiles and drones were intercepted.

Iran and Israel agreed to a US-backed ceasefire on June 24 after the United States bombed the Islamic Republic's nuclear facilities.

The British daily Telegraph reported on Monday that Iranian missiles struck five Israeli military facilities, citing satellite radar data reviewed by US researchers.

The data, provided by a research group at Oregon State University, suggest that six Iranian missiles hit military targets across northern, central, and southern Israel, including what the report describes as a major air base, an intelligence facility, and a logistics center.

A more comprehensive analysis of the damage to both Israeli and Iranian infrastructure is expected from the Oregon State research group within two weeks, according to the report.

After the 12-day war which saw 15,500 Israelis displaced and 28 dead, respondents were asked, “In your opinion, did Israel achieve its goals in the war against Iran?”

The majority of Jews, 60%, think that Israel achieved most or all of the goals it set for itself when it launched surprise attacks on Iran on June 13.

However, there were large differences between Jews and the country’s 20% Arab population, of whom only 37% said they agree.

The survey, published by the independent think-tank on Monday, was based on a representative sample of the population in Israel aged 18 and above, comprising 603 Jewish interviewees and 150 Arab interviewees.

The majority of Jewish Israelis had backed war with Iran, but in the wake of the operation which saw more than 450 ballistic missiles fired at the Jewish state, reflections on the operation’s enduring success continue.

US President Donald Trump says that Iran’s nuclear program was “obliterated” by American strikes on Iran's three key nuclear facilities which took place after Israel destroyed swathes of Iran's military infrastructure.

The war left over 1,100 Iranians dead and thousands more injured, according to rights group HRANA.

“The hackers may have accessed the computers of affected colleagues by installing malware via their compromised Telegram accounts. These incidents have been addressed as part of our continuing work with the relevant security authorities,” read a statement by the channel.

Earlier on Tuesday, Iranian state outlets published screenshots from internal Telegram chats linked to Iran International.

The attacks were carried out by the cyber group known as Banished Kitten (also referred to as Storm-0842 and Dune). The group operates under the Cyber Threat Countermeasures Unit of the Domestic Security Directorate of Iran’s Ministry of Intelligence, under the supervision of Yahya Hosseini Panjaki, whose
identity was first exposed by Iran International.

"These cyberattacks are part of a broader campaign of threats targeting Iran International, including physical threats against our staff," the statement added.

"As a news organization committed to independent journalism, we implemented the necessary measures following these incidents to protect our staff and audiences," it said.

"We remain resolute in our mission to deliver accurate, uncensored news to our audience, and we will not allow these threats—online or offline—to disrupt our work. These attempts to intimidate us will not succeed," the channel added.

Iran International is a Persian-language TV news network that broadcasts 24/7 and has a strong following in Iran, despite government efforts to restrict access to the internet and satellite signals. Tehan has labelled it a terrorist organisation.

Iran International has previously been the subject of threats and attacks. In 2023, a man was convicted under terrorism laws after filming outside its premises, and in 2024, Pouria Zeraati, the television host of the "Last Word" program on Iran International was stabbed in London.