Trump has given Iran until Tuesday evening to reopen the Strait of Hormuz or face U.S. strikes on power plants and bridges.
Trump’s Press Briefing Ends
After more than an hour and 20 minutes, President Donald Trump’s press briefing on the war in Iran, including the rescue of two F-15 crew members, has ended.
Trump Calls Out Non-NATO Countries for Not Helping With Iran
President Donald Trump called out South Korea, Australia, and Japan, countries that are not in the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), as well as NATO itself, for declining to help with the ongoing war with Iran.
“NATO is a paper tiger,” Trump said.
“It’s not just NATO,” he said. “You know who else didn’t help us? South Korea didn’t help us. You know who else didn’t help us? Australia didn’t help us. You know who else didn’t help us? Japan.”
There are 50,000 U.S. soldiers in Japan, the president said, and 45,000 in South Korea.
Trump: We Have A Plan To Destroy Every Bridge and Power Plant in Iran
President Donald Trump said if Iran doesn’t make a deal, its infrastructure will be wiped out.
“We have a plan … where every bridge in Iran will be decimated by 12 o’clock tomorrow night,” Trump said from the White House.
“It’ll happen over a period of four hours, if we wanted to,” the president said, before clarifying that “we don’t want that to happen.”
Trump declined to say if any civilian targets would be off limits to the United States.
Iran Has No Forms of Communication: Trump
The biggest challenge in negotiating with Iran, President Donald Trump said, is that the country has no way to communicate.
“I said to Steve [Witkoff], ‘What are they saying? Sir, they can’t communicate,’” Trump said. “They have no method of communication.”
The United States and Iran are communicating like they used to “2,000 years ago, with children bringing a note back and forth,” the president said.
Trump Prefers US Charge Tolls for Boats to Go Through Strait of Hormuz
President Donald Trump said he prefers that the United States charge tolls on ships passing through the Strait of Hormuz.
He spoke in response to a question about whether he supports Iran charging tolls for boats to pass through the strait.
“I’d rather do that than let them. Why shouldn’t we?” he said. “We’re the winner. We won, OK? They are militarily defeated. The only thing they have is a psychology of, ‘Oh, we’re to drop a couple of mines in the water.’”
Trump Says Kurds Should Stay Away From Conflict
President Donald Trump responded to questions about the Kurdish people’s involvement in the conflict with Iran, saying he wants them to “stay away.”
“I’d rather have them stay away, because I think they bring with them some problems and some difficulties,” he said.
Trump: ‘Very Disappointed’ in NATO
President Donald Trump said he is “very disappointed in NATO” for its response to the U.S.–Israel conflict with Iran.
He said he told the military alliance that he would appreciate assistance with Iran, but the group indicated they would rather wait until the conflict was over.
“I’m very disappointed in NATO,” the president said. “I think it’s a mark on NATO that will … never disappear in my mind.”
Trump Says He Can’t Talk About Cease-Fire
President Donald Trump said he can’t discuss a cease-fire with Iran, but a party is willing to participate.
“I can tell you that we have an active, willing participant on the other side,” he said. “They would like to be able to make a deal. I can’t say any more than that.”
Trump did not name the participant.
Iranian officials rejected a U.S.-proposed cease-fire on Monday.
Trump Says Iranians Willing to Suffer for Freedom
President Donald Trump said the people of Iran are willing to suffer for the possibility of freedom.
The president responded to a question about why Iranians would want him to target infrastructure and power, and if that would be punishing civilians.
“They would be willing to suffer that in order to have freedom,” Trump said.
He said that intelligence has “numerous intercepts,” where the people of Iran asked America and Israel to “please keep bombing,” even in cases where bombs were dropped near their homes.
He went on to say that when the military leaves certain areas, Iranians have asked the military to come back: “All I can tell you is they want freedom.”
‘Not Everybody Was On Board’ With Rescue Mission: Trump
When asked about whether there was pushback on the daring rescue mission for the downed weapons system officer, President Donald Trump said, “Not everybody was on board.”
“There [were] military people, very professional, that preferred not doing it,” Trump said. “There were military people that said, ‘You just don’t do this. You don’t go into the heart of a very powerful military.’”
Pointing to Secretary of War Pete Hegseth and Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Gen. Dan “Raizin” Caine, the president said “these two were totally on board.”
Trump said he was advised of how dangerous and potentially costly the mission could have been in regards to equipment and American soldiers’ lives.
“I just felt it was worth it,” Trump said.
Regime Change Not the Goal, Says Trump
Regime change in Iran is not the goal of the war, President Donald Trump said, though he added that there has already been regime change.
Rather, he said, the focus is on taking out Iran’s nuclear capabilities.
“I think they’re sharper and far less radical,” he said, referring to Iran’s new leadership. “We have regime change. But we didn’t do this for the regime change.”
Today Is the Largest Volume of Strikes: Hegseth
Secretary of War Pete Hegseth said in a press briefing that Monday is the largest volume of strikes against Iran since the start of Operation Epic Fury on Feb. 28.
Hegseth told Iran to choose wisely in response to President Donald Trump’s Tuesday deadline to reopen the Strait of Hormuz to shipping.
“This president does not play around,” Hegseth said. “You can ask [Qasem] Soleimani, you can ask [Nicolás] Maduro.”
Coordination Call Never Stopped During Rescue, Says Hegseth
Secretary of War Pete Hegseth said the coordination call during the rescue of the F-15 airmen shot down over Iran never stopped.
“Inside our SCIF, our secure facility, we have a running VTC, a running coordination cell, and the top of it read … 45 hours and 56 minutes,” he said.
“For 45 hours and 56 minutes, we held that call open for coordination. From the moment our pilots went down, our mission was unblinking.
“The call never dropped. The meeting never stopped. The planning never ceased.
“The president demanded rapid, decisive action. He backed our military with the full weight of his resolve, refusing to let enemy propaganda or tactical setbacks deter us.”
Hegseth: Downed Airmen’s First Message Was ‘God Is Good’
Secretary of War Pete Hegseth said the downed airman’s first message to alert the military of his location was, “God is good.”
The secretary gave details of the rescue, saying the pilot evaded capture for more than a day, scaling rugged terrain while being hunted by the enemy.
“When he was finally able to activate his emergency transponder, his first message was simple, and it was powerful … ‘God is good.’”
Hegseth said the airman was “shot down on a Friday, Good Friday; hidden in a cave, a crevice, all of Saturday; and rescued on Sunday, flown out of Iran as the sun was rising, on Easter Sunday.”
Trump Says Military Destroyed Planes After Iran Rescue
President Donald Trump said the military had to blow up the planes used to bring rescuers into Iran and used more lightweight planes to exit the area inside Iran.
The president said two “large,” “pretty old” planes were used to bring in personnel and equipment to rescue the two airmen: “We needed a lot more equipment going in than coming out.”
He said that terrain and moisture in the area made it too difficult for the larger planes to get off the ground again, once the airmen were located: “We had a contingency plan … where lighter, faster aircraft came in,” he said, noting that three lighter planes brought the rescuers out.
Trump also lauded the military members who partially reassembled the helicopters used in the rescue in less than 10 minutes.
“They rebuilt these helicopters in less than 10 minutes, and that was one of the more amazing things,” he said.
The older planes were blown up because of the equipment on board, according to the president.
US Used Covert Capabilities, Says CIA Director
The United States used covert capabilities to help find the missing crew member who was hiding in an Iranian mountain crevice, according to CIA Director John Ratcliffe.
“At the president’s direction, we deployed both human assets and exquisite technologies that no other intelligence service in the world possesses to a daunting challenge comparable to hunting for a single grain of sand in the middle of a desert,” he said.
Ratcliffe said there was a deception campaign.
“This was also a race against the clock, as it was critical that we locate the downed aviator as quickly as possible, while at the same time keeping our enemies misdirected,” he said.
“For that reason, in addition to the human and technical assets deployed by the president to find our airmen, CIA executed a deception campaign to confuse the Iranians who were desperately hunting for our airmen.”
CIA Says Iran Was ‘Humiliated’ by Military Rescue
CIA Director John Ratcliffe said that the rescue of the American airmen who went down in Iran was a humiliation to the regime.
“Our intelligence reflects that the Iranians were embarrassed and ultimately humiliated by the success of this audacious rescue mission,” Ratcliffe said at a White House press briefing.
“It is an honor to serve under a leader who just proved that you can believe him when he says, ‘No matter what, we will leave no one behind. We will come for you.’”
Trump Credits CIA for Finding Missing Crew Member
President Donald Trump praised CIA Director John Ratcliffe for leading the mission to find the missing weapons system officer who was shot down over Iranian airspace.
“He did a phenomenal job that night,” Trump said of Ratcliffe. “It’s like finding a needle in a haystack, finding this pilot, and the CIA was unbelievable.”
Trump let Ratcliffe take the podium next to discuss the rescue mission.
‘We Have to Find That Leaker’: Trump
Someone leaked information on the first rescue mission, which searched for the pilot of the downed F-15 fighter jet, according to President Donald Trump, who said that the leaker needs to be found.
“These two extraordinary rescues, because it was two, and as you probably know, we didn’t talk about the first one for an hour, and then somebody leaked something,” he said.
“We have to find that leaker.”
Trump said that the person in question put others at risk, and that he will go to the publication that publicized the first rescue and threaten jail if the source is not revealed.
The president said that the leak implied there was a second rescue mission.
Trump says Rescued Crew Member Evaded Capture for Nearly 48 hours
Second Rescue Mission Involved 155 Aircraft, Says Trump
The second mission, which rescued the crew member of the F-15 fighter jet, involved 155 aircraft, including four bombers, 64 fighters, 48 refueling tankers, 13 rescue aircraft, and more, according to President Donald Trump.
“We were bringing them all over, and a lot of it was subterfuge,” he said.
Trump Calls Military Rescue ‘Harrowing’
President Donald Trump called the rescue of two airmen “one of the largest, most complex, most harrowing, combat searches” in American history.
The president said that “we had great talent, [and] we got a little luck, too,” referencing the successful retrieval.
Trump said he was asked to make a decision about how to respond to the two airmen’s presence behind enemy lines.
“I ordered the U.S. armed forces to do whatever was necessary to bring our brave warriors back home,” he said.
He noted that it was a “risky decision, because we could have ended up with 100 dead as opposed to one or two … but in the United States military, we leave no American behind.”
21 Military Aircraft Deployed for First Rescue Mission
President Donald Trump said 21 military aircraft were deployed on the mission to rescue the pilot of an F-15 fighter jet that crashed in Iran.
Israel is ‘Dismantling’ Iran’s ‘Money Machine’: Netanyahu
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said his nation’s strikes on Iran destroyed the nation’s largest petrochemical plant.
“This means we are systematically dismantling the [Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps’s] money machine,” Netanyahu said in a statement on X.
“We are destroying factories, eliminating operatives, and yes, we are continuing to eliminate senior officials.”
The prime minister went on to say that Iran is “no longer the same Iran, and Israel is no longer the same Israel.” He said his nation is stronger, and the “terrorist regime in Iran” is weaker.
Iranian Official Says Some Ships Cannot Pass Hormuz Strait Ahead of Deadline
The Iranian foreign ministry has said that vessels associated with the United States or Israel will be blocked from transiting the Strait of Hormuz, ahead of an April 7 deadline from U.S. President Donald Trump, who has warned the country’s power plants and bridges could be struck if the Strait of Hormuz is not fully reopened.
During an April 6 press conference, Iran’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesman Esmaeil Baqaei said that Tehran won’t allow what it deems enemy vessels to pass through the strait, according to Tasnim, a news agency affiliated with the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC).
Ships that are deemed by the regime to be non-hostile may be able to transit the strait, he suggested, adding that preparations are underway to make sure those vessels can pass. Iran has previously attacked ships in the waterway and around the Middle East, claiming they are linked to the United States and Israel.
US Helicopters Hit With Gunfire During Pilot Rescue: Trump
Trump told reporters that the U.S. military has “some helicopters with a lot of bullet holes in them right now” following the mission to rescue a fighter pilot who was shot down over Iranian territory on Friday.
“[Iran] had a lucky shot with an airplane, but we got them back out. The rescue was incredible,” Trump said.
Trump Says Iran Making Mistake by Rejecting Cease-Fire Proposal
At the White House, President Donald Trump said Iran is making a mistake by rejecting the proposal.
“They just don’t want to say ‘uncle,’” Trump told reporters.
“They don’t want to cry, as the expression goes, ‘uncle,’ but they will. And if they don’t, they’ll have no bridges. They’ll have no power plants. They’ll have no anything.
“I won’t go further because there are other things that are worse than those two.”
Trump Says He’d Take Iran’s Oil ‘If It Were Up to Me’
President Donald Trump told reporters Monday that he would like to “take the oil” in Iran, “if it were up to me.”
“If I had my choice, what would I like to do? Take the oil, because it’s there for the taking. There’s not a thing they can do about it,” Trump said while speaking at the annual White House Easter Egg Roll.
“Unfortunately, the American people would like to see us come home.”
He said the United States “would make plenty of money” on the oil.
“I’d also take care of the people of Iran much better than they’ve been taken care of,” Trump added.
Trump: Guns Sent to Iran Never Reached the People
President Donald Trump said guns sent to support the Iranian people’s resistance against the regime didn’t make it to their destination.
Trump made his comments at the annual Easter Roll at the White House in response to a question about why Iranians aren’t rising up against the regime.
“We sent guns,” Trump said.
“They were supposed to go to the people so they could fight back against these thugs.
“You know what happened? The people that they sent them to kept them because they said, ‘What a beautiful gun. I think I’ll keep it.’ So I’m very upset with a certain group of people.”
Trump did not specify which group he was referring to.
“The Iranian people will fight back as soon as they know they’re not going to be shot, and as soon as they can get weapons,” the president added.
Israel Says It Struck Iran’s Largest Petrochemical Complex
Israel said on April 6 that it carried out an airstrike on Iran’s largest petrochemical facility—the South Pars plant at Asaluyeh—as hostilities continued and diplomatic efforts to secure a cease-fire faced mounting pressure ahead of a U.S. deadline.
Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz said the strike inflicted massive economic damage and hit a key pillar of Iran’s industrial base, responsible for around 50 percent of the country’s petrochemical production.
“The IDF has just carried out a powerful strike on Iran’s largest petrochemical facility,“ Katz said. ”The damage to the Iranian regime is estimated at tens of billions of dollars.”
Strike Targets South Pars Hub
Iranian media earlier reported that attacks targeted facilities at the South Pars natural gas field in southern Bushehr province, blaming the United States and Israel, though neither country initially confirmed responsibility for that specific location.
Trump Threatens to Target Iran’s Bridges, Power Plants on April 7 if Strait of Hormuz Not Reopened
U.S. President Donald Trump has threatened to target Iran’s power plants and bridges on April 7 if the Strait of Hormuz is not reopened.
“Tuesday will be Power Plant Day, and Bridge Day, all wrapped up in one, in Iran,” Trump wrote in a Truth Social post on April 5.
Trump went on to say that if the Iranian regime does not open the strait, it will be “living in Hell.”
Race to Secure Iran Cease-Fire Intensifies as Trump Ultimatum Ticks Down
U.S. President Donald Trump has referred to an Iranian proposal as “significant” as efforts intensify to reach a diplomatic breakthrough ahead of the White House’s deadline for Tehran to reopen the Strait of Hormuz to all vessels.
Iran shut the waterway after the United States launched Operation Epic Fury on Feb. 28, but Tehran later said it would permit ships that had no links to the United States, Israel, or any U.S. allies to pass through.
Pakistan, which is mediating between the United States and Iran in an effort to achieve a cease-fire, is continuing to search for a workable formula before the U.S. deadline expires at 8 p.m. ET on April 7.
Iran Says It Will Retaliate If Civilian Infrastructure Is Targeted Amid Trump Deadline
Iranian officials on Sunday said the country would carry out more forceful attacks on targets if the United States and Israel target the country’s civilian infrastructure in an apparent response to warnings issued by President Donald Trump over the weekend.
Trump, in several warnings on Saturday and Sunday, said that the Iranian regime must reopen the Strait of Hormuz or the U.S. military would launch attacks on the country’s civilian infrastructure. Last month, he gave Tehran several ultimatums on reopening the strait, with his latest deadline for the regime falling on 9 p.m. ET Monday.
On Sunday, Trump warned that “Tuesday will be Power Plant Day, and Bridge Day, all wrapped up in one, in Iran. There will be nothing like it!!!” He demanded that the regime open up the strait or “you’ll be living in Hell – JUST WATCH,” according to a post he made on Truth Social.
