4m agoMon 6 Apr 2026 at 7:00pmThe latest news from the Iran war
The US president has just wrapped up a press conference in the White House Press Briefing room.
With that, here are the latest key points from the Iran war:
Donald Trump says he stands ready to bomb Iran back to the “stone ages”. Speaking at a press conference, he says every bridge and power plant in Iran would be targeted if the regime does not accept a ceasefire deal by 8pm Tuesday, Washington time.Mr Trump has also re-iterated that NATO is a “paper tiger” and listed Australia as among the countries that did not come to the US’s aid in the initial days of the war.Meanwhile, Iran has rejected the 45-day ceasefire proposal, state media reported.Earlier, Iran’s Revolutionary Guards vowed to avenge the death of their intelligence chief, Major General Majid Khademi, who was killed in an Israeli strike on Monday.Back at the White House, Mr Trump and senior administration and military officials have spoken at length about the rescue mission to save two personnel who were aboard an F-15 fighter jet that was shot down over Iran on Thursday, local time.
Stay with us through the rest of this morning as we bring you the latest developments from our reporters and correspondents.
19m agoMon 6 Apr 2026 at 6:45pm
Trump claims US has ‘won’ the war in Iran
Donald Trump has told reporters in Washington that the United States has won the war in Iran.
“We won,” Trump told reporters.
“They are militarily defeated.”
He said the only ceasefire deal he was willing to accept with Iran had to include free traffic of oil through the Strait of Hormuz, which has effectively been closed to ships since the war broke out.
“We have to have a deal that’s acceptable to me,” Trump said.
28m agoMon 6 Apr 2026 at 6:36pm
Trump says he hopes US could help rebuild Iran
When asked about what targets he may strike on Tuesday night if a ceasefire deal is not agreed to, Donald Trump says he is not willing to say.
But he warns every bridge and power plant in the country would be hit in the span of four hours if Iran did not agree.
“Every bridge will be decimated by 10 o’clock tomorrow night,” he says.
“Do I want to destroy their infrastructure? No. It would take 100 years for them to rebuild.
“We don’t want that to happen.
“We may even get involved with helping rebuild their nation.”
30m agoMon 6 Apr 2026 at 6:34pmTrump criticises Australia and other allies over lack of help
The US president is asked to give his opinion on NATO through the course of this war, to which he reiterates that the alliance is a “paper tiger”.
He then goes on to list other allies that have also refused to join the US in strikes against Iran.
“Japan didn’t help us. Australia didn’t help us. South Korea didn’t help us. And then we get to NATO,” he says.
Mr Trump adds that the disagreement over the lack of support was, in the end, due to the dispute between the United States and Europe over Greenland.
“We want Greenland,” he says.
44m agoMon 6 Apr 2026 at 6:20pm
Trump: ‘I can’t talk about a ceasefire’
President Donald Trump has told reporters the US has “an active, willing participant on the other side” in regards to talks about a ceasefire with Iran.
But when asked about whether Israel would be part of those ceasefire talks between the United States and Iran, Trump said: “I can’t talk about a ceasefire.”
But he went on to say the US was continuing to negotiate on peace plans with Iran through notes “passed back and forth”.
“They are negotiating, we think in good faith,” Trump said.
He further reiterated the Tuesday night deadline he had given Iran to reach a deal with the US or return to the “stone ages”.
“We’re giving them until tomorrow 8 o’clock Eastern time and after that they’re going to have no bridges, no power plants.
“They’re at the weakest point they’ve ever been.”
54m agoMon 6 Apr 2026 at 6:10pm
Iranians ‘should’ rise up, Trump says
Donald Trump is asked by a reporter what he would do if Iranians overthrew their government.
Noting that up to 45,000 people were killed by the regime during protests earlier this year, Mr Trump says he understands why people in Iran would be hesitant to protest.
He goes into detail about how Iranian government snipers opened fire on protesters, suggesting many would be unwilling to protest in such circumstances.
“They have lived so horribly,” he says.
“The Persian people are a smart, brilliant people.
“They want us to keep bombing, even if it jeapordises them.”
But he says the US “has a plan” for the future of Iran, adding that he does not want to reveal to the media what it is.
The president then reiterates that the US’s chief aim of the war is to prevent Iran from getting a nuclear weapon.
1h agoMon 6 Apr 2026 at 6:00pm
US warns strikes on Iran will escalate overnight
US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth warned Iran was about to experience the largest volume of strikes since the war broke out overnight tonight.
He told reporters during the White House briefing that the strikes would increase again on Tuesday.
Iran is six and a half hours behind AEST.
It follows the president’s earlier comments that Iran “could be taken out in one night, and that night might be tomorrow night”.
Donald Trump earlier brushed off concerns that hitting Iran’s power facilities, as he has threatened after a deadline expires this week, would be a war crime.
“I’m not worried about it,” Trump told reporters at an Easter egg roll at the White House when asked what he would say to those who claim striking power plants would breach the laws of war.
“You know the war crime? The war crime is allowing Iran to have a nuclear weapon,” the president said.
1h agoMon 6 Apr 2026 at 5:41pm
Hegseth praises work of US military, intelligence
US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth is now speaking, and is heaping praise on the “warriors” involved in the US operation.
He says personnel “moved swiftly and decisively into treacherous enemy terrain” to rescue the two personnel, in what were “high-risk, high-stakes missions in the heart of enemy territory”.
And he repeats earlier comments by both Donald Trump and his CIA director that the Iranians are “humiliated” that both service members were able to get out alive.
“The Iranians are still asking themselves right now, how did the Americans do this?”
Mr Hegseth then reveals that the first message sent by the second of the two service members to be rescued, when they finally activated their locator beacon, was: “God is good.”
“Shot down on a Friday, Good Friday, hidden in a cave, a crevice all of Saturday, and rescued on Sunday,” Mr Hegseth says.
He adds that the experience was: “A pilot reborn”.
1h agoMon 6 Apr 2026 at 5:41pm
📸: Donald Trump’s press conference
Pictures are starting to flow from the White House Press Briefing room of Donald Trump’s news conference, courtesy of Reuters:
(Reuters: Evelyn Hockstein)
Donald Trump and his Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth. (Reuters: Evan Vucci)
(Reuters: Kevin Lamarque)
1h agoMon 6 Apr 2026 at 5:40pm
CIA director says deception campaign used to save US Air Force airman
CIA Director John Ratcliffe is now speaking.
He says the Iranians are “humiliated” by the US’s successful efforts to retrieve the two servicemembers.
That includes finding one of the two personnel hidden in a crevice of a mountain, which Mr Ratcliffe says was invisible to the Iranians but not to the CIA.
He says the US military then launched a “deception campaign” to confuse the Iranians and help increase the odds of getting the service member out alive.
1h agoMon 6 Apr 2026 at 5:32pm
US completes 10,000 combat flights over Iran
The US has carried out 10,000 combat flights over Iran since the war broke out on February 28.
President Donald Trump said the US had also struck more than 13,000 targets in Iran during that time.
“No body’s ever seen anything like it,” Trump said.
1h agoMon 6 Apr 2026 at 5:25pm
Trump thanks those involved in rescue operation
The US president continues his detailed explanation of the rescue mission by thanking all those involved in the two rescues over the skies of Iran.
Mr Trump notes that many of the aircraft came back from the mission riddled with bulletholes, as Iranian military personnel scoured the area for the two air force service members.
“God was watching us — amazing.”
He notes that Iran’s regime had put out a public notice, urging “millions of people” to search for one or both of the air force staff.
Mr Trump also blasts a person who leaked details of the F-15 missions, saying they “put that man at great risk”.
1h agoMon 6 Apr 2026 at 5:17pmUS president says rescue of F-15 service members ‘very historic’
Donald Trump begins his press conference by describing the US efforts to rescue two personnel aboard a US F-15 fighter jet that was shot down over Iran on Thursday, local time.
He says the rescue was “very historic”, involving at least 150 military aircraft being flown over the skies of Iran to extract the fighter jet’s pilot and weapons officer.
“We could’ve ended up with 100 dead as opposed to one or two,” he says of the operation, referring to the risk faced by those going in to retrieve the two service members.
Mr Trump also reiterates a veiled threat to Iran, repeating his warning that he will order strikes on certain targets across the country if Tehran does not accept a peace deal by Tuesday night, US time.
“The entire country could be taken out in one night, and that night might be tomorrow night.”
1h agoMon 6 Apr 2026 at 5:09pmDonald Trump is speaking now
The US president is now addressing the White House Press Briefing Room in Washington DC.
Stay with us as we bring you his comments.
1h agoMon 6 Apr 2026 at 5:05pm
Israel strikes Iran’s largest petrochemical complex
On Monday, local time, Israel said it had struck Iran’s largest petrochemical facility in Assaluyeh on Iran’s Gulf coast, where local media reported multiple explosions.
Iran’s National Petrochemical Company said it was assessing the damage after a fire was brought under control at the plant, state media reported.
Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz said it accounted for about 50 percent of Iranian petrochemical production worth “tens of billions of dollars”.
Iranian media reported “minor damage” after a second complex near Shiraz in central Iran was also hit.
Meanwhile International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) chief Rafael Grossi warned against further strikes near Iran’s Bushehr nuclear plant, saying one recent impact hit just 75 metres (245 feet) from the perimeter.
Reporting with AFP
2h agoMon 6 Apr 2026 at 4:47pm
Iran vows revenge for intelligence chief’s death
Iran’s Revolutionary Guards have vowed to avenge the death of their intelligence chief, Major General Majid Khademi, killed in an Israeli strike on Monday.
“The malicious and desperate enemy should know that a major retaliatory strike by the IRGC Intelligence Organisation, under Operation ‘Crushing Revenge,’ awaits the planners and perpetrators of this crime,” Khademi’s agency said in a statement on their official Sepah News.
Israel’s military says it also killed the commander of the special operations unit of Iran’s Quds Force, Asghar Bagheri, in a strike.
2h agoMon 6 Apr 2026 at 4:36pm
White House press briefing room is overflowing
Journalists began crowding into the briefing room well before Donald Trump was due to speak. (ABC News: John Lyons)
A huge contingent of media — both American and foreign — have crowded into the White House briefing room in anticipation of Donald Trump’s appearance.
Trump does not appear often in the briefing room — it’s normally the domain of the White House spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt.
But today, he has said he wants to speak to discuss the rescue at the weekend of the two US pilots from the jet shot down over Iran.
Once he has discussed that, the media will want to ask him about the latest with Iran. He has set a deadline of 8pm tomorrow, local time (10am Wednesday, AEST) for Iran to agree to open the Strait of Hormuz.
Some media began arriving here as early 6 o’clock this morning to get a good position.
Anyone arriving even an hour before the press conference was unable to get a spot in the briefing room.
ABC Americas editor John Lyons waits for Donald Trump’s press briefing. (ABC News: John Lyons)
2h agoMon 6 Apr 2026 at 4:30pm
Trump: Iran ‘not too strong at all’
US President Donald Trump says Tuesday is the final deadline for Iran to make a deal on a ceasefire.
Overnight, several hours before his expected press conference on the Iran war, Trump addressed guests at an Easter event at the White House.
Appearing alongside his wife Melania and the Easter bunny, Trump said his country was doing “so well, like it has never done before”.
“What about the rescue that took place yesterday?” he said to cheers from the crowd, referring to the rescue mission of two US pilots after their aircraft was shot down over Iran days earlier.
President Donald Trump speaks to guests at the White House Easter Egg Roll with first lady Melania. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)
“It’s something that you rarely see.
“Normally when you’re in very hostile territory, and I don’t think it gets much more hostile than Iran, they’re capable fighters.
“You don’t mind when the enemy is weak but that enemy is strong.
“Not so strong like they were about a month ago, I can tell you in fact, right now they’re not too strong at all in my opinion.”
Trump said he would have more to say on the matter at his press conference later this morning.
He’s expected to address the media shortly.
2h agoMon 6 Apr 2026 at 4:16pmIran rejects US proposal for ceasefire
Iran has rejected a proposed for a 45-day ceasefire, state media has reported, as the US continues to weigh up whether to sign the deal.
According to the official IRNA news agency, Iran’s response, sent through intermediary Pakistan, rejected the ceasefire and emphasised the necessity of a permanent end to the war.
Iran’s response consists of ten clauses, including an end to conflicts in the region, a protocol for safe passage through the Strait of Hormuz, lifting of sanctions, and reconstruction, the agency added.
The response is likely to further frustrate US President Donald Trump, who has been seeking to push Iran towards a deal that would pause fighting.
Mr Trump is expected to give a speech in coming hours on the Iran war.
Already speaking earlier in the day, Mr Trump told reporters he was prepared to rain “hell” on Tehran if it did not make a deal by 8pm Tuesday, Washington DC time.
Reporting with Reuters
2h agoMon 6 Apr 2026 at 4:12pmGood morning and welcome to our live blog
We’re coming online to cover the day’s major developments in the Iran war a little earlier than usual because we’re expecting US President Donald Trump to hold a press conference in the next hour.
He is expected to appear with top US military brass for the White House briefing.
It comes amid reports that the US was weighing up a 45-day ceasefire proposal.
In the last couple hours, Iranian state media reported that Tehran had already rejected the proposal, saying the regime favoured a permanent end to fighting over a 45-day pause.
Mr Trump has already addressed the media today, stating he’s uphappy with Iran and will pay a big price — we’ll have more on that appearance in a moment.
Stay with us as we bring you the latest developments.