{"id":569028,"date":"2026-04-07T03:03:08","date_gmt":"2026-04-07T03:03:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/569028\/"},"modified":"2026-04-07T03:03:08","modified_gmt":"2026-04-07T03:03:08","slug":"trumps-ultimatum-looms-and-iran-rejects-a-ceasefire-deal","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/569028\/","title":{"rendered":"Trump’s ultimatum looms and Iran rejects a ceasefire deal"},"content":{"rendered":"

TEHRAN, Iran (AP) \u2014 U.S. President Donald Trump<\/a> expanded his threat against Iran to include all power plants and bridges Monday as his ultimatum to make a deal ticked closer, after Tehran<\/a> rejected a 45-day ceasefire proposal and said it wants a permanent end to the war<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe entire country can be taken out in one night, and that night might be tomorrow night,\u201d Trump said. He suggested that his Tuesday 8 p.m. EDT deadline was final, saying he\u2019d already given Iran enough extensions.<\/p>\n

The U.S. has told Iran to open the crucial Strait of Hormuz<\/a> to all shipping traffic or see power plants and bridges wiped out, sparking warnings about possible war crimes<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Israel piled on pressure by attacking a major petrochemical plant<\/a> and killing the intelligence chief for the paramilitary Revolutionary Guard.<\/p>\n

Tehran with its rejection conveyed its own, 10-point plant to end the fighting through Pakistan, a key mediator, Iran\u2019s state-run IRNA news agency said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe only accept an end of the war with guarantees that we won\u2019t be attacked again,\u201d Mojtaba Ferdousi Pour, head of Iran\u2019s diplomatic mission in Cairo, told The Associated Press. He said Iran no longer trusts the Trump administration after the U.S. bombed the Islamic Republic<\/a> twice during previous rounds of talks.<\/p>\n

A regional official involved in talks said efforts had not collapsed. \u201cWe are still talking to both sides,\u201d he said, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss closed-door diplomacy.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\n AP AUDIO: Israel hits Iranian petrochemical plant in massive gas field as Trump deadline approaches\n <\/p>\n

AP correspondent Charles de Ledesma reports a leading Tehran university has come under attack.<\/p>\n

And even Trump said negotiations with Iran continued.<\/p>\n

Activists reported a new wave of strikes on Tehran early Tuesday. Israel claimed credit but offered no immediate details on what had been targeted.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, Japan said Tuesday a Japanese national who had been detained in Iran since January has been released. Chief Cabinet Secretary Minoru Kihara told reporters in Tokyo that his release was confirmed Monday, and that the person was in good health without providing further details.<\/p>\n

The person released is believed to be a journalist at Japan\u2019s NHK public television. Another Japanese national, who was detained in Iran last June, was released and returned to Japan<\/a> in March.<\/p>\n

Trump says Iranians \u2018willing to suffer\u2019 for freedom<\/p>\n

Trump has issued ultimatums to Iran before, only to find ways to back off. But he was more explicit this time on plans to follow through.<\/p>\n

\u201cEvery bridge in Iran will be decimated by 12 o\u2019clock tomorrow night,\u201d he said, and all power plants will be \u201cburning, exploding and never to be used again.\u201d<\/p>\n

Asked if he was concerned about accusations of war crimes, Trump responded, \u201cNo, not at all.\u201d He suggested that Iranians want the U.S. to carry out its threats because it could lead to the end of their current leadership. <\/p>\n

Iranian citizens<\/a> are \u201cwilling to suffer,\u201d he said, \u201cin order to have freedom.\u201d But there has been no sign of an uprising in Iran as residents shelter from bombardment.<\/p>\n

International warnings piled up against expanded strikes. \u201cAny attack on civilian infrastructure is a violation of international law and a very clear one,\u201d United Nations spokesperson Stephane Dujarric later told journalists.<\/p>\n

Egyptian, Pakistani and Turkish mediators had sent Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi and U.S. Mideast envoy Steve Witkoff a proposal calling for the ceasefire and the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz, two Mideast officials told the AP. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the private negotiations.<\/p>\n

Iranian and Omani officials also were working on a mechanism for administrating the strait, through which a fifth of the world\u2019s oil is shipped in peacetime. Iran\u2019s grip on it has shaken the world economy<\/a>. <\/p>\n

Tehran has refused to let U.S. and Israeli vessels through after they started the war on Feb. 28.<\/p>\n

Iran\u2019s new supreme leader makes rare statement<\/p>\n

Israel struck a key petrochemical plant<\/a> in the South Pars natural gas field, saying it was aimed at eliminating a major source of revenue for Iran. The field, the world\u2019s largest, is shared with Qatar and is Iran\u2019s biggest source of domestic energy for its 93 million people.<\/p>\n

The strike appeared to be separate from Trump\u2019s threats. An earlier Israeli attack there in March prompted Iran to target energy infrastructure in other Middle East countries, a major escalation.<\/p>\n

Israel also killed the head of intelligence for Iran\u2019s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard, Maj. Gen. Majid Khademi, according to Iranian state media. And Israel said it killed the leader of the Revolutionary Guard\u2019s undercover unit in its expeditionary Quds Force, Asghar Bakeri.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe will continue to hunt them down one by one,\u201d Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz said of top Iranian officials.<\/p>\n

New Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei, who still has not been seen or heard in public, issued a rare statement expressing condolences over Khademi. Israeli strikes have killed dozens of top Iranian leaders, including Khamenei\u2019s father.<\/p>\n

Israel\u2019s military also said it struck three Tehran airports overnight \u2014 Bahram, Mehrabad and Azmayesh \u2014 hitting dozens of helicopters and aircraft it said belonged to the Iranian Air Force.<\/p>\n

A Tehran resident said \u201cconstantly there is the sound of bombs, air defenses, drones,\u201d speaking on condition of anonymity for her safety. Another detailed taking sleeping pills to get through nightly bombardments, and said people worry about power, gas and water cuts.<\/p>\n

Airstrikes kill at least 29 across Iran <\/p>\n

Smoke rose near Tehran\u2019s Azadi Square after an airstrike hit the grounds of the Sharif University of Technology. Multiple countries have sanctioned the university for its work with the military, particularly on Iran\u2019s ballistic missile program.<\/p>\n

Authorities and Iranian state media reported at least 29 people killed across the country by strikes.<\/p>\n

In Lebanon, where Israel has launched air attacks and a ground invasion that it says target the Iran-linked Hezbollah militia, an airstrike hit an apartment in Ain Saadeh, a predominately Christian town east of Beirut. It killed an official in the Lebanese Forces, a Christian political party strongly opposed to Hezbollah, his wife and another woman.<\/p>\n

More than 1,900 people have been killed in Iran since the war began, but the government has not updated the toll for days.<\/p>\n

More than 1,400 people have been killed<\/a> in Lebanon<\/a> and more than 1 million people have been displaced<\/a>. Eleven Israeli soldiers have died there.<\/p>\n

In Gulf Arab states and the occupied West Bank, more than two dozen people have died, while 23 have been reported dead in Israel and 13 U.S. service members<\/a> have been killed.<\/p>\n

___<\/p>\n

Weissert reported from Washington, Magdy from Cairo and Gambrell from Dubai, United Arab Emirates. Munir Ahmed in Islamabad, Isabel DeBre in Ain Saadeh, Lebanon, Edith M. Lederer at the United Nations, Amir-Hussein Radjy in Cairo and Josh Boak and Michelle L. Price in Washington contributed to this story. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"TEHRAN, Iran (AP) \u2014 U.S. President Donald Trump expanded his threat against Iran to include all power plants…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":569029,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[6740,23,251144,28,1930,12,3321,793,158238,3073,7590,801,1570,228242,129,1576,155086,3,139727,111,2229,106645,17569,153670,21,19,22,20,25,24,964,60832,800,965],"class_list":{"0":"post-569028","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-united-states","8":"tag-abbas-araghchi","9":"tag-america","10":"tag-asghar-bakeri","11":"tag-business","12":"tag-diplomacy","13":"tag-donald-trump","14":"tag-energy-industry","15":"tag-general-news","16":"tag-hezbollah","17":"tag-indictments","18":"tag-international-agreements","19":"tag-iran","20":"tag-iran-government","21":"tag-iran-war","22":"tag-middle-east","23":"tag-military-and-defense","24":"tag-minoru-kihara","25":"tag-news","26":"tag-oil-and-gas-industry","27":"tag-politics","28":"tag-religion","29":"tag-stephane-dujarric","30":"tag-steve-witkoff","31":"tag-tehran","32":"tag-united-states","33":"tag-united-states-of-america","34":"tag-unitedstates","35":"tag-unitedstatesofamerica","36":"tag-us","37":"tag-usa","38":"tag-war-and-unrest","39":"tag-war-crimes","40":"tag-washington-news","41":"tag-world-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/569028","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=569028"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/569028\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/569029"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=569028"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=569028"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=569028"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}