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'Iran can be taken out in one night, and that might be tomorrow night,' says Trump
Trump repeats his usual claims about how well the war is going and how well the US military is doing (“unbelievably well”, he says), and celebrates the “very historic” rescue of the second crew member of the US F-15 fighter jet downed over Iran last week.
Turning to his latest deadline for Tehran to open the strait of Hormuz (8pm ET on Tuesday), he adds:
The entire country can be taken out in one night, and that night might be tomorrow night.
Going back to the “massive operation” that was mobilised to rescue the stranded second airman, Trump says he ordered US armed forces to do whatever was necessary to bring him home. “We leave no American behind,” he says.
Both members of the crew ejected from the aircraft, and landed on Iranian soil, he says.
Rescue teams were under “very heavy enemy fire” and a helicopter now has “bullets in it”, he says.
“The flight crews and war fighters aboard those aircraft took extraordinary risks to rescue their fellow service members,” the president adds, noting that the second airman was injured “quite badly” and “stranded in an area teeming with terrorists from the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC)”.
The airman scaled cliff faces while bleeding profusely to transmit his location, Trump says.
He says that as part of the rescue mission the military deployed 155 aircraft, four bombers, 64 fighters, 48 refuelling tankers and 13 rescue aircraft.
He says they exited the territory with the airman, who had been stranded for almost 48 hours, without taking any casualties.
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Explosions have been heard in parts of Tehran and Iran’s nearby city of Karaj, Iranian media is reportedly saying.
We’ve got vision here of Donald Trump lashing out at Australia, Japan and South Korea for what he says is a lack of help during the war in Iran.
At the White House media conference, Trump continues to take a hard line against Tehran, says he believes the US military is doing “unbelievably well” in the Middle East and adds that he remains frustrated with Nato.
“They haven’t helped at all,” the US president says. “It’s not just Nato. 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.”
The video is here:
Saudi Arabia has intercepted seven ballistic missiles launched towards its eastern region and debris has fallen in the vicinity of energy facilities, the ministry of defence is saying.
An assessment of damage is ongoing, it says in the post on X.
The post didn’t mention Iran but the country has continued launching strikes against US allies around the Gulf.
UN set to vote on watered-down Hormuz resolution
The UN security council is expected to vote on Tuesday on a resolution to protect commercial shipping in the strait of Hormuz but in significantly watered-down form after veto-wielding China opposed authorising force, Reuters is reporting, citing diplomats.
Efforts by Bahrain – the current chair of the 15-member council – to secure a resolution have involved multiple drafts seeking to overcome opposition from China, Russia and others. The latest iteration, seen by Reuters, drops any explicit authorisation of the use of force.
Instead the text “strongly encourages States interested in the use of commercial maritime routes in the Strait of Hormuz to coordinate efforts, defensive in nature, commensurate to the circumstances, to contribute to ensuring the safety and security of navigation across the Strait of Hormuz”.
It says such contributions could include “the escort of merchant and commercial vessels”, and the text also endorses efforts “to deter attempts to close, obstruct or otherwise interfere with international navigation through the Strait of Hormuz”.
Diplomats said the watered-down version had a better chance of passing, but it remained unclear if it would succeed. It requires at least nine votes in favour and no vetoes from the five permanent members: Britain, China, France, Russia and the US.
Oil prices have surged since the US and Israel launched war on Iran in late February, prompting Tehran to largely close the strait, a vital artery for global oil and gas supplies.
WHO suspends Gaza evacuations after contractor killed
More now on the World Health Organisation suspending medical evacuations from Gaza after a contracted was killed on Monday.
The head of the UN agency, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, posted on X:
@WHO is devastated to confirm that a person contracted to provide services to the Organization in Gaza was killed today during a security incident.
Two staff members were present when it happened but were not injured, he said.
Following the incident, WHO suspended today’s medical evacuation of patients from Gaza via Rafah to Egypt. Medical evacuations will remain suspended until further notice.
Tedros didn’t give details of what occurred but said “relevant authorities” were investigating.
He added:
We are deeply grateful to our colleagues who work day and night despite the risks to ensure that the people of Gaza can access the health care they need.
We call for the protection of civilians and humanitarian workers.
At least 10 killed in Israeli strike outside Gaza school
In Gaza, an Israeli airstrike killed at least 10 people outside a school housing displaced Palestinians, health officials said.
Before the strikes, some Palestinians had clashed with members of an Israeli-backed militia, who they said attacked the school in an attempt to abduct some people, medics and residents said.
In the midst of the clashes, east of the Maghazi refugee camp in central Gaza, Israeli drones fired two missiles into the area, killing at least 10 people and wounding several others on Monday, they added.
It was not immediately clear how many civilians had been killed in the strikes, which hit in a closely packed neighbourhood of mostly displaced Palestinians, Reuters is reporting.
Witness Ahmed al-Maghazi said their area was attacked by members of the Israeli-backed militia who operate in the territory adjacent to where the Israeli forces are in control, before the militia opened fire.
Later on Monday, a leader of one of the Israeli-backed militias said in a video that they killed about five Hamas members.
The World Health Organisation’s chief, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, said a contractor in Gaza was killed during a security incident, prompting the organisation to suspend medical evacuations from Gaza via Rafah to Egypt until further notice.
The violence is the latest to overshadow the fragile US-backed Gaza ceasefire deal that began in October.
An Iranian drone strike on Ali al-Salem Air Base in Kuwait overnight injured 15 Americans, two US officials have told CBS News.
The majority of them have returned to duty, one of the sources said.
In total, 373 US military personnel have been injured since the US-Israeli war on Iran began - including 330 who have returned to duty and five who remain seriously wounded, a spokesperson for US Central Command also told the outlet.
Iranian military says Trump’s ‘delusional’ threats will not make up for US ‘disgrace and humiliation’
The spokesperson for Iran’s top joint military command has called Trump’s threats “delusional”.
In a statement carried by state media and quoted by Al Jazeera, the spokesperson for Khatam al-Anbiya Central Headquarters also said the threats will not make up for the “disgrace and humiliation” of the US in the region.
AFP also quotes Tehran’s army as saying that Trump’s “arrogant rhetoric” on the war is not hindering Iran’s soldiers, after the US president repeated threats on Monday to raze Iran’s infrastructure.
The rude, arrogant rhetoric and baseless threats of the delusional US president ... have no effect on the continuation of the offensive and crushing operations of the warriors of Islam against the American and Zionist enemies.
The Iranian army said four of its officers were killed in the central Isfahan province yesterday during an operation to counter invading US aircraft, according to the semi-official Fars news agency.
The army said the officers engaged in “direct combat with enemy fighter jets, helicopters, armed drones and support aircraft” in the Mahyar area of Isfahan before they were hit.
Analysis: Trump threats cause dilemma for US officers – disobey orders or commit war crimes
Julian Borger
Donald Trump’s threats to carry out mass bombing of civilian infrastructure in Iran present US military officers with a dilemma: disobey orders or help commit war crimes.
It is an urgent matter for the US chain of command. In an expletive-laden threat, Trump set a Tuesday 8pm Washington time deadline for the Iranian government to open the strait of Hormuz or face “Power Plant Day, and Bridge Day, all wrapped up in one”.
He wrote on his Truth Social platform on Sunday: “There will be nothing like it!!! Open the Fuckin’ Strait, you crazy bastards, or you’ll be living in Hell.”
Three days earlier, the president had made clear what he meant by “Power Day”. “We are going to hit each and every one of their electric generating plants very hard and probably simultaneously,” he said in prepared remarks that were amplified by the state department’s social media accounts.
There is little debate among legal experts that such an attack on the life-supporting infrastructure for 93 million Iranians would constitute a war crime.
“Such rhetorical statements – if followed through – would amount to the most serious war crimes – and thus the president’s statements place service members in a profoundly challenging situation,” two former judge advocate general (JAG) officers, Margaret Donovan and Rachel VanLandingham wrote on the website Just Security on Monday.
“As former uniformed military lawyers who advised targeting operations, we know the president’s words run counter to decades of legal training of military personnel and risk placing our warfighters on a path of no return.”
They noted that Trump’s boast that he would bomb Iran “back to the Stone Ages”, and the order by his defence secretary, Pete Hegseth, to show “no quarter, no mercy” were not just “plainly illegal” but they also represented a rupture from the moral and legal principles that US military personnel had been “trained to follow their entire careers”.
Read Julian’s full analysis here:
The day so far
Donald Trump re-upped his threat to Iran, saying that the country could be “taken out in one night”, which “might be tomorrow night”, if it doesn’t meet his 8pm ET Tuesday deadline for reopening the strait of Hormuz. He brushed off questions over whether he was concerned that deliberately attacking Iran’s civilian, transport and energy infrastructure would amount to war crimes, and refused to say whether the war was winding down or ramping up, telling reporters this was a “critical period” and it all depends on what Tehran does next. He said the US was ready to strike all of Iran’s bridges and power plants and suggested it would only take four hours – “I mean complete decimation by 12 o’clock”. He also claimed – with no evidence – that the Iranian people would be “willing to suffer” the US bombing civilian targets if it meant securing their freedom.
Meanwhile, Tehran formally rejected a US ceasefire proposal and called for an immediate, permanent end to the war. Iranian state media reported that Tehran had issued at 10-clause response calling for a “definitive” end to the conflict “in line with Iran’s considerations”, with other demands including “ending regional hostilities, establishing a protocol for safe passage through the strait of Hormuz, as well as reconstruction, and the lifting of sanctions.” IRNA added that “by extending the repeated deadline once more, [Trump] has stepped back from his previous threats.”
Iran's supreme leader issues written statement over death of IRGC intelligence chief
Iran’s supreme leader Mojtaba Khamenei earlier expressed his condolences over the killing of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard’s intelligence chief, Majid Khademi.
In a written social media post, Khamenei said Major General Majid Khademi joined a “steadfast line of warriors and fighters” to sacrifice their lives.
He said the deaths of commanders would not cause any “disruption” to the ideology of Iranian forces because the “ranks are vast”.
Israel has claimed responsibility for targeting Khademi, with the IDF saying he was “eliminated” in a strike in Tehran on Sunday.
There have been several written messages published with attribution to Khamenei, but he has not been seen or heard in public since succeeding his assassinated father as supreme leader last month.
The war in the Middle East will lead to “higher inflation and slower global growth”, the head of the Monetary Fund told Reuters, dashing an expected upgrade of its global growth projections had the region-wide conflict not started.
The IMF had expected a small upgrade in its projection for global growth of 3.3% in 2026 and 3.2% in 2027 if the war not been started.
“Had we not had this war we would have seen a small upgrade of our growth projections. Instead, all roads now lead to higher prices and slower growth,” said Kristalina Georgieva, managing director of the IMF.
Even a rapid end to hostilities and a fairly rapid recovery would result in a “relatively small” downward revision of the growth forecast and an upward revision of its inflation forecast, she said. If the war was protracted, the effect on inflation and growth would be greater, she said.
Georgieva said the IMF had received requests for financing assistance from some countries, but did not name them. She said the IMF could augment some existing lending programs to meet countries’ needs.
Reuters reports that four officers of the Iranian Army ground forces were killed on Sunday in a military operation to counter US aircraft in Iran’s Isfahan, citing the semi-official Fars news agency.
