Iran Gets Expletive-Filled Trump Threat04/06 06:28

   U.S. President Donald Trump on Sunday made expletive-filled threats against 
Iran and its infrastructure if it doesn't open the Strait of Hormuz by his 
Tuesday deadline, after American forces rescued a wounded aviator whose 
Iran-downed plane fell behind enemy lines.

   TEHRAN, Iran (AP) -- U.S. President Donald Trump on Sunday made 
expletive-filled threats against Iran and its infrastructure if it doesn't open 
the Strait of Hormuz by his Tuesday deadline, after American forces rescued a 
wounded aviator whose Iran-downed plane fell behind enemy lines.

   A defiant Iran struck infrastructure targets in neighboring Gulf Arab 
countries and threatened to restrict another heavily used waterway, the Bab 
el-Mandeb Strait off the Arabian Peninsula.

   Trump on social media vowed to hit Iran's power plants and bridges and said 
the country would be "living in Hell" if the Strait of Hormuz, crucial for 
global trade, isn't opened. He ended with "Praise be to Allah."

   Trump has issued such deadlines before but extended them when mediators have 
claimed progress toward ending the war, which has killed thousands, shaken 
global markets and spiked fuel prices in just over five weeks.

   "It seems Trump has become a phenomenon that neither Iranians nor Americans 
are able to fully analyze," Iranian Culture Minister Sayed Reza Salihi-Amiri 
told visiting Associated Press journalists in an interview in Tehran, adding 
that the U.S. president "constantly shifts between contradictory positions."

   Both sides have threatened and hit civilian targets like oil fields and 
desalination plants that provide drinking water. Iran's U.N. mission called 
Trump's threat "clear evidence of intent to commit war crime."

   Iran's joint military command warned of stepped-up attacks on regional oil 
and civilian infrastructure if the U.S. and Israel attack such targets there, 
according to state television.

   The laws of armed conflict allow attacks on civilian infrastructure only if 
the military advantage outweighs the civilian harm, legal scholars say. It's 
considered a high bar to clear, and causing excessive suffering to civilians 
can constitute a war crime.

   The US describes a dramatic rescue

   An intense search followed Friday's crash of the F-15E Strike Eagle, while 
Iran promised a reward for the "enemy pilot." It was the first known American 
aircraft to crash in Iranian territory since the U.S. and Israel launched the 
war on Feb. 28.

   Trump said that the service member was "seriously wounded and really brave" 
and rescued from "deep inside the mountains" in an operation involving dozens 
of armed aircraft. He said a second crew member was rescued in "broad daylight" 
within hours of the crash.

   A senior U.S. administration official said that before locating the second 
aviator, the CIA spread word inside Iran that U.S. forces had found him and 
were moving him out, creating confusion for Iranians. The official spoke on the 
condition of anonymity to discuss details not yet made public.

   Iran also shot down another U.S. military plane Friday, demonstrating the 
perils of the bombing campaign and the ability of Iran's degraded military to 
hit back. Neither the status of the A-10 attack aircraft's crew nor where it 
crashed is known.

   On Sunday, Iran's state television aired a video showing what it claimed 
were parts of U.S. aircraft -- a transport plane and two helicopters -- shot 
down by Iranian forces during the rescue operation.

   However, a regional intelligence official briefed on the mission told the AP 
that the U.S. military blew up two transport planes because of a technical 
malfunction and brought in additional aircraft to complete the rescue. The 
official spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the covert mission.

   Iran's joint military command later said the U.S. bombarded its own aircraft 
to "prevent embarrassment for President Trump."

   Two Black Hawk helicopters were hit but navigated to safe airspace, 
according to a person familiar with the situation who spoke on condition of 
anonymity to discuss the sensitive information.

   Diplomatic efforts continue

   Trump's deadline centers on alarm over Iran's grip on the Strait of Hormuz, 
critical for global shipments of oil and gas from the Persian Gulf as well as 
humanitarian supplies. Some ships have paid Iran for passage.

   An Iranian presidential spokesperson, Seyyed Mohammad Mehdi Tabatabaei, said 
on social media that the strait can reopen only if some transit revenues 
compensate Iran for war damages.

   A top Iranian adviser, Ali Akbar Velayati, warned on social media that 
Tehran also could disrupt trade on the Bab el-Mandeb, a key chokepoint to and 
from the Red Sea.

   Diplomatic efforts continued. Oman's Foreign Ministry said that deputy 
foreign ministers and experts from Iran and Oman met to discuss proposals to 
ensure "smooth transit" through the strait.

   Egypt said that Foreign Minister Badr Abdelatty had spoken with U.S. envoy 
Steve Witkoff and Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, and with Turkish and 
Pakistani counterparts. Russia said that Araghchi also spoke with Russian 
Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov.

   Bahrain urged the U.N. Security Council to act on its draft proposal with 
language authorizing defensive action to ensure safe passage through the strait.

   Airstrikes hit Iran

   An airstrike early Monday struck a residential building near Eslamshar, 
southwest of Tehran, killing at least 13 people, the semiofficial Fars news 
agency and Nour News reported.

   Airstrikes also damaged buildings at the Sharif University of Technology in 
Tehran as well as a natural gas distribution site next to the campus, Iranian 
media reported. It wasn't immediately clear what was targeted at the university 
campus, which has switched to online classes because of the war.

   Elsewhere in Iran, an airstrike killed at least five people in a residential 
area of Qom, the state-run IRAN daily newspaper said in an online message. Qom 
is a Shiite seminary city just south of Tehran.

   It wasn't clear why the buildings were struck. Neither Israel nor the United 
States claimed the strikes early Monday

   In the United Arab Emirates, authorities said one Nepali and three 
Pakistanis were hurt in fires caused by debris from the interception of an 
Iranian projectile at Khor Fakkan port, and interception debris caused fires at 
a petrochemical plant in Ruwais, halting operations.

   In Kuwait, Iranian drone attacks caused significant damage to power plants 
and a petrochemical plant. They also put a water desalination station out of 
service, according to the Ministry of Electricity.

   In Bahrain, a drone attack caused a fire at a national oil company storage 
facility and a state-run petrochemical plant, the kingdom's official news 
agency said.

   In Israel, rescue authorities searched for three people in the northern city 
of Haifa after an apartment building was hit. It wasn't immediately clear what 
struck it.

   More than 1,900 people have been killed in Iran since the war began, but its 
government has not updated the toll for days.

   In Lebanon, whose health ministry said an Israeli strike without warning 
killed four people in Beirut, more than 1,400 people have been killed and more 
than 1 million people have been displaced. Eleven Israeli soldiers have died 
there while targeting Iranian-backed Hezbollah militants.

   In Gulf Arab states and the occupied West Bank, more than two dozen people 
have died, while 19 have been reported dead in Israel and 13 U.S. service 
members have been killed.