US-Iran war live updates: Trump sets Iran 48-hour deadline to make a deal or reopen Strait of Hormuz; search continues for missing US airman after fighter jet shot down

Thank you for joining our continuing live coverage of the war in the Middle East, now in its sixth week.

Here’s a recap of the latest developments:

• US President Donald Trump has warned Iran to make a deal or reopen the Strait of Hormuz within 48 hours before he unleashes “all hell”. “Time is running out,” he said on Truth Social.
• The search continues for a missing airman after a US F15-E Strike Eagle fighter jet was shot down by Iran. One of the two-member crew has been rescued.
• Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi has denied reports officials have refused to attend talks in Pakistan. Araghchi said Iran was “deeply grateful to Pakistan for its efforts” and cared about “the terms of a conclusive and lasting end to the illegal war that is imposed on us”.
• An airstrike near Iran’s Bushehr nuclear facility on Saturday left one security guard dead, the Atomic Energy Organisation of Iran said. Russia had already evacuated almost 200 of its workers.
• The death toll in Lebanon has passed 1400 after Israeli strikes killed 54 people in 24 hours.

The remains of three Indonesian United Nations peacekeepers, who were killed while on escort duty supporting UN operations in southern Lebanon, arrived in Jakarta on Saturday evening, where President Prabowo Subianto led a solemn welcome ceremony.

The caskets were received at Soekarno-Hatta International Airport’s VIP terminal, draped in Indonesia’s red-and-white national flag, as military honour guards stood at attention.

Devastated families leaned against the caskets. Wives rested their foreheads on the flags covering the caskets, their sobs breaking the silence of the military honours.

Prabowo, accompanied by senior government officials and top military commanders, bowed his head and observed a moment of silence. He offered condolences to the families before the caskets were returned to their hometowns for official military funerals.

Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi claims its position is being “misrepresented” by US media and officials have not refused to go to talks in Pakistan’s capital.

The Wall Street Journal reported that Iran had told mediators it was not willing to meet US officials in Islamabad in the coming days and that US demands were unacceptable.

“We are deeply grateful to Pakistan for its efforts and have never refused to go to Islamabad,” Araghchi said. “What we care about are the terms of a conclusive and lasting END to the illegal war that is imposed on us.”

US President Donald Trump has claimed that a strike on Tehran has killed “many” of Iran’s military leaders in a post to Truth Social, which was accompanied by unverified video.

“Many of Iran’s Military Leaders, who have led them poorly and unwisely, are terminated, along with much else, with this massive strike in Tehran! President DONALD J. TRUMP,” Trump wrote in the post.

The unverified footage pictures multiple flashes filmed at night over the course of a clip that runs just over one minute. It is unclear when and where the footage was captured.

An Iranian military spokesman has said Iraq will be exempt from shipping restrictions in the Strait of Hormuz, a move that could unlock the passage of as many as 3 million barrels of Iraqi oil a day.

“Brotherly Iraq is exempt from any restrictions we have imposed on the Strait of Hormuz,” Iran’s military spokesman said in an Arabic-language video statement published by state-run Islamic Republic News Agency.

Iraq is the second-largest producer of oil in OPEC after Saudi Arabia. However, it’s unclear if the exemption would apply to all Iraqi oil or just the nation’s tankers.

An Iraqi official said it will be up to shipping companies to determine whether they are willing to risk entering the strait.

The war has forced Iraq and other Persian Gulf oil states to slash crude output. Iraqi oil exports were cut by roughly 97 per cent to a daily average of about 99,000 barrels in March, compared to the previous month, amid falling production and shipping restrictions.

Bloomberg

In 24 hours, Israeli strikes killed another 54 people and wounded 156, the Lebanese health ministry said on Saturday.

The ministry said the overall death toll of 1422 includes 126 children and 93 women. Israel launched intense airstrikes across Lebanon after the Hezbollah militant group fired rockets toward northern Israel in solidarity with Iran on March 2. The strikes have also wounded 4294 others.

Among those killed are 54 health workers, while Israeli strikes have targeted 87 emergency medical service facilities, the health ministry said.

On Saturday, a wave of Israeli strikes hit multiple areas across southern Lebanon. One of them killed two children and wounded 22 others, according to the health ministry.

An airstrike near Iran’s Bushehr nuclear facility on Saturday left one security guard dead and damaged a support building, the Atomic Energy Organisation of Iran said.

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said it was the fourth time the facility had been targeted during the war.

The main sections of the facility, where Russia’s state nuclear company Rosatom has workers, were unaffected, Iran’s semi-official Tasnim news agency reported.

Russia’s state nuclear company Rosatom evacuated a further 198 of its staff from the site on Saturday, Russian news agencies reported, in evacuations already planned before the latest incident.

AP, Bloomberg, Reuters

US federal agents have detained the niece and grand-niece of late Iranian military commander Qassem Soleimani after Secretary of State Marco Rubio revoked their lawful permanent resident status, the State Department said on Saturday (US time).

“Hamideh Soleimani Afshar and her daughter are now in the custody of US Immigration and Customs Enforcement,” the State Department said in a statement, saying also that Rubio revoked their green cards. Soleimani was killed in a January 2020 US airstrike in Baghdad during President Donald Trump’s first term in office.

The State Department said Afshar supported Iran’s government and its propaganda. It also said Afshar’s husband was barred from entering the United States.

Earlier this month, Rubio terminated the legal status of Fatemeh Ardeshir-Larijani, the daughter of veteran Iranian politician Ali Larijani, and her husband Seyed Kalantar Motamedi. Ardeshir-Larijani and Motamedi are no longer in the United States and are barred from future entry, according to the State Department.

Ali Larijani, an architect of Iran’s security policy, was killed in mid-March by a US-Israeli air attack.

Reuters

US President Donald Trump has warned Iran to make a deal or reopen the Strait of Hormuz within 48 hours before he unleashes “all hell”.

In a post on Truth Social on Saturday (US time), Trump reminded Iran of the 10-day extension he made in late March to his threat to bomb Iranian power plants unless the critical oil route reopened.

“Remember when I gave Iran ten days to MAKE A DEAL or OPEN UP THE HORMUZ STRAIT,” Trump wrote. “Time is running out - 48 hours before all Hell will reign [sic] down on them. Glory be to GOD!”

After Iran shot down a US F-15E fighter jet, Trump told NBC News the incident would not affect ongoing negotiations and that “it’s war”.

An American airman remains missing behind enemy lines while another has been rescued after a US F15-E Strike Eagle fighter jet was shot down by Iran, as the regime scored an exceedingly rare success against US air power.

The downing of an F15-E, which carries a two-member crew and can conduct both air-to-ground and air-to-air missions, has highlighted the Islamic republic’s continued ability to hit back despite US President Donald Trump’s assertions that it has been “completely decimated”.

The rescue of the downed airman occurred as the US military was conducting a search and rescue operation, said three people familiar with the matter who spoke to the Associated Press on condition of anonymity to discuss the sensitivity of the situation. Israel is helping the US with the operation.

Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps said it was combing an area near where the pilot’s plane came down in south-western Iran, and the regional governor promised a commendation for anyone who captured or killed “forces of the hostile enemy”. Iranian media said Tehran offered a reward equivalent to $US66,000 ($95,000) to citizens who capture the person alive.

AP, Reuters

Thank you for joining our continuing live coverage of the war in the Middle East, now in its sixth week.

Here’s a recap of the latest developments:

• US President Donald Trump has warned Iran to make a deal or reopen the Strait of Hormuz within 48 hours before he unleashes “all hell”. “Time is running out,” he said on Truth Social.
• The search continues for a missing airman after a US F15-E Strike Eagle fighter jet was shot down by Iran. One of the two-member crew has been rescued.
• Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi has denied reports officials have refused to attend talks in Pakistan. Araghchi said Iran was “deeply grateful to Pakistan for its efforts” and cared about “the terms of a conclusive and lasting end to the illegal war that is imposed on us”.
• An airstrike near Iran’s Bushehr nuclear facility on Saturday left one security guard dead, the Atomic Energy Organisation of Iran said. Russia had already evacuated almost 200 of its workers.
• The death toll in Lebanon has passed 1400 after Israeli strikes killed 54 people in 24 hours.