Trump confirms Pakistan-mediated peace talks

• US president says Vance, Witkoff and Kushner talking with intermediaries • Tehran rejects temporary ceasefire, dem

WASHINGTON/DUBAI:

US President Donald Trump on Monday said that Vice President JD Vance, US Envoy to the Middle East Steve Witkoff and his son-in-law, Jared Kushner, are talking with intermediaries in Pakistan.

He was asked by a reporter during his news conference whether he expected Vance to continue talks with intermediaries in Pakistan, to which Trump replied: "Well, he is, and we have Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner talking. They're all unified and they're all talking."

Asked about the possibility of Vance being part of an in-person meeting, Trump said, "could be."

Meanwhile, Iran said it wanted a lasting end to the war with the US and Israel, and pushed back against pressure to reopen the Strait of Hormuz while the US president warned the country could be "taken out" if it did not meet his Tuesday night deadline to reach a deal.

Responding to a US proposal through mediator Pakistan, Tehran rejected a ceasefire and said a permanent end to the war was necessary, the official IRNA news agency reported.

The Iranian response consisted of 10 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.

Trump, who has threatened to rain "hell" on Tehran if it did not make a deal by 8pm EDT Tuesday (midnight GMT) to open the Strait of Hormuz, a vital route for global energy supplies, rejected the Iranian response and said his deadline was final.

At the news conference, Trump said Iran could be "taken out" in one night "and that night might be tomorrow night," referring to Tuesday. He vowed to destroy Iranian power plants and bridges, brushing off concerns that such actions would be a war crime or alienate Iran's 93 million people.

Without an agreement with Tehran, Trump said, "Every bridge in Iran will be decimated" by midnight EDT (0400 GMT) on Wednesday and "every power plant in Iran will be out of business, burning, exploding, and never to be used again."

Iran's Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei has released a statement condemning the US and Israel for their continued attacks on civilian infrastructure in Iran, saying "the enemy is recklessly saying that it wants to return Iran to the Stone Age" with its assault.

The US president told reporters that he thought the Iranian people should rise up against the government in the country if a ceasefire were declared, but understood that it was too dangerous for them to do so.

"Well they should do it but, again, the consequences are great," Trump said during a White House news conference. "I mean, they were told, 'If you protest, you will be shot immediately.'"

A senior Iranian security source, responding to remarks Monday by US President Donald Trump, said Iran has dealt Trump a strategic defeat and that his escalating rhetoric toward Iranians reflects a loss of control over the conflict.

"Trump's military failure, in coordination with (Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin) Netanyahu in southern Isfahan, was a strategic failure, and the increase in his insults and offensive language toward the Iranian people shows that he has lost control over managing the war," the source said.

Without providing details of a letter that Iran said it delivered via Pakistan, the source said Tehran has made its position "clear" that the Strait of Hormuz "will not return to its previous condition unless the war is permanently stopped."

The official added that even after a complete halt to attacks on Iran, the strait would be reopened only under a protocol tied to how fully the other side meets its commitments.

"Iran has no trust in Trump or his representatives and has raised additional guarantees," according to the source.

"Iran wants the war to end - but not in the way or on the timeline that Trump is seeking," the source added.

 

US AI center

Iran threatened to strike an artificial intelligence center in the United Arab Emirates after an airstrike targeted Tehran's Sharif University of Technology on Monday morning, the semi-official Tasnim News Agency reported.

The strike damaged the university's computing center and GPU facility, which provides infrastructure to the country's AI capabilities, according to Tasnim, which is affiliated with Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC).

The outlet highlighted that the US's "Stargate" AI center in Abu Dhabi, which is being developed with OpenAI, Oracle and Nvidia, is "within range of Iranian missiles."

"Iran has identified this as a strategic target and considers itself entitled to respond reciprocally under its legal rights," the news agency said.

 

Trump mental health

The US president dismissed critics who have suggested the president should have his mental health examined following his profanity-laced social media post on Easter Sunday threatening to demolish Iran's power plants and infrastructure.

Asked about the criticism of his social media post, in which he called the Iranians "crazy bastards," Trump told the reporter mid-question, "I don't care about critics." Pressed that some are calling for an evaluation of his mental health, Trump shrugged off the question.

"I haven't heard that," the president said in a press conference, before suggesting that there should be "more people" like him.

"But if that's the case, you're gonna have to have more people like me, because our country was being ripped off on trade or everything for many years until I came along," Trump told reporters. "So if that's the case, you're gonna have to have more people."

 

RESCUE MISSION

At the news conference, Trump and Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth praised the successful weekend retrieval from Iran of a U.S. airman whose jet was shot down on Friday.

Hegseth, who has faced scrutiny for outspokenly blending his evangelical religious faith with military operations, described the rescue in explicitly Christian terms, comparing it to the resurrection of Jesus Christ. "Shot down on a Friday, Good Friday, hidden in a cave, a crevice, all of Saturday and rescued on Sunday, flown out of Iran as the sun was rising on Easter Sunday, a pilot reborn. All home and accounted for a nation rejoicing. God is good," Hegseth said.

Fresh aerial strikes were reported across the region on Monday. Hegseth said Monday would have the most strikes since the start of the war, and Tuesday would see even more.

Iranian state media said the Revolutionary Guards' intelligence chief, Majid Khademi, had died. Israel claimed responsibility for his death.

Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz threatened to destroy Iran's infrastructure and hunt down its leaders "one by one". The Israeli military also said it had targeted Iran's air force through a series of strikes on the Bahram, Mehrabad, and Azmayesh airports.

Iran said two of its petrochemical complexes were attacked. Emergency and firefighting teams brought a blaze under control at the South Pars complex in Asaluyeh, Iran's National Petrochemical Company said. No casualties were reported.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the strike on the petrochemical facility in southern Iran was part of dismantling Iran's Revolutionary Guards "money machine".

"Iran is no longer the same Iran, and Israel is no longer the same Israel. Israel is stronger than ever, and the terrorist regime in Iran is weaker than ever," Netanyahu said in a statement.

Experts have said strikes on civilian infrastructure such as power plants and bridges would constitute war crimes. Trump said Iranians are "willing to suffer that in order to have freedom," saying that the US has intercepted messages asking for bombings. "They're saying, 'Please come back,'" he said.

 

FIGHTING BACK

Iranian weekend strikes on petrochemical facilities and an Israeli-linked vessel in Kuwait, Bahrain and the UAE underscored the country's ability to fight back despite Trump's repeated claims to have knocked out its missile and drone capabilities.

Israel saw a heavy day of rocket volleys on Monday, with the sounds of sirens and missile interception booms ringing out across the country throughout the day.

Israel's military told Reuters there had been 20 missile launches from Lebanon and five from Iran during the day. Several attacks resulted in impacts. A missile hit Haifa overnight, killing four. This raised the war's death toll in Israel to 23, according to Israel's ambulance service.

Yemen's Iran-aligned Houthis said on Monday that they also carried out missile and drone attacks against Israel. (With input from News Desk)