Iran rejects latest ceasefire proposal, calling instead for permanent end to the war

Iran on Monday rejected a 45-day ceasefire proposal and said it wants a permanent end to the war. Iran’s state-run IRNA news agency said Tehran conveyed its response through Pakistan, a key mediator.

“We only accept an end of the war with guarantees that we won’t be attacked again,” Mojtaba Ferdousi Pour, head of the Iranian diplomatic mission in Cairo, told the AP on Monday.

The response comes as U.S. President Donald Trump’s deadline — Tuesday night Washington time — for Tehran to reopen the Strait of Hormuz looms. Trump warned the U.S. would otherwise hit Iran’s power plants and other infrastructure targets. Iran’s parliamentary Speaker Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf called the threats “reckless.”

Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz said Monday that Israel attacked the South Pars petrochemical plant at Asaluyeh in Iran. He made the announcement after Iran said the facility had been attacked. An Israeli attack on South Pars facilities in March sparked major Iranian attacks targeting oil and gas infrastructure across the Gulf Arab states.

The head of intelligence for Iran’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard, Maj. Gen. Majid Khademi, was killed, according to Iranian state media. Israel claimed it was responsible for the killing Monday. Israel’s military said it also killed the leader of the Iranian paramilitary Revolutionary Guard’s undercover unit in its expeditionary Quds Force, Asghar Bakeri.

Israel and the United States carried out a wave of attacks on Iran on Monday, killing more than 25 people. Iran responded with missile fire on Israel and its Gulf Arab neighbors.

Israeli military is preparing for weeks of battle against Iran

The military’s chief spokesman, Brig. Gen. Effie Defrin, says the army’s chief has approved battle plans for the next three weeks in the absence of a ceasefire.

“Every day that passes, we hit them more and more. Already we have very good achievements, and we want to reach excellent achievements,” he told a press conference Monday.

Israel’s defense industry to export a $750 million rocket system to Greece

The Israeli and Greek defense ministries signed the four-year export agreement Monday in Athens, said a statement from Israel’s defense ministry.

The system, called PULS (Precise & Universal Launching System), is built to launch rockets of different ranges, the statement said.

Israeli defense giant Elbit Systems will supply the rocket launchers and the warheads to Greece. Greek defense industries are expected to produce some parts of the system.

US fighter jet was downed by shoulder-held missile launcher, Trump says

Trump said the F-15E fighter jet that set off a two-day search-and-rescue operation was downed by a shoulder-launched rocket.

Trump described the weapon as a “hand-held shoulder missile— heat-seeking missile.”

The president went on to suggest that the fighter jet was ultimately downed not by the explosion but because of related damage to the aircraft’s engines.

“They shot it and it got sucked in right by the engine,” Trump said.

US warplane that crashed amid search for downed aviators was hit by enemy fire, general says

A U.S. aircraft that crashed amid the search for the downed airmen was hit by enemy fire while engaging Iranian forces, Gen. Dan Caine, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said Monday.

Caine, speaking at a briefing at the White House, said that a U.S. A-10 Thunderbolt aircraft was “violently suppressing and engaging the enemy in a close-in gun fight to keep them away” from the pilot of a downed F-15 fighter jet while also being “primarily responsible for communicating with the downed pilot.”

Caine said that after being hit, “this pilot continued to fight, continued the mission, and then upon exit, flew his aircraft into another country and determined that the airplane was not landable.”

The pilot then made the decision to eject over friendly territory and, according to Caine, “was quickly and safely recovered, and is doing fine.”

CIA Director John Ratcliffe says top-secret technology led to rescue of downed airman

Speaking at a White House press conference, Ratcliffe said the agency used “exquisite technologies that no other intelligence service” possesses to locate the aviator after the F-15 was shot down in Iran.

At the same time, the CIA mounted a deception operation to mislead Iranians who were looking.

Ratcliffe said the search and rescue operation was “comparable to hunting for a single grain of sand in the middle of a desert.”

The CIA declined to respond to questions Monday about the kind of technology used to locate the airman.

Trump says downed officer rushed to get away from crash site

Trump says the downed weapons officer followed his training to get as far away from the crash site as possible.

When a plane crashes in hostile territory, “they all head right to that site, you want to be as far away as you can,” Trump said.

Trump says the officer was “bleeding profusely” but was able climb mountainous terrain and contact U.S. forces to communicate his location. Rescuers mobilized a massive response that included subterfuge to confuse the Iranians about where they were looking.

Trump says 21 aircraft came to help rescue airmen who crash in Iran

The president began describing the rescue efforts from Friday and over the weekend after two airmen ejected and landed alive “deep in enemy territory” in Iran.

Trump said 21 aircraft were deployed to help with the search and rescue in the first wave, flying for hours under “very, very heavy enemy fire.” He said the U.S. has one helicopter with many bullets in it.

Trump offers more details of dramatic airman rescue

The president described the scale of the operation undertaken by the U.S. to rescue the second airman from the downed aircraft — which included 155 aircraft.

More specifically, it included four bombers, 64 fighters, 48 refueling tankers, 13 rescue aircraft, among others, Trump said.

Much of it was an effort to throw off the Iranians who were also looking for the missing crew member, the president said.

“We were bringing them all over and a lot of it was subterfuge,” Trump said. “We wanted to have them think he was in a different location.”

Trump insists Iranian civilians want the US to keep bombing

Asked why Iranians would want him to follow up on his threat to blow up the country’s infrastructure, Trump says everyday citizens are “willing to suffer … in order to have freedom.”

“‘Please keep bombing. Do it,’” Trump claimed U.S. officials have heard Iranians say via “intercepts.”

“And these are people that are living where the bombs are exploding,” he said.

He added, “And when we leave and we’re not hitting those areas, they’re saying, ‘Please come back, come back, come back.’”

Trump says some military personnel opposed rescue operation

The president made the disclosure in response to a reporter’s question.

“Not everybody was on board,” Trump said. He continued: “There were military people that said, ‘you just don’t do this.’”

Referring to Hegseth and Caine, Trump made sure to clarify: “These two were totally on board.”

Hegseth describes ‘unblinking’ mission in coordination call

The defense secretary said the coordination call held by national security officials during the daring mission to rescue the U.S. airmen lasted nearly two days straight.

“For 45 hours and 56 minutes, we held that call open for coordination,” Hegseth said, describing the call that was held in a secure facility. “Our mission was unblinking.”

Hegseth continued, “the meeting never stopped. The planning never ceased.”

Hegseth draws parallels between story of Easter and rescued airman

The defense secretary has frequently infused his leadership of the Pentagon with references to his Christianity and the language of his faith

Hegseth said the airman, who evaded capture for more than a day, was shot down on Good Friday, “hidden in a cave” on Saturday and on Easter Sunday was “a pilot reborn, all home and accounted for.”

He said that when the airman was finally able to active an emergency transponder, the first message he transmitted was: “God is good.”

Hegseth then pivoted to praising the lethality of U.S. forces during the rescue, saying: “Just ask any Iranian soldier who dared attempt to get anywhere near that pilot before or during that mission. Death from above.”

Trump threatens to jail journalist who first reported on downed airman

Trump threatened to jail the journalist who first reported that U.S. forces were searching for an F-15 weapons officer shot down in Iran, if they don’t reveal their sources.

“The person that did the story will go to jail if he doesn’t say, and that doesn’t last long,” Trump said.

Trump didn’t name the journalist or news organization. He said the leak tipped off the Iranians, endangering the officer and his rescuers. He called the leaker “a sick person.”

Iran’s supreme leader issues a rare public statement

Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei expressed condolences over the killing of the Revolutionary Guard’s intelligence chief.

In a written social media post, Khamenei said Maj. Gen. Majid Khademi joined a “steadfast line of warriors and fighters” to sacrifice their lives. Israeli strikes have killed dozens of top Iranian leaders, including Khamenei’s father.

The younger Khamenei has not been seen or spoken in public since he succeeded his father as supreme leader.