{"id":54932,"date":"2026-04-06T23:34:13","date_gmt":"2026-04-06T23:34:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/54932\/"},"modified":"2026-04-06T23:34:13","modified_gmt":"2026-04-06T23:34:13","slug":"donald-trump-says-iran-could-be-taken-out-in-one-night-if-deal-not-reached-by-looming-deadline","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/54932\/","title":{"rendered":"Donald Trump says Iran could be ‘taken out in one night’ if deal not reached by looming deadline"},"content":{"rendered":"

US President Donald Trump says the “entire country” of Iran will be “taken out” if no deal is reached by 10am Wednesday (AEST), ratcheting up his threat to target civilian infrastructure and brushing off concerns it would be a war crime.<\/p>\n

In a lengthy White House press conference \u2014 in which he again criticised Australia and other allies \u2014 Mr Trump said the US had a plan to bomb every bridge and power plant in Iran.<\/p>\n

“The entire country could be taken out in one night,” Mr Trump said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

“And that night might be tomorrow night.”<\/p>\n

Iran war live updates<\/a>:\u00a0For the latest news on the Middle East crisis, read our blog<\/p>\n

His comments came after Iran rejected a 45-day ceasefire proposal, which was raised in talks involving Egyptian, Pakistani and Turkish mediators. Mr Trump said Iran had put forward its own proposal, but it was “not good enough”.<\/p>\n

“We have a plan, because of the power of our military, where every bridge in Iran will be decimated by 12 o’clock tomorrow night, where every power plant in Iran will be out of business, burning, exploding, and never to be used again.<\/p>\n

“I mean complete demolition,” Mr Trump said. “And it will happen over a period of four hours if we want it to.<\/p>\n

“We don’t want that to happen. We may even get involved with helping them rebuild their nation.”<\/p>\n

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In response, Iranian military spokesman Ebrahim Zolfaghari said: “If attacks on civilian targets are repeated, the subsequent phases of our offensive and retaliatory operations will be executed much more forcefully and extensively.”<\/p>\n

Earlier, at an Easter event, Mr Trump said negotiations with Iran were continuing.<\/p>\n

\"Melania<\/p>\n

Donald Trump discussed the war during multiple public appearances on Easter Monday. (AP Photo\/Alex Brandon)<\/p>\n

“They made a proposal, and it’s a significant proposal. It’s a significant step. It’s not good enough.”<\/p>\n

The head of Iran’s diplomatic mission in Cairo, Mojtaba Ferdousi Pour, told the Associated Press: “We only accept an end of the war with guarantees that we won’t be attacked again.”<\/p>\n

He said Iran no longer trusted the Trump administration after the US bombed the Islamic Republic twice during previous rounds of talks.<\/p>\n

‘They want us to keep bombing’<\/p>\n

Mr Trump used his press conference to once again criticise US allies that had not joined the war.<\/p>\n

He complained NATO had “actually gone out of their way not to help”.<\/p>\n

“You know who else didn’t help us? Australia didn’t help us,” he said.<\/p>\n

He similarly called out Japan and South Korea.<\/p>\n

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He said securing the free flow of oil through the Strait of Hormuz was now a “very big priority” for the US. That represents a turnaround from recent comments in which he said the strait’s closure was not America’s problem<\/a> and other countries would need to get it reopened.<\/p>\n

He said any deal with Iran would need to include “the free traffic of oil and everything else”.<\/p>\n

What went unsaid in Trump’s national address<\/a><\/p>\n

Donald Trump’s national address covered past talking points and Truth Social posts, and the most notable takeaways relate to what was not said.<\/p>\n

When a reporter raised the point that targeting civilian infrastructure was a violation of international law, Mr Trump ignored the question and attacked the reporter’s outlet, the New York Times.<\/p>\n

He insisted the Iranian people “would be willing to suffer that in order to have freedom”.<\/p>\n

“They want us to keep bombing,” he said.<\/p>\n

At the Easter event earlier, Mr Trump said he wanted to “take the oil” from Iran, but “unfortunately the American people would like to see us come home”.<\/p>\n

“If it were up to me, I’d take the oil, I’d keep the oil,” he said.<\/p>\n

“I would make plenty of money. And I’d also take care of the people of Iran much better than they’ve been taken care of.”<\/p>\n

‘Needle in a haystack’ rescue mission<\/p>\n

Mr Trump called the press conference to discuss last week’s rescue of two air force members, including one who was missing in Iran after a fighter jet was shot down “deep inside enemy territory”.<\/p>\n

“I immediately was asked to make a decision,” Mr Trump said. “I ordered the US Armed Forces to do whatever was necessary to bring our brave warriors back home. A risky decision, because we could have ended up with 100 dead as opposed to one or two.”<\/p>\n

Confirming many previously reported details<\/a>, Mr Trump said one crew member was found relatively quickly and rescued by chopper “as their warriors faced gunfire at very close range”.<\/p>\n

The other climbed “treacherous mountain terrain” and hid in crevices to evade capture, Mr Trump said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

“He scaled cliff faces bleeding rather profusely, treated his own wounds, and contacted American forces to transmit his location.”<\/p>\n

Finding the missing crew member was “like finding a needle in a haystack”, Mr Trump said. CIA director John Ratcliffe said it required the use of “exquisite technologies” that no other intelligence agency had, but he could not reveal details.<\/p>\n

The rescue mission involved 155 aircraft, including four bombers, 64 fighters, 48 refuelling tankers and 13 rescue aircraft, Mr Trump said.<\/p>\n

“A lot of it was subterfuge,” he said. “We wanted to have them [Iran] think he was in a different location because they had a vast military force out there. Thousands and thousands of people were looking, so we wanted them to look in different areas.”<\/p>\n

The job was made more difficult after the media was told about the rescue, Mr Trump said. “We’re looking very hard to find that leaker,” he said, and vowed to force a reporter to reveal their source or go to jail.<\/p>\n

He also said some military personnel opposed the rescue because it was so risky.<\/p>\n

ABC\/AP<\/p>\n

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