United States President Donald Trump on Saturday warned Iran that it had 48 hours to “make a deal or open up the Hormuz Strait”.

Trump said that time is running out for the Iranian government, and that if it did not make a deal within two days, “all hell will [rain] down on them”.

The US president had on March 26 said he would pause attacks on Iranian energy plants for 10 days and had claimed that talks with Tehran were going “very well”.

Here are more top updates from the conflict in West Asia:

  • The Iranian and United States forces were on Saturday attempting to find a crew member from the first American fighter jet to be shot down inside Iran since the beginning of the conflict, AFP reported. While Tehran said it had shot down the F-15 warplane, the news agency quoted US media as reporting that American special forces had rescued one of its two crew members. The other crew member was still missing.
  • Additionally, Iran’s military said that it shot down a US A-10 ground attack aircraft in the Gulf. Iran shooting down two American military aircraft marks an exceedingly rare assault for the US that has not happened in over 20 years, AP reported.
  • On the loss of the F-15, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said that President Donald Trump had been briefed, AFP reported. Trump, meanwhile, told NBC that the loss of the fighter jet would not affect negotiations with Iran. “No, not at all,” he said. “No, it’s war.”
  • A spokesperson for the Iranian military’s central operational command said that an American “hostile fighter jet in central Iranian airspace was struck and destroyed” by the advanced air defence system of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Aerospace Force, AFP reported. “The jet was completely obliterated,” the spokesperson said, adding that further searches are ongoing."
  • Authorities in Dubai on Saturday said that they have responded to a “minor incident” caused by debris from an aerial interception falling on to the facade of a building housing Oracle, a US technology company, in Dubai Internet City. No injuries were reported, the UAE city’s media office said in a post on social media.
  • An unidentified ‌official told Iran’s semi-official Fars ⁠news agency on ‌Friday that ‌Tehran ‌had rejected ⁠a ⁠US proposal for a 48-hour ‌ceasefire, Reuters reported. The ‌proposal was made on Wednesday ⁠through another country, said the official. Washington is yet to comment on the development.
  • Trump has asked lawmakers in Washington to approve a $1.5 trillion defence budget for 2027, AFP reported. This comes as the US faces rising costs from its conflict with Iran and mounting global security commitments. The proposal would increase defence spending by more than 40% in a single year, which is the sharpest rise since World War II, according to the news agency.

The conflict

The US and Israel launched an attack on Iran on February 28, claiming that Tehran’s action posed an existential threat to Israel. Washington acts as a guarantor of Israel’s security. Iran has retaliated by striking Israel and US military bases in the region and targeting major cities in Gulf countries.

Advertisement

Tehran has also effectively blocked the Strait of Hormuz, the narrow waterbody connecting the Gulf to the Arabian Sea, for most international commercial vessels, triggering a global energy crisis. About 20% of global petroleum supply passes through the maritime chokepoint.

Israel has been claiming that Iran is close to obtaining a nuclear weapon, which could alter the regional security balance. Tehran has long maintained that its nuclear programme is for civilian purposes.