Trump says Iran could be ‘taken out in one night’: What we know about the war, now in its 6th week

By Jessie Yeung, CNN

(CNN) — US President Donald Trump issued new threats and mused about negotiations at a White House press conference Monday as the war with Iran continues. Earlier, Tehran rejected a temporary ceasefire proposed by negotiators, and Israel announced a new strike on a petrochemical plant in southern Iran.

Meanwhile, the humanitarian crisis grows, and the global economy remains under pressure. Here’s the latest.

What are the main headlines?

• New threats: Trump told reporters that Iran could be “taken out in one night” and that the United States has a plan for every bridge and power plant in Iran to be destroyed by midnight tomorrow. Targeting critical civilian infrastructure could be considered a war crime. The president previously appeared to set an 8 p.m. Tuesday deadline for Iran to fully reopen the Strait of Hormuz. Trump has set and revised numerous deadlines for Iran to reopen the strait.
• Negotiation update: Besides his threats, Trump said that Iran is an “active, willing participant” in negotiations to potentially end the war. Trump also told reporters that talks with intermediaries to end the conflict are “going well.” However, he wouldn’t say whether the war is winding down. He said only that it’s in a “critical period.”
• Israel prepares to strike infrastructure: Israel has approved an updated target list of energy and infrastructure sites in Iran in preparation for a contingency scenario in which US diplomatic talks fail, two Israeli sources told CNN. The Israelis are highly skeptical that a deal is achievable, one of the sources added.
• Iran rejects ceasefire plan: Tehran earlier rebuffed proposals for a temporary ceasefire, saying it would allow adversaries to pause and prepare for the continuation of the conflict. Instead, Iran has submitted a 10-clause response, with demands including “ending regional hostilities, establishing a protocol for safe passage through the Strait of Hormuz, reconstruction and the lifting of sanctions,” according to state-run media. Trump called the proposal for a ceasefire with Iran a “significant step” but “not good enough.”
• Tehran’s response: Senior Iranian officials issued their own threats in response and said the strait will remain blocked until Iran receives payment for war damages. On Monday, Trump said the US — not Iran — ought to impose tolls in the strait, reasoning that the US is the “winner” in the war so far.
• An Iranian response: A senior Iranian security source, responding to Trump’s comments, told CNN that Iran has dealt him a strategic defeat and that his escalating rhetoric toward Iranians reflects a loss of control over the conflict. 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.”
• Daring rescue operation: The US airman shot down over Iran evaded capture for more than a day, hiding alone and scaling rugged terrain as a massive rescue effort unfolded, officials told CNN. At a press conference Monday, CIA Director John Ratcliffe said that the “daunting” mission was “comparable to hunting for a single grain of sand in the desert.” Iran’s army public relations office said four Iranian officers were killed during the US operation.
• Diplomatic efforts: Behind the scenes, sources say Oman has held talks with Iran about the Strait of Hormuz, while Pakistan and Egypt have worked to keep communications open between Washington and Tehran.

What’s happening on the ground?

• Threat against AI center: Iran threatened to strike an AI 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 threat follows a warning from Maj. Gen. Ali Abdollahi Aliabadi, the commander of Iran’s Khatam al-Anbiya Central Headquarters in Tehran, who cautioned that the “gates of hell will be opened upon you” if Iran’s infrastructure continues to face attacks.
• Iranian petrochemical complex: Israel has struck the South Pars petrochemical complex, Defense Minister Israel Katz said Monday. The Jam and Damavand petrochemical facilities, which account for roughly 85% of Iran’s petrochemical exports, have been rendered inoperative, said Katz, adding that the strike is “a severe economic blow” that would cost Iran “tens of billions of dollars” in lost petrochemical profits.
• Toll in Lebanon: At least 11 people, including a 4-year-old girl, were killed by Israeli strikes in Lebanon, local officials and media said. As of Monday, more than 1,497 people have been killed since the war in Lebanon began, according to the country’s Health Ministry. Meanwhile, Israel is ordering the residents of dozens of villages in southern Lebanon to leave their homes “immediately” and flee north of the Zahrani River. Some Israeli far-right lawmakers are demanding that Israel draw a “new security border” and expel hundreds of thousands of Lebanese civilians who live south of a proposed line near the Litani River.
• Strikes in Israel: Four people were killed in the Israeli city of Haifa after a missile struck a seven-story building on Sunday. Their bodies have been recovered following an overnight search involving dozens of rescue workers. Separately, videos captured by a CNN producer in Jerusalem early Monday showed missiles flying through the night sky.
• Tehran hit: At least 13 people were killed by a US-Israeli attack early Monday on two residential buildings in Baharestan County, a densely populated area southwest of Tehran, according to state media. Videos shared by the Iranian Red Crescent Society show rescue crews digging through rubble at what the aid agency described as the site of an airstrike in Tehran. Iran’s Ministry of Health claimed Monday that hundreds of women and children have been killed in US-Israeli strikes across the country since the war started.
• Diplomats targeted: Iranian-linked militias targeted US diplomats and facilities in Iraq in two overnight attacks, a State Department spokesperson said, without specifying the exact locations of the attacks.

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