The China Mail - Trump makes stark threat to Iran after US airman rescued

As Christians marked Easter, Trump revived warnings of air strikes on Iranian power plants and bridges, after celebrating the rescue of a wounded airman whose fighter jet went down inside Iran.

Iranian images showed wreckage of several aircraft, but Tehran did not deny US forces rescued the officer, who sheltered in a mountainous area while American special forces and Iranian troops raced to find him.

The war, which erupted on February 28 with deadly US-Israeli strikes on Tehran, has engulfed the Middle East and strained the global economy.

Iranian missiles have hit Israeli cities and economic infrastructure in the Gulf, sending world energy prices soaring.

Oil opened higher in early trading in Asia, with US benchmark West Texas Intermediate up 1.86 percent to $113.62 a barrel and Brent above $110.

Iran has effectively blocked the Strait of Hormuz, a vital energy chokepoint, provoking Trump to demand Sunday: "Open the Fuckin' Strait, you crazy bastards, or you'll be living in Hell."

In a terse follow-up post, the president apparently set a new deadline for Iran to comply: "Tuesday, 8:00 PM" (midnight GMT).

While Trump told Fox News Iran was "close" to making a deal, security analyst Danny Citrinowicz said "the prospect of a negotiated agreement with Iran, at least under current conditions, is close to nonexistent."

- 'Nothing like it!!!' -

"Tuesday will be Power Plant Day, and Bridge Day, all wrapped up in one, in Iran. There will be nothing like it!!!" Trump declared, prompting Tehran to accuse Trump of taking orders from Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Iran's parliament speaker, Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, posted on social media that "our whole region is going to burn because you insist on following Netanyahu's commands."

Iran's ally Russia also condemned Trump's threat.

Moscow said Washington should abandon "the language of ultimatums" and return to negotiations, according to a Russian readout of Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov's latest call with his Iranian counterpart.

Many residents of Tehran seemed indifferent to Trump's invective, with young Iranians exercising, flying kites and holding picnics in a large park in the city's west Sunday.

- US rescue mission -

The New York Times reported that the rescued US airman, a weapons systems officer, was equipped with a pistol, a beacon and a secure communications device to coordinate with rescuers.

Two of the aircraft meant to transport him and his rescuers to safety were stuck inside Iran and had to be destroyed to prevent them from falling into Iranian hands, The Times and CBS reported.

US forces used three other transport planes to carry the airman and his rescuers out of Iran, reports said.

Iran's military said it destroyed four US aircraft involved in the operation, which it said used an abandoned airport.

Iranian media reported five people were killed in strikes during the operation.

Footage released by Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps was presented as showing charred, smoking wreckage of an American aircraft scattered across a desert area.

Iran claims it downed the fighter jet and the crew ejected, while US media reported only the plane was shot down. Washington has not confirmed what caused the plane to come down.

- 'Choose peace' -

Iran attacked infrastructure across the Gulf again on Sunday, with damage reported at civilian facilities in the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Kuwait.

UAE authorities in Sharjah said they were dealing with an "incident" in the key port of Khor Fakkan following an Iranian strike.

UAE presidential adviser Anwar Gargash warned Iran that targeting its Arab neighbors "will actually concretize the American role" adding the UAE was ready to "join any American-led effort, international effort to secure navigation in the Strait of Hormuz."

On another front, Lebanon has increasingly been dragged into the conflict since Iran-backed Hezbollah resumed targeting Israel.

Israel has struck back and pushed forces into southern Lebanon, with the army chief Lieutenant General Eyal Zamir visiting there Sunday and pledging to intensify strikes against Hezbollah.

UN peacekeepers in Lebanon have warned that attacks by Israel and Hezbollah near its positions "could potentially draw return fire."

The Israeli military and medics said a missile fired from Iran hit a residential building in the northern city of Haifa, injuring four people.

The war cast a shadow over Easter Sunday celebrations for Christians in Lebanon and across the region.

The usually lively alleyways of Jerusalem's Old City were unusually silent Sunday.

Israeli authorities restricted access to the Holy Sepulchre, where worshippers commemorate Christ's crucifixion and resurrection.

In Beirut, hymn singers at a church in the northern suburb of Jdeideh struggled to be heard above the roar of Israeli fighter jets flying low over the city and bombing its southern suburbs.

An Israeli strike on Sunday targeting an apartment building in a town east of Beirut killed three people, Lebanon's health ministry said.

In his Easter blessing at the Vatican, Pope Leo XIV urged leaders to "choose peace."

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W.Cheng--ThChM