With one American pilot still unaccounted for in southwestern Iran and a strike near a nuclear facility drawing international alarm, President Donald Trump issued a stark new warning Saturday: Tehran has 48 hours to reach an agreement before facing severe consequences.
“Time is running out—48 hours before all Hell will reign (sic) down on them,” Trump wrote on Truth Social, invoking an ultimatum he had first set on March 26. “Remember when I gave Iran ten days to MAKE A DEAL or OPEN UP THE HORMUZ STRAIT.”
The deadline lands against a backdrop of widening conflict. The war, which began more than a month ago following US-Israeli strikes on Iran, has since drawn in Lebanon, disrupted Gulf shipping lanes, and sent shockwaves through global energy markets — largely owing to the closure of the Strait of Hormuz.
Iran’s parliament speaker Mohammad Ghalibaf was dismissive of Washington’s position, mocking the administration’s shift in focus. “The war they started has now been downgraded from ‘regime change’ to ‘Hey! Can anyone find our pilots?'” he said. “What incredible progress. Absolute geniuses.”
His comments came as a large-scale search for a missing US airman continued in Kohgiluyeh and Boyer-Ahmad province. Tehran says it shot down an F-15 on Friday, and US media reported that special forces recovered one crew member while the other remains missing. Iran also claims to have downed a US A-10 ground attack aircraft over the Gulf; that pilot, according to US media, was rescued.
The search has turned hostile on the ground. Fattah Mohammadi, the province’s deputy governor, told the local Mehr news agency Saturday that “people fired at enemy helicopters with rifles and did not allow them to land.” Video verified by AFPTV showed Iranian police opening fire on a US helicopter as the search operation unfolded.
Retired US brigadier general Houston Cantwell, with 400 hours of combat flight time, described what a downed pilot’s instincts would likely prioritize. “My priority would be, first of all, concealment, because I don’t want to be captured,” he told AFP.
Separately, a strike near Iran’s Bushehr nuclear power plant on Saturday killed a guard and prompted Russia — which helped construct and continues to help operate the facility — to evacuate 198 workers. Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi cautioned that sustained attacks on the coastal plant could eventually produce radioactive contamination reaching “GCC capitals, not Tehran” — a geographic reality, given Bushehr’s proximity to Kuwait, Bahrain, and Qatar.
Rafael Grossi, director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency, said no elevated radiation levels had been detected, but described the incident as the fourth such strike in recent weeks. “NPP sites or nearby areas must never be attacked,” he wrote on X.
The human toll inside Iran is mounting. An AFP journalist reported thick grey smoke over the Tehran skyline following fresh strikes on the capital. “They bomb randomly, there’s no sign of any specific target these recent days,” said Faezeh, 31, speaking via messenger app from the city. “This war wasn’t for freedom… we just ended up trapped with something even more savage.”
Maryam, 35, from Khansar in Isfahan province, described a population fractured between those who want the government gone and those consumed by economic anxiety. “I’m honestly really scared about our future,” she said. “Things are a disaster right now. Mass layoffs, widespread shutdowns… everything feels overwhelming.”
Across the region, Iran’s Revolutionary Guards said Saturday they struck the MSC Ishyka, a commercial vessel they described as Israeli-owned, at Bahrain’s Khalifa Bin Salman port. Intercepted Iranian drones also sent shrapnel into Bahrain, injuring four people, while debris struck two buildings in Dubai — one of them occupied by US cloud computing company Oracle.
On the Lebanese front, Israel said it had hit more than 3,500 targets since renewed fighting with Hezbollah began a month ago. The Israeli military issued evacuation warnings to residents of the coastal city of Tyre ahead of additional planned strikes. Around 20,000 people remain in the city, including 15,000 displaced from nearby villages, despite tens of thousands having already fled.
