By Eric Vandenbroeck and co-workers

The Revolutionary Guards said they had targeted various areas in Israel in a wave of missiles and drones. Israeli media reported that two warheads from an Iranian cluster missile landed near Israel’s Kirya military headquarters in Tel Aviv. Later on April 4, the Israel Defense Forces said they had detected more missiles launched from Iran towards Israel.

US President Donald Trump and Israel on April 4 stepped up pressure on Iran to open the strategic Strait of Hormuz waterway or face attacks on its energy infrastructure, while Iranian and US forces searched for a missing US crew member from one of two downed warplanes.

Trump, who has sent mixed messages since the conflict began with a joint US-Israeli bombardment of Iran on Feb 28, told Tehran that his latest deadline for a deal to end the war was fast approaching.

“Remember when I gave Iran ten days to MAKE A DEAL or OPEN UP THE HORMUZ STRAIT. Time is running out, 48 hours before all Hell will reign (sic) down on them. Glory be to GOD!” he wrote in a post on Truth Social.

Trump’s messaging about the war has veered between hinting at diplomatic progress and making threats to bomb the Islamic Republic “back to the Stone Ages”.

in April 2024, Israel struck a Quds Force meeting building situated adjacent to the Iranian embassy complex. The facility served as the operational headquarters for Brigadier General Mohammad Reza Zahedi, the commander of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps’ operations in Syria and Lebanon.

In an apparent move to heap further pressure on Tehran following Trump’s latest ultimatum, a senior Israeli defense official said Israel was preparing to attack Iranian energy facilities and was awaiting the green light from the US.

The timeframe for such attacks would be within the next week, the official said.

Trump has previously threatened to hit Iranian power plants if his demands were not met.

The war reveals both American weakness and strength: attacking Iran has drained munitions, strained alliances, raised costs, and pulled attention and resources away from Asia.

 

Iran warns against escalation

Iran warned the US and Israel that the “entire region will become a hell for you” if attacks escalated, according to Iranian media reports.

Washington faced heightened stakes as the conflict entered its sixth week, with the prospect of a US service member alive and on the run in Iran, slim chances for peace talks, and polls showing low public support for the war.

With Iran’s leadership defiant since the start of the conflict, its foreign minister left the door open in principle for peace talks with the US via mediation from Pakistan, but gave no sign of Tehran’s willingness to bow to Trump’s demands.

“We are deeply grateful to Pakistan for its efforts and have never refused to go to Islamabad. What we care about are the terms of a conclusive and lasting END to the illegal war that is imposed on us,” Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi said on X.

After a fourth attack near the Bushehr power plant on April 4, Araqchi warned in a letter to the United Nations of an “intolerable situation that poses a serious risk of radiological release”, Iran’s state media reported.

The war has killed thousands, sparked an energy crisis, and threatened lasting damage to the world economy.

Iran has virtually shut the ​Strait of Hormuz, which normally carries about a fifth of the world’s oil and liquefied natural gas.

Iran has rained drones and missiles down on Israel, and also aimed at Gulf countries allied to the US, which have so far held back from joining the war directly for fear of further escalation.

Iranian state TV said its military had launched drones at US radar installations and a US-linked aluminium plant in the United Arab Emirates and US military headquarters in Kuwait in retaliation for deadly attacks on Iranian industrial centers.

Iran earlier attacked an Israel-affiliated vessel with a drone in the strait, setting the ship on fire, state media said, citing the commander of the Revolutionary Guards’ navy.

Yemen’s Iran-aligned Houthis also said on April 4 that they attacked Israel using a ballistic missile and drones, adding that the operation was conducted jointly with Iran’s Revolutionary Guards, the Iranian army, and Lebanon’s Hezbollah. The group did not provide evidence of the damage caused.

Israel did not confirm the attack.

The United States rescued an airman caught behind enemy lines after Iran shot down his F-15 fighter jet, the government said early on April 5, resolving a major crisis for President Donald Trump with the war on Iran in its sixth week.

In May of last year, Trump said he would accept nothing less than the ‘total dismantlement’ of Iran’s nuclear program. Last week, however, he said ‘NO NUCLEAR WEAPONS.’

But those are two very different things.

 

Iran touts new air defense systems

The downing of two US warplanes shows the risks still facing US and Israeli aircraft, despite assertions by Trump and his Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth that US forces had total control of the skies over Iran.

Iranian fire brought down a two-seat US F-15E jet, officials in both countries said on April 3, and a US official said search-and-rescue efforts had recovered one of the crew.

In his statement, Trump declared: “WE GOT HIM! My fellow Americans, over the past several hours, the United States Military pulled off one of the most daring Search and Rescue Operations in U.S. History… I am thrilled to let you know [he] is now SAFE and SOUND!”

Iran claims US aircraft searching for missing F-15E pilot destroyed in Isfahan after Trump confirms airman ‘SAFE and SOUND.’

Two Black Hawk helicopters engaged in the search for the missing crew member were hit by Iranian fire but made it out of Iranian airspace, the two US officials told Reuters.

In a separate incident, an A-10 Warthog fighter aircraft was hit and crashed over Kuwait, with the pilot ejecting, the US officials said.

Iranians, pummelled by air power since the US and Israel began their attacks, celebrated their success.

The Khatam al-Anbiya joint military command said it used a new air-defense system on April 3, which targeted a US fighter jet, three drones, and two cruise missiles.

“The enemy should know that we rely on new air-defense systems built by the young, knowledgeable, and proud people of this country, unveiling them one after another in the field,” a Khatam al-Anbiya spokesperson said, according to Iran’s state media.

The Revolutionary Guards said they had targeted various areas in Israel in a wave of missiles and drones. Israeli media reported that two warheads from an Iranian cluster missile landed near Israel’s Kirya military headquarters in Tel Aviv.

Later on April 4, the Israel Defense Forces said they had detected more missiles launched from Iran towards Israel.

 

Petrochemical zone struck in Iran.

Iranian state media reported air strikes at a petrochemical zone in south-western Iran, with five people reported injured. They later said a fire there had been extinguished.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel had struck the plant, which an Israeli military spokesperson said produced materials for explosives and missiles.

Israel has been waging a parallel campaign against Iran-backed Hezbollah in Lebanon after the militant group fired at Israel in support of Iran.

Early on April 4, Israel’s military said it was striking the militants’ infrastructure sites in Beirut.

It was later said that an Israeli soldier had been killed in combat in southern Lebanon.

 

 

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