President Donald Trump issued an expanded ultimatum to Iran on Monday, threatening to destroy the country's power plants, bridges, and broader civilian infrastructure if Tehran does not reopen the Strait of Hormuz to shipping traffic by 8 p.m. EDT Tuesday. "The entire country can be taken out in one night, and that night might be tomorrow night," Trump said at a White House news conference. He indicated the deadline was final, saying he had already granted Iran sufficient extensions.

Iran rejected a 45-day ceasefire proposal and instead conveyed a 10-point counter-proposal through Pakistan — a key mediator — calling for a permanent end to the war with guarantees against future attacks. "We only accept an end of the war with guarantees that we won't be attacked again," said Mojtaba Ferdousi Pour, head of Iran's diplomatic mission in Cairo. Meanwhile, the United States and Israel carried out fresh strikes Monday, killing more than 25 people, including the Revolutionary Guard's intelligence chief, and hitting an information and communication technology building at Tehran's Sharif University of Technology. An Iranian missile strike on Haifa killed four people.

The confrontation is now in its sixth week. Trump also addressed the recovery of two U.S. airmen following the shoot-down of an American fighter jet over Iran. Both crew members were rescued in separate operations — the pilot within hours of the incident and the second airman on Sunday after being stranded in Iranian territory, in what Trump, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, and Joint Chiefs Chairman Dan Caine described as among the most complex rescue missions in American history, involving more than 150 aircraft.

Trump further threatened legal action against a news outlet that reported the second airman was missing while the rescue operation was still ongoing, arguing the disclosure endangered national security. "We're going to go to the media company that released it, and we're going to say, 'National security. Give it up or go to jail,'" Trump said. Jameel Jaffer of the Knight First Amendment Institute at Columbia University called the threat an effort to intimidate the press, noting that news organizations have a First Amendment right to publish stories on matters of public importance. The White House confirmed an investigation is underway.

The U.S. threats to target power plants and bridges have drawn warnings from international observers about potential violations of the laws of war, which prohibit deliberate attacks on civilian infrastructure. With Iran's rejection of the ceasefire proposal and Tuesday's deadline approaching, the conflict appears poised to escalate further, with significant implications for global oil markets and regional stability given the Strait of Hormuz's role as a critical chokepoint for world energy supplies.