US-Iran war live updates: Trump issues fiery expletive-laden threat to Iran; New details emerge of daring rescue of US airman from Iran’s mountains

Welcome to our rolling coverage of the Middle East conflict and its global impacts.

Here’s a recap of key developments:

• US President Donald Trump issued an expletive-laden ultimatum to rain “hell” on “crazy bastards” in Iran if it did not reopen the Strait of Hormuz by Tuesday.
• Trump later told Fox News that there’s a “good chance” of a deal being reached, as negotiations were taking place.
• Iran’s parliament speaker warned that Trump’s “reckless moves” and rhetoric would mean “our whole region is going to burn”.
• New details have emerged of the daring rescue of a second airman after an F-15E Strike Eagle fighter jet was shot down by Iran.

• Trump said he will hold a news conference at the Oval Office at 1pm on Monday (Tuesday AEDT).

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky expressed concern that a prolonged US-Israeli war on Iran could further erode America’s support for Ukraine as Washington’s global priorities shift and Kyiv braces for reduced deliveries of critically needed Patriot air defence missiles.

Ukraine desperately needs more of the US-made air defence systems to help it counter Russia’s daily barrages, Zelensky said, speaking to The Associated Press in an exclusive interview late on Saturday in Istanbul.

Russia’s relentless pounding of urban areas behind the front-line following its full-scale invasion of Ukraine more than four years ago has killed thousands of civilians. It has also targeted Ukraine’s energy supply to disrupt industrial production of Ukraine’s newly developed drones and missiles, while also denying civilians heat and running water in winter.

“We have to recognise that we are not the priority for today,” Zelensky said. “That’s why I am afraid a long [Iran] war will give us less support.”

As his home country wages war in the Middle East, American-born Pope Leo delivered a call for peace in his first Easter message.

Speaking from the balcony of St Peter’s Basilica in Rome during a vigil Mass, he warned the world was becoming “accustomed to violence”.

The pope has emerged as an outspoken critic of the Iran war, and said mistrust and fear had been allowed to “sever the bonds between us through war, injustice and the isolation of peoples and nations”.

While he did not mention specific conflicts during his address, it came just days after the pontiff directly called for Trump to find an “off ramp” to the US’ war with Iran.

More than half of the petrol stations that have run out of diesel in Australia are in NSW, Energy Minister Chris Bowen has said as he reassured the nation progress had been made on shortages.

Bowen told ABC television this morning there were 283 petrol stations without diesel across the country, a number he said was “down substantially” from previous weeks. NSW is home to 145 of the stations without diesel. That figure is about 6 per cent of all service stations in NSW.

“The biggest challenge has been in NSW, where it’s sowing and seeding season, where the farmers are getting their seeds in and fuel companies have rightly been prioritising them to make sure they get the fuel,” Bowen said.

“That means our service station number outages in NSW have been much higher than in other states, but they’ve come down substantially.”

The latest update on fuel reserves show that Australia has 39 days of petrol, 29 days of jet fuel and 29 days of diesel.

“We are not at a position where we are running out of fuel as a country,” Bowen said. “We are in a position where we’ve seen big increases in demand, which has led to some distribution challenges across the country.”

Israel assesses that Iran still has more than 1000 missiles capable of reaching it, while Hezbollah’s arsenal in Lebanon includes as many as 10,000 shorter-range rockets, according to military briefings cited by Israeli media at the weekend.

In an interview with Channel 12, an Israeli air force officer provided the tally of remaining Iranian ballistic missiles in what appeared to be an official break from earlier refusals to disclose estimates of Tehran’s arsenal. The estimate of 8000 to 10,000 rockets in Hezbollah hands was reported by Israel’s Army Radio.

Given the current rates of fire by Iran and its ally Hezbollah more than five weeks into the conflict, the estimates imply potentially months’ more fighting – even though Israel and the US insist their core objectives are being achieved. Iran and Hezbollah don’t comment on the size of their weapons caches. Neither has shown signs of backing down.

“A great deal of resources would have to be invested to bring that down to zero. In all honesty, I have to tell you that it won’t reach zero,” the air force officer, an intelligence lieutenant-colonel whose name was withheld under customary regulations, said of Iran’s ability to keep firing.

Minister for Emergency Management Kristy McBain says she is not surprised by Trump’s expletive-laden threat to rain “hell” on “crazy bastards” in Iran if it did not reopen the Strait of Hormuz by Tuesday.

Asked whether she was shocked by Trump’s ultimatum, McBain told Seven’s Sunrise, “I don’t think anything surprises you in politics now.”

She said the government remains focused on working with Australia’s allies to offset the ongoing impact of the conflict on Australians.

“Obviously we want to work diplomatically with a bunch of allies. And the foreign minister was on a phone hook-up with 40 other countries the other day to discuss how we can hopefully de-escalate this and return the Strait of Hormuz to free shipping. I think that’s what everyone wants to see right now.”

Video footage appears to show the charred wreckage of two American MC‑130J aircraft, which were blown up by US special forces during their complex mission to rescue a US airman missing for almost 48 hours.

The MC‑130Js were part of the forward operation, but they became stuck or inoperable on soft terrain in Iran, leaving commanders with no choice but to destroy them to prevent them from falling into enemy hands, The New York Times reported.

Footage of the destruction was distributed by Iranian state TV on Sunday (Washington time), showing the deliberate demolition of the planes, which contain sensitive technology.

The aircraft – which cost more than $US100 million ($145 million) each – are designed to drop troops into hostile territory and extract them safely, The Wall Street Journal reported.

They can be refuelled in flight and are equipped with advanced sensors and heat-seeking systems.

The planes were destroyed to prevent sensitive technology from being captured by Iranian forces.

The Iranian Red Crescent Society has reported one of its ambulances was struck while on an emergency relief mission in the Fars province of Iran.

Video footage posted to the organisation’s social media channels shows the remains of a white vehicle scorched by fire.

In a post on social media overnight, the humanitarian organisation reported that 46 emergency vehicles had been destroyed since the start of the war, and four of its aid workers had been killed.

New details have emerged about the high-stakes mission to rescue a US airman from deep inside Iran, including a covert CIA deception campaign that left Iranians confused.

According to officials, the CIA spread information in Iran that US forces had found him and were moving him overland out of the country in a ground convoy, The Washington Post reported.

The tactic is said to have caused confusion among the Iranian military and helped misdirect their search efforts, while buying the US critical time to locate him in the mountains.

“The hope was that the Iranians would shift their search from the place where the airman was thought to be and focus instead on the roads out of the region,” reported The New York Times, who spoke to officials.

The CIA was able to pinpoint the airman’s location using sophisticated intelligence assets and passed the co-ordinates to the Pentagon.

Trump’s profanity‑tinged ultimatum to Iran to reopen the Strait of Hormuz was the third deadline he has set in recent weeks over the crucial waterway for the world’s oil supply. Here’s a recap of his threats:

• March 21: Trump warned that he would target Iran’s power plants, “starting with the biggest ones first”, if the waterway was not reopened within 48 hours.
• March 23: He postponed strikes for five days, citing “very good and productive conversations” with Tehran.
• March 27: At Iran’s request, Trump further delayed attacks on energy infrastructure, setting a new deadline of April 6.
• April 4 and 5: With the April 6 deadline approaching, he gave Tehran a 48-hour warning, then today he published an expletive-laden threat on his Truth Social platform, telling Iran it will be “living in Hell” if the vital shipping lane is not opened.

US Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer condemned Trump’s angry, profanity-laced threat to bomb Iran.

“Happy Easter, America. As you head off to church and celebrate with friends and family, the President of the United States is ranting like an unhinged madman on social media.

“He’s threatening possible war crimes and alienating allies. This is who he is, but this is not who we are. Our country deserves so much better,” Schumer wrote.