WASHINGTON, April 6 - U.S. President Donald Trump on Monday warned Iran it must accept a ceasefire arrangement by Tuesday night or face severe consequences, saying the entire country "can be taken out in one night, and that night might be tomorrow night." He told reporters the deadline would be enforced and reiterated the possibility of broad strikes on power plants and other critical infrastructure if Tehran did not comply.
At a White House briefing joined by senior national security advisers, Mr. Trump outlined the ultimatum and provided an account of a recent operation to recover an American airman who had been downed over Iranian-held territory. The president said the unidentified airman hid in mountainous terrain and repeatedly moved to improve the chances of being found and recovered.
"It was like finding a needle in a haystack," the president said, describing the difficulty of the search. He added that the operation to retrieve the pilot involved hundreds of U.S. personnel and was executed in a manner intended to prevent Iranian forces from locating the service member first.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said the U.S. carried out the largest volume of strikes since the start of operations against Iran on Monday, and warned that strikes would increase further on Tuesday. He framed Monday's strikes as significant and indicated that the tempo of operations would soon intensify.
CIA Director John Ratcliffe, present at the briefing, described a deception effort by the agency to mislead Iranian forces about the pilot's location. According to Ratcliffe, on Saturday morning the CIA received confirmation that "one of America’s best and bravest was alive and concealed in a mountain crevice, still invisible to the enemy, but not to the CIA." The pilot, who had been shot down on Friday, was recovered on Sunday morning.
President Trump praised the military operation that followed, saying, "In a breathtaking show of skill and precision, lethality and force, America’s military descended on the area, the real area, engaged the enemy, rescued the stranded officer, destroyed all threats and exited Iranian territory while taking no casualties of any kind."
Hegseth also relayed a detail about the recovered airman, stating the service member had activated an emergency transponder that helped indicate his location and that the pilot's first transmitted message was: "God is good."
Context note: Officials described a fixed deadline for Iran to agree to a ceasefire by Tuesday night, and warned of targeted attacks on key infrastructure if the deadline was not met. The briefing combined operational detail about the rescue with public threats aimed at compelling compliance from Tehran.