Addressing a White House press conference on Monday, Trump told reporters that Iran could be taken out in one night, warning Tehran it had to make a deal by Tuesday night or face wider bombing raids.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe entire country can be taken out in one night, and that night might be tomorrow night,\u201d he said. \u201cI hope I don\u2019t have to do it.\u201d<\/p>\n While answering reporters\u2019 questions, he claimed the US had an active and willing partner in negotiations.<\/p>\n \u201cI can\u2019t talk about ceasefire. But I can tell you that we have an active, willing participant on the other side. They would like to be able to make a deal. I can\u2019t say any more than that,\u201d Trump said.<\/p>\n Trump reiterated his deadline for Iran to forge an agreement and warned otherwise of \u201ccomplete demolition\u201d of Iran\u2019s energy infrastructure.<\/p>\n \u201cWe have to have a deal that\u2019s acceptable to me. And part of that deal is going to be we want free traffic of oil and everything,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n \u201cWe have a plan, because of the power of our military, where every bridge in Iran will be decimated by 12 o\u2019clock tomorrow night, where every power plant in Iran will be out of business, burning, exploding, and never to be used again. I mean, complete demolition by 12 o\u2019clock, and it\u2019ll happen over a period of four hours if we want it to. We don\u2019t want that to happen.\u201d<\/p>\n He said he had been criticised for \u201cnot having a plan\u201d for the war on Iran, adding, \u201cI have the best plan of all, but I\u2019m not going to tell you what my plan is.\u201d<\/p>\n Trump also called out Nato, South Korea, Japan and Australia for not joining the United States in the war on Iran, even if, as he put it, \u201cwe didn\u2019t need them.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThey\u2019ve actually gone out of their way not to help. They didn\u2019t even want to give us landing strips,\u201d Trump said. \u201cAnd it\u2019s not just Nato. You know who else didn\u2019t help us? South Korea didn\u2019t help us. You know who else didn\u2019t help us, or Australia didn\u2019t help us? You know who else didn\u2019t help us? Japan.\u201d<\/p>\n Pentagon chief Pete Hegseth told the briefing that the largest volume of strikes since day one of the operation against Iran would take place on Monday and warned that Tuesday would have even more.<\/p>\n Critics have said Trump would be committing war crimes if the US attacked civilian power plants, a point that Trump dismissed on Monday.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m not worried about it. You know what\u2019s a war crime? Having a nuclear weapon,\u201d Trump said earlier on Monday during an Easter egg event for children on the White House South Lawn.<\/p>\n He said the Tuesday deadline he had set for Iran to make a deal was final.<\/p>\n Under the gaze of First Lady Melania Trump and a mascot dressed as a giant Easter bunny, Trump doubled down on the threats of wider bombing.<\/p>\n \u201cIf they don\u2019t, they\u2019ll have no bridges, no power plants, no anything. I won\u2019t go further because there are other things that are worse than those two,\u201d Trump told reporters.<\/p>\n But later at the White House press briefing, when he was asked about his threat to bomb power plants and bridges, Trump said: \u201cNo, not at all. I hope I don\u2019t have to do it.\u201d<\/p>\n He later added, \u201cI can tell you they\u2019re negotiating, we think, in good faith. We\u2019re going to find out.\u201d<\/p>\n At the Easter event, he said that if it were up to him, he would seize Iran\u2019s oil, but that \u201cunfortunately, the American people would like to see us come home\u201d and end the war.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019d keep the oil, and I would make plenty of money,\u201d Trump said.<\/p>\n The US president added that Americans who opposed the Iran war were \u201cfoolish.\u201d \u201cBecause the war is about one thing. Iran cannot have a nuclear weapon,\u201d Trump said.<\/p>\n Moreover, he said the US attempted to arm Iranian protesters but the weapons were diverted and never passed to the right people.<\/p>\n Trump said the armaments were meant to help anti-government protesters fight back against the authorities.<\/p>\n \u201cWe sent guns, a lot of guns, they were supposed to go to the people so they could fight back against these thugs.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cYou know what happened? The people that they sent them to kept them,\u201d Trump went on, adding: \u201cSo I\u2019m very upset with a certain group of people, and they\u2019re going to pay a big price for that.\u201d<\/p>\n Trump did not give details about who he was accusing of taking the US weapons.<\/p>\n However, on Sunday, Trump was quoted as saying by a Fox News<\/em> reporter that he blamed Kurdish intermediaries for having taken weapons destined for Iranian dissidents.<\/p>\n He claimed, without providing evidence, that the United States had \u201cnumerous intercepts\u201d from Iranian civilians urging the US not to let up in trying to dislodge the Iranian government from power.<\/p>\n \u201cThey would be willing to suffer that in order to have freedom,\u201d Trump said.<\/p>\n Trump said the proposal offered by Iran was inadequate.<\/p>\n \u201cThey made a proposal, and it\u2019s a significant proposal. It\u2019s a significant step. It\u2019s not good enough,\u201d Trump told reporters.<\/p>\n Trump said the five-week conflict could end quickly if Iran does \u201cwhat they have to do.\u201d \u201cThey have to do certain things. They know that, they\u2019ve been negotiating I think in good faith,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n On the sidelines of an Easter Egg Roll event at the White House, he told reporters that Vance, US Envoy to the Middle East Steve Witkoff and his son-in-law, Jared Kushner, were talking with intermediaries in Pakistan.<\/p>\n Asked by a reporter whether he expected Vance to continue talks with intermediaries in Pakistan, Trump replied: \u201cWell, he is, and we have Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner talking. They\u2019re all unified and they\u2019re all talking.\u201c<\/p>\n Asked about the possibility of Vance being part of an in-person meeting, Trump said, \u201ccould be\u201d.<\/p>\n![\"US](\"https:\/\/i.dawn.com\/primary\/2026\/04\/07013959776b2d5.webp\")
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