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Iran rejects a U.S. ceasefire plan as Trump again threatens to bomb its infrastructure

A man walks among buildings destroyed by strikes in Tehran during a joint U.S.-Israeli war in Iran, on Monday.
Majid Saeedi
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Getty Images
A man walks among buildings destroyed by strikes in Tehran during a joint U.S.-Israeli war in Iran, on Monday.

Updated April 6, 2026 at 4:01 PM EDT

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Iran's state media said the country rejected a U.S. plan for a temporary ceasefire and countered with a proposal of its own for a permanent end to the war, as President Trump again threatened to bomb Iranian bridges and power plants if it didn't open the Strait of Hormuz.

Attacking civilian infrastructure that doesn't contribute to military action would be a war crime under international and U.S. laws, according to legal experts.

Asked by a reporter if he was concerned about committing a war crime, Trump said, "No. I hope I don't have to do it." He said he believed the Iranian public is willing to suffer more U.S. bombing to gain freedom.

Earlier, Iranian officials condemned Trump's warning as threats to commit atrocities.

Volunteers sew Iranian flags to distribute across the city for free in Tehran, Iran, on Sunday. According to the team's manager, up to 5,000 flags are distributed daily.
Majid Saeedi / Getty Images
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Getty Images
Volunteers sew Iranian flags to distribute across the city for free in Tehran, Iran, on Sunday. According to the team's manager, up to 5,000 flags are distributed daily.

Here are more updates on the war in Iran today:

Diplomatic initiatives | Iran reacts to profane Trump message | Iran intel chief killed | Strikes in Iran, Israel and Gulf | Bab al-Mandeb Strait | Iran internet outage


Diplomatic initiatives are underway

Proposals for a 45-day ceasefire to end the U.S.-Israeli war on Iran are still being hammered out with no agreement by the U.S. and Iran over the terms.

Iran's state news agency IRNA said Monday Iran rejected a U.S. proposal for a temporary ceasefire. It said Iran conveyed to officials of mediating country Pakistan the need for a permanent end to the war, and that Iran's response includes demands such as lifting sanctions and ending other wars in the region.

Speaking to reporters early Monday on the White House South Lawn, President Trump acknowledge a proposal and said it is "not good enough, but it's a very significant step."

Pakistan, Egypt and Turkey are coordinating efforts toward a negotiated settlement to end the war.

Egyptian officials involved in these efforts tell NPR Iran is open to a 45-day ceasefire that guarantees a permanent end to the war, during which Iran would discuss opening the Strait of Hormuz. The officials spoke anonymously to discuss the talks.

António Costa, president of the European Council, hailed the negotiations led by regional countries to bring about peace. He said he had a phone call with Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian and urged Iran to stop attacks against countries in the region.

Iran's foreign minister, Abbas Araghchi, said he had a call with Qatari Prime Minister Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim Al-Thani.

Qatar's prime minister also had a series of phone calls with officials from India, Spain and Norway, and emphasized the need for negotiations to contain the crisis and ensure global energy security and regional stability, freedom of navigation and environmental safety, according to the Qatari Foreign Ministry.

An Israeli soldier overlooks the scene as search and rescue personnel work at the site of a residential building destroyed in an Iranian strike in the northern city of Haifa on Sunday.
Ilia Yefimovich / AFP via Getty Images
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AFP via Getty Images
An Israeli soldier overlooks the scene as search and rescue personnel work at the site of a residential building destroyed in an Iranian strike in the northern city of Haifa on Sunday.

The Foreign Ministry of Oman said its representatives engaged with Iranian diplomats in a meeting "where possible options were discussed regarding ensuring the smooth flow of passage through the Strait of Hormuz during these circumstances witnessed in the region."

In a post on X on Sunday, the ministry said that "experts from both sides presented a number of visions and proposals that will be studied."

Anwar Gargash, a senior policy adviser to the United Arab Emirates leadership, told NPR over the weekend his country wants to see an end to the conflict but one that does not create "continuous instability in the region."

"From our perspective, we don't want to see more and more escalation," Gargash said. "But we don't want a ceasefire that does not address some of the main issues that will create a much more dangerous environment in the region."


Iran slams Trump's profane weekend message

President Trump addressed Iran's leadership with a profane message on Sunday: "Tuesday will be Power Plant Day, and Bridge Day, all wrapped up in one, in Iran," and adding, "Open the F***in' Strait, you crazy bastards, or you'll be living in Hell - JUST WATCH!" he wrote on social media. He later wrote that Iran had until Tuesday at 8 p.m. ET.

Iranian officials reacted to Trump's threats.

A spokesman for Iran's president, Seyyed Mehdi Tabatabai, called Trump's threats to a reaction of "sheer desperation and anger."

"The Strait of Hormuz will open when all the damage caused by the imposed war is compensated through a new legal regime, using a portion of the revenue from transit fees," Tabatabai said in a social media post on Sunday.

Iran's Foreign Ministry echoed the statement. "We are determined to defend our national security and sovereignty with all might," ministry spokesperson Esmail Baghaei told Iran's Wana news agency.

The Iranian Mission to the U.N. said "Trump seeks to drag the region into an endless war."

"This is direct and public incitement to terrorise civilians and clear evidence of intent to commit war crimes," it said in a post on X. "The international community and all States have legal obligations to prevent such atrocious acts of war crimes."


Israel killed the intelligence chief of Iran's Revolutionary Guard

A woman holds Iran's national flag while standing near a billboard with a sentence reading "The Strait of Hormuz remains closed" at the Enqelab Square in Tehran, on Sunday.
AFP via Getty Images /
A woman holds Iran's national flag while standing near a billboard with a sentence reading "The Strait of Hormuz remains closed" at the Enqelab Square in Tehran, on Sunday.

Iran has confirmed the killing of Maj. Gen. Majid Khademi, intelligence chief of the country's paramilitary Revolutionary Guard. Israel claimed responsibility for the killing.

Israel's defense minister, Israel Katz, said the country's forces would continue to "hunt down" Iran's leaders one by one and threatened to destroy Iran's national infrastructure if it continues firing at civilians in Israel.

As Israel burns through its stockpile of interceptors that shoot down missiles, it has announced a plan to speed up production.


U.S. and Israel strike Iran's oil and steel plants as Iran targets the region's refineries and telecoms

Israeli officials said on Monday that U.S. and Israeli jets struck Iran's petrochemical industry, steel plans and other infrastructure and disabled their operations. Defense Minister Israel Katz said the targeted sites supported Iran's missile production industry.

Iran launched missiles and drones in Israel and across the Persian Gulf at oil refineries overnight, which it said produce fuel and products used by the U.S. military.

Iranian missiles hit Tel Aviv, other towns in central Israel and the northern port city of Haifa on Monday. Iran said it targeted the oil refinery, which it said supplies fuel to Israeli jets. The Magen David Adom rescue teams in Haifa said their paramedics were treating four people for mild injuries and the organization's footage from the scene showed smoke and fire in a residential area.

Israeli emergency responders search for missing people at the site of an apparent Iranian ballistic missile strike in Haifa, Israel, Sunday.
Amir Levy / Getty Images
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Getty Images
Israeli emergency responders search for missing people at the site of an apparent Iranian ballistic missile strike in Haifa, Israel, Sunday.

Four people were killed in Haifa on Sunday after an Iranian missile struck a six-floor residential building, which was engulfed in flames.

Iranian drones also struck the oil sector complex in Shuwaikh on Sunday, where Kuwait Petroleum Corporation headquarters and the country's ministry of oil are located. A statement by KPC said the strikes caused a fire at the complex, causing "substantial material damage."

It also said that "a number" of operational facilities managed by Kuwait National Petroleum Company and the Petrochemical Industries were hit by drones, with fire erupting in several facilities. (Despite similar names, the petroleum company and corporation are distinct Kuwaiti state entities that handle different functions with oil products.)

Authorities said emergency teams were on site to contain the fires. Over the weekend, Iran also hit two power and water desalination plants in Kuwait, knocking out power generation units.

Meanwhile, a telecom building and a port were targeted in the UAE on Monday. That port is vital for food imports as its main port in Dubai remains inaccessible. Officials in the United Arab Emirates reported to have intercepted nine ballistic missiles, 50 drones and a cruise missile fired by Iran on Sunday. UAE's ministry of defense said the country's air defenses were engaged through Monday to intercept Iranian missiles and drones.


Bab al-Mandeb Strait as a target

Supporters of the Iran-backed Houthi movement brandish their weapons as they rally in solidarity with Iran and Lebanon amid the U.S.-Israeli war with Iran, in Yemen's capital of Sanaa on Friday.
Mohammed Huwais / AFP via Getty Images
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AFP via Getty Images
Supporters of the Iran-backed Houthi movement brandish their weapons as they rally in solidarity with Iran and Lebanon amid the U.S.-Israeli war with Iran, in Yemen's capital of Sanaa on Friday.

Aliakbar Velayati, an adviser to the newly appointed supreme leader Mojtaba Khamenei, warned that Iran may target another key location in the Middle East for the passage of vessels, Bab al-Mandeb Strait. Tucked between Yemen and the Horn of Africa, connecting the Red Sea, the Gulf of Aden and Arabian Sea to the Suez Canal, Bab al-Mandeb Strait could become a target of the Iran-backed Houthi militants, who entered the Iran war last week by attacking Israel, and operate out of Yemen.

An estimated 10 % of the global trade moves through the Red Sea, a key route for transporting oil from the Arabian Gulf to Mediterranean and connecting Europe to Asia.

Velayati said Iran's regime "views Bab al-Mandab with the same intensity as Hormuz."

"And if the White House contemplates repeating its foolish mistakes, it will quickly realize that the flow of energy and global trade can be disrupted with a single signal," Velayati wrote on X. America, he added, "has yet to learn the geography of power."


Iran sees the longest national internet outage

Iranians continue to go without internet access since the government imposed a near total shutdown when the war began on Feb. 28.

It is the longest nationwide internet shutdown on record, according to NetBlocks, an internet freedom organization that tracks these shutdowns.

Without internet access, most Iranians can't receive warnings about where U.S. and Israeli airstrikes will hit. Many are cut off from the global economy and from family living abroad.

Iran has kept some loyal, pro-government voices and information sources online.

But civil society groups say the shutdown has complicated efforts to document human rights abuses. Although some people can get online with satellite-based Starlink connections, the Iranian government has arrested people for using them.

A 37-day internet blackout occurred during Sudan's protests in 2019. Longer regional blackouts have been recorded in Tigray and Kashmir.

But NetBlocks, which on Monday clocked the 38th day in Iran without internet, said Iran's is the longest outage on a national scale.

Carrie Kahn and Daniel Estrin contributed to this report from Tel Aviv, Israel, Aya Batrawy from Dubai, United Arab Emirates, Durrie Bouscaren from Istanbul, and Tina Kraja and Alex Leff from Washington, D.C.

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NPR Staff