US President Donald Trump has threatened to take out Iran 'in one night' if it fails to make a deal before the deadline he set for Tehran to reopen the Strait of Hormuz, a critical global energy route.
Trump's deadline for an 'acceptable' deal - one that includes the free flow of energy through the Gulf - is set for 20:00 EDT (01:00 GMT) on Tuesday.
Speaking at the White House on Monday, Trump said that he believed 'reasonable' leaders in Iran were negotiating in 'good faith,' but the outcome remained uncertain.
Iran has so far rejected proposals for a ceasefire, and has instead called for an immediate end to hostilities, post-conflict reconstruction, and the lifting of sanctions.
Trump's news conference, held alongside General Dan Caine, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and defense secretary Pete Hegseth, comes days after US forces successfully recovered two crew members of an F-15 fighter jet that was downed in southern Iran.
While much of Trump's remarks highlighted what he described as the 'heroic' rescue of the crew, he once again repeated his warning that the US could launch attacks on Iran's energy and transportation infrastructure if the Strait of Hormuz was not reopened by the looming deadline.
'The entire country can be taken out in one night – and that night might be tomorrow night,' he said on Monday.
Once the deadline passes, Trump added, Iran would be sent back to the 'Stone Ages.'
'They're going to have no bridges,' he stated. 'They're going to have no power plants.'
Despite Iran's earlier rejection of US demands, Trump continued to express optimism that Iran was negotiating in good faith after successive layers of Iranian leadership were killed in US and Israeli strikes.
'We're going to find out,' he said.
However, meaningful progress in any negotiation is unlikely without a ceasefire first, according to a regional official familiar with the discussions.
The official, who asked to remain anonymous due to the sensitivity of talks, stated that the discussions are complicated by difficulties in getting messages to and from Iranian officials amid an ongoing communications blackout.
'To convey messages to Iran, getting a response in a reasonable time is not possible,' the official said. 'The average time of response has been a day or so.'
Trump provided few other details regarding the administration's plans moving forward, stating that he has 'the best plan,' but won't disclose it to the media.
Legal experts have warned that conducting deliberate, sustained assaults on Iranian infrastructure could constitute a war crime.
'Obliterating all power plants, threatening coercive actions against the civilian population to try to bring a government to the negotiating table, those kinds of things are all flatly illegal,' a former Obama-era National Security Council legal advisor told CBS, the BBC's US partner.
Earlier in the day, Trump claimed he was not 'worried' about the possibility of legal repercussions, insisting that Iran's population would be 'willing to suffer to have freedom' - even if toppling Iran's government was not his intention.
Meanwhile, Trump reiterated criticism of key US allies, including the UK, NATO, and South Korea, who he claimed failed to assist the US during the ongoing conflict.
'That's a mark on NATO that will never disappear,' he declared.
American forces have conducted over 13,000 strikes across Iran since the war began, according to an update from the US military's Central Command.
