Airstrikes on Iran kill more than 25 as new ceasefire proposal is shared
[April 06, 2026]
By JON GAMBRELL, DAVID RISING and SAMY MAGDY
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Israel and the United States carried
out a wave of attacks on Iran on Monday, killing more than 25 people,
and Iran responded with missile fire on Israel and its Gulf Arab
neighbors. U.S. President Donald Trump’s deadline for Tehran to reopen
the Strait of Hormuz loomed as mediators circulated a new ceasefire
proposal.
Explosions rang out in Tehran and low-flying jets could be heard for
hours as the capital was pounded. Thick black smoke rose near the city’s
Azadi Square after one airstrike hit the grounds of the Sharif
University of Technology.
Among those killed in one of the attacks was the head of intelligence
for Iran’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard, Maj. Gen. Majid Khademi,
according to Iranian state media and Israel's defense minister.
Iranian missiles hit the northern Israeli city of Haifa, where two
people were found dead in the rubble of a residential building, and
searchers looked for two more.
Kuwait, the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia all activated their
air defense systems to intercept incoming Iranian missiles and drones,
as Tehran kept up the pressure on its Gulf neighbors. Iran's regular
attacks on regional energy infrastructure and its stranglehold on the
Strait of Hormuz, through which a fifth of the world's oil is shipped in
peacetime, has sent global energy prices soaring.
Under pressure at home as consumers are growing increasingly concerned,
Trump gave Tehran a deadline that expires Monday night Washington time,
saying if no deal was reached to reopen the strait, the U.S. would hit
Iran's power plants and other infrastructure targets and set the country
“back to the stone ages.”
“Tuesday will be Power Plant Day, and Bridge Day, all wrapped up in one,
in Iran,” he threatened in a social media post, adding that if Iran did
not open the strait “you'll be living in Hell.”
In an effort to stop the fighting, Egyptian, Pakistani and Turkish
mediators have sent Iran and the U.S. a proposal calling for a 45-day
ceasefire and the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz to give time to try
and find a way to end the war, two Mideast officials have told The
Associated Press.
Iran and the U.S. have not responded to the proposal, sent late Sunday
night to both Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi and U.S. Mideast
envoy Steve Witkoff, the officials said. The officials spoke on
condition of anonymity to discuss the private negotiations.
Trump's deadline to open Hormuz strait looms but no signs of Tehran
backing off
Trump has at times demanded that Iran reopen the strait or face a
significant escalation in bombing from the U.S. while at other times
said it was not up to Washington to force the waterway open or even that
the war could end without it being reopened.
He has also given multiple deadlines to Iran on the issue, and after the
threat he posted Sunday he later posted a single line saying “Tuesday,
8:00 P.M. Eastern Time!” It was not clear whether that meant he had
extended the deadline another day.
Tehran has shown no signs of backing down from its stranglehold on
shipping through the strait, which was fully open before Israel and the
U.S. attacked Iran on Feb. 28 to start the war.
Following Trump’s expletive-laced posts on Easter Sunday, Iran’s
parliamentary Speaker Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf called the threats of
targeting Iran’s infrastructure “reckless.”
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Rescue workers search for victims at the site of an Israeli
airstrike that hit a crowded neighbourhood south of Beirut, Lebanon,
Sunday, April 5, 2026. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla)
“You won’t gain anything through war crimes,” Qalibaf wrote on X.
“The only real solution is respecting the rights of the Iranian
people and ending this dangerous game.”
Brent crude oil, the international standard, rose to $109 in early
Monday spot trading, some 50% higher than it was when the war
started.
Iran has let some vessels through the strait since the war began,
but none belonging to the U.S., Israel or countries perceived as
helping them. Some have paid Iran for passage and the overall flow
of traffic is down more than 90% over the same period last year.
Airstrikes kill more than 25 across Iran
One of Monday's morning airstrikes targeted Tehran's Sharif
University of Technology, where Iranian media reported damage to the
buildings as well as a natural gas distribution site next to the
campus.
It wasn’t immediately clear what had been targeted on the grounds of
the university, which is empty of students as the war has forced all
schools into the country into online classes. However, multiple
countries over the years have sanctioned the university for its work
with the military, particularly on Iran’s ballistic missile program,
which is controlled by the country’s paramilitary Revolutionary
Guard.
Following the confirmation that the Guard's intelligence chief had
been killed in one strike, Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz
vowed to keep targeting top-ranking Iranian officials. “Iran’s
leaders live with a sense of being targeted," Katz said. "We will
continue to hunt them down one by one.”
A strike near Eslamshar, southwest of Tehran, killed at least 13
people, the semiofficial Fars news agency reported. Five others were
killed when a residential area in the city of Qom was hit, and six
more were killed in strikes on other cities, the state-run IRAN
daily newspaper reported.
Three more people were killed when an airstrike hit a home in
Tehran, Iranian state television reported.
War's death toll in the thousands
More than 1,900 people have been killed in Iran since the war began,
but its government has not updated the toll for days.
In Lebanon, which Israel has invaded by ground, more than 1,400
people have been killed and more than 1 million people have been
displaced. Eleven Israeli soldiers have died there while targeting
Iranian-backed Hezbollah militants.
In Gulf Arab states and the occupied West Bank, more than two dozen
people have died, while 19 have been reported dead in Israel and 13
U.S. service members have been killed.
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Rising reported from Bangkok and Magdy from Cairo.
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