Attacks Target Iran's Natural Gas Field04/06 06:13

   Attacks targeted facilities at Iran's South Pars natural gas field on 
Monday, Iranian media outlets reported.

   DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) -- Attacks targeted facilities at Iran's 
South Pars natural gas field on Monday, Iranian media outlets reported.

   The semiofficial Fars news agency and the judiciary's Mizan news agency both 
reported the attack, blaming America and Israel. Neither country immediately 
claimed any attack on the gas field at Asaluyeh in Iran's southern Bushehr 
province.

   An earlier Israeli attack on South Pars saw Iran increasingly target Gulf 
Arab oil and natural gas sites.

   U.S. President Donald Trump has warned of possible attacks on power plants 
and bridges this week if the Strait of Hormuz is not opened.

   THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. AP's earlier story follows below.

   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 on Tehran 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 four people 
were found dead in the rubble of a residential building.

   Kuwait, the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia all activated their air 
defenses 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

   European Council President Antnio Costa called for diplomacy to be given a 
chance, writing on X that "any targeting of civilian infrastructure, namely 
energy facilities, is illegal and unacceptable."

   "Escalation will not achieve a ceasefire and peace," he said. "Only 
negotiations will, namely the ongoing efforts led by regional partners."

   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."

   "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 15 people, 
authorities said. 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 23 have been reported dead in Israel and 13 U.S. service 
members have been killed.