US President Donald Trump threatened in an expletive-laden post on Sunday to strike Iran’s power plants and bridges if it does not reopen the vital Strait of Hormuz, after announcing the rescue of an airman in what he described as a “miraculous” operation.

Trump revealed on his Truth Social platform that the “seriously wounded” airman had been rescued “from deep inside the mountains of Iran”. He described it as “one of the most daring Search and Rescue Operations in US history”.

Iran said it had “foiled” the operation and circulated images appearing to show the wreckage of several aircraft, but did not deny that US forces had extracted the airman.

The war, which erupted on February 28 with US-Israeli strikes on Iran, has engulfed the Middle East and disrupted the global economy. Iran has effectively blocked the Strait of Hormuz, a vital conduit for oil and gas shipments, and launched strikes on Israel and its Gulf neighbours.

Trump warned Iran to stop choking traffic through the Strait, writing that it should reopen the passage “or you’ll be living in Hell”.

“Tuesday will be Power Plant Day, and Bridge Day, all wrapped up in one, in Iran. There will be nothing like it!!!” he declared.

Later, Trump told Fox News that he believed there was a “good chance” Iran would agree to a deal on Monday.

His warning came as Omani and Iranian deputy foreign ministers reportedly held talks on easing passage through Hormuz.

Many residents of Tehran appeared indifferent to the threats. In a large park in the west of the city, groups of young Iranians picnicked, while others played Frisbee to techno music from a portable speaker. One man flew a kite in front of the Milad Tower, an iconic landmark in the capital.

US media reported details of the rescue operation involving the airman, identified as a weapons systems officer. The New York Times reported that he was equipped with a pistol, a beacon, and a secure communications device to coordinate with rescuers.

According to reports by CBS News and The New York Times, two aircraft intended to transport the airman and his rescuers became stranded at a remote base in Iran and were destroyed to prevent them from falling into Iranian hands. US forces reportedly used three other transport planes to extract the team.

Iran’s military said it destroyed four US aircraft involved in the operation, which it said utilised an abandoned airport in southern Isfahan province. Iranian media reported that five people were killed in strikes during the operation.

Footage released by Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps appeared to show charred wreckage of an American aircraft scattered across a desert area, with smoke still rising.

Trump also hailed what he called a “miraculous Search and Rescue Operation”, adding that it followed “a successful rescue of another brave Pilot, yesterday, which we did not confirm, because we did not want to jeopardise our second rescue operation”.

Iran has said its forces downed the fighter jet from which the crew ejected, while US media reported only that the aircraft had been shot down. The US administration has not publicly confirmed whether the jet was downed.

Critical infrastructure across the Gulf again came under attack from Iran on Sunday, with damage reported at civilian facilities in the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, and Kuwait.

Pro-Iran armed groups also carried out two attacks on US diplomatic sites in Iraq overnight, the US Embassy in Baghdad said.

On another front, Lebanon has increasingly been drawn into the conflict since the Iran-backed Hezbollah group began targeting Israel. Israel has retaliated and pushed ground forces into southern Lebanon.

A source from the Lebanese civil defence told AFP that an Israeli strike on Kfar Hatta in southern Lebanon killed a family of six waiting to evacuate and a relative who had come to pick them up. Another Israeli strike on south Beirut killed at least four people, the Lebanese health ministry said.

The war cast a pall over Easter Sunday celebrations for Christian minorities in Lebanon and across the region. In the usually lively alleyways of Jerusalem’s Old City, silence prevailed.

As a security precaution, Israeli authorities restricted access to the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, where the faithful commemorate Christ’s crucifixion and resurrection.

“It’s very hard for all of us because it’s our holiday… It’s really hard to want to pray, but to come here and find nothing. Everything is closed,” said Christina Toderas, 44, from Romania.

In his Easter blessing at the Vatican, Pope Leo XIV urged “those who have the power to unleash wars” to “choose peace” and criticised global indifference to “the deaths of thousands of people”.

In Iran, a strike near the Bushehr nuclear plant on Saturday killed a guard. Russia, which partly constructed the facility and assists in operating it, announced it was evacuating 198 workers and condemned the strike as “an evil deed”.

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi warned that continued attacks on the plant on the southern coast could lead to radioactive fallout that would “end life in GCC capitals, not Tehran”. Bushehr lies considerably closer to Kuwait, Bahrain, and Qatar than to the Iranian capital.

Against the backdrop of the war, Iran has intensified its internal crackdown weeks after suppressing a wave of anti-government protests, with the judiciary announcing the execution of two men convicted of acting on behalf of Israel and the United States.

On Sunday, communications monitor NetBlocks reported that Iran’s internet blackout had become the longest nationwide shutdown on record.