(This article is part of the View From India newsletter curated by The Hindu’s foreign affairs experts. To get the newsletter in your inbox every Monday, subscribe here.)“Tuesday will be Power Plant Day, and Bridge Day, all wrapped up in one, in Iran,” U.S. President Donald Trump wrote in a social media post on Sunday evening. “Open the F*** Strait, you crazy b****, or you’ll be living in Hell,” he added. On March 21, Mr. Trump had set a 48-hour deadline for Iran to reopen the Strait of Hormuz. Two days later, he extended the deadline by five days, claiming that he was in talks with Iran. Tehran has denied having talks with the U.S., but agreed that it had received a ceasefire proposal from Washington through intermediaries. Pakistan, Egypt and Turkey were leading the mediation efforts — Pakistan’s Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar confirmed this. After Mr. Trump’s five-day deadline was over, he extended it by 10 more days. That deadline is set to expire on Monday (April 6).Mr. Trump’s latest outburst came after dramatic developments that saw U.S. Special Operations forces carrying out a combat search and rescue operation inside Iran. On April 3, a U.S. F-15E Strike Eagle was shot down by Iranian fire over Isfahan, setting in motion a chain of events that would see American troops being deployed to Iran and more American assets being destroyed. The two crew members of the F-15 ejected from the aircraft. One of them was rescued in an earlier operation. An A-10 Warthog aircraft was also hit on Friday over the Persian Gulf with its pilot ejecting before the plane crashed. A U.S. Air Force UH-60 Black Hawk helicopter that was involved in the first rescue operation was also hit by Iranian fire but it landed in Iraq, U.S. media reported. The second airman got stuck in mountainous territory in southern Iran for more than 36 hours before he was rescued by the U.S. military, according to the U.S. account.A still image purporting to show U.S. aircraft destroyed during the U.S. mission to find a stranded airman in Iran, the Revolutionary Guards said according to Iranian media, amid the U.S.-Israeli conflict with Iran. | Photo Credit: ReutersU.S. media reported quoting unnamed officials that the military destroyed two of its MC-130J transport aircraft after they got stuck at a remote base in Iran. The MC-130J, equipped with advanced sensors, is designed to insert troops into hostile territory and get them out. However, a spokesperson of Iran’s Khatam al-Anbiya Central Headquarters said Iranian forces destroyed two U.S. MC-130s and two Black Hawk helicopters. The Iranian military also claimed that it destroyed two U.S. drones on Sunday — an MQ-9 Reaper and an Elbit Hermes-900 — over Isfahan. While Mr. Trump hailed the U.S. operation a success, Iran termed it a “complete failure”. Mohammad-Bagher Ghalibaf, Iran’s Parliament Speaker, shared an image purportedly showing the charred remains of aircraft on social media, saying: “If the United States gets three more victories like this, it will be utterly ruined.”The whole Iran operation has been a costly affair for the U.S. When the U.S. and Israel launched the war on February 28, Mr. Trump said the war would be over soon. Yet, it has entered its sixth week, with the U.S. losing several aircraft, including an AWACS, multiple F-15s and aerial fuel tankers. In this peace, we take a look at Mr. Trump’s rising cost of war.A map showing the Strait of Hormuz is seen in this illustration. File. | Photo Credit: ReutersThe next big question is what would Mr. Trump do if Iran did not reach a deal by his deadline—which has already been pushed from Monday to Tuesday (April 7). On Sunday evening, Mr. Ghalibaf reposted a March 13 statement from Mojtaba Khamenei, Iran’s new Supreme Leader, that said the Strait of Hormuz must remain closed. The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) said on Monday that the Strait had undergone “irreversible strategic changes” and would never revert to its former status, especially for the U.S. and Israel. Mr. Trump has said that despite Iran’s public denial “they are negotiating”. He suggested that a deal is possible and threatened to “blow up everything” if a deal is not reached. Until now, Iran has ignored Mr. Trump’s deadlines. If they do that again, will the U.S. start bombing Iran’s civilian infrastructure? And if he does so, the war would enter its most dangerous phase with Iran retaliating by attacking infrastructure in the Gulf.The Top Five1. Ro Khanna | Exploring the new middleThe Democratic congressman, who combines points from America First nationalism with the welfarism of the Democratic left, proposes state support for the development of manufacturing and the working class, and calls for moderation in maximalist tech capitalism, writes Varghese K. George.2. Mohammad Ishaq Dar | At the global high tableA confidant of the Sharifs, the Foreign Minister is leading Pakistan’s diplomatic reboot, from restarting ties with Bangladesh to mediation in the Gulf.3. What Trump’s speech says about his war on Iran | AnalysisThe speech was largely a reassertion of the claims he has been making over the past few weeks and also underscores his limited options in the ongoing war with Iran, writes Stanly Johny.4. The long and lingering shadow of warEven after a ceasefire is declared, the effects of violent conflict take years to heal, writes Meera Srinivasan.5. Why does Trump want to pull out of NATO?Why does the U.S. administration believe that NATO’s founding principles and membership need to be ‘re-examined’? Why was NATO formed, and what are the recent developments that have led to fissures? Can the U.S. easily exit NATO? How much does it contribute to the alliance? Writes Suhasini Haidar.Published - April 06, 2026 03:52 pm IST