APPLENEWS - STORY ADD
Iran live updates: Trump says pilots 'fine' after reported US helicopter crash
The president said a report on the incident would be released on Tuesday.
President Donald Trump announced "major combat operations" against Iran on Feb. 28, with massive joint U.S.-Israeli strikes targeting military, government and infrastructure sites.
Following the announcement of a two-week ceasefire, initial U.S.-Iran talks in Pakistan in April failed to reach a peace deal.
Trump later announced the open-ended extension of the ceasefire and the continuation of a U.S. blockade until negotiations are concluded "one way or the other."
Key Headlines
2 Iranian air defense troops killed by Israeli attacks, state media says
Two Iranian air defense troops were killed in Israeli attacks on the country on Monday, the semi-official Tasnim News agency reported on Tuesday.
Iran's Emergency Medical Services Organization said on Monday that 15 Iranians were injured in Israeli attacks, 14 people in Mahshahr and one person in Tehran.
Tasnim reported that the funerals of the two troops were killed on Monday will be held in Tehran on Tuesday evening.
-ABC News' Somayeh Malekian
Trump says he sees no 'sticking points' in Iran talks
President Donald Trump said that negotiations with Iran are ongoing and that he could have an agreement or "at least an idea by one or two days from now."
"I think it's going well," Trump said, claiming that for now, the blockade of Iranian ports continues to hold "100%."
"We have a good chance of doing it," the president said of a potential deal. "We should be able to do it in one hour if you want to know the truth. I don't think there are any sticking points. I think we're very...close to having a very, very good, strong, powerful deal."
Trump also said that further military action is possible, but suggested that a deal is preferable.
"If we go and bomb, which we can do very easily, if we want, and we spend another two or three weeks bombing, they'll have nothing left whatsoever, but you won't have the Strait open for months. If we do the bombing, you know a lot of people are going to be killed. Who wants to do that? I know, and we'll get, we'll have a signed document that's actually stronger than doing the bombing," Trump said.
Trump also said he "can't blame" Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for retaliating against Iran after the recent resumption of direct strikes between the warring parties.
Iran launched missiles toward Israel on Sunday in what it said was retaliation for Israeli strikes on the Lebanese capital Beirut, where the Israel Defense Forces said it was targeting the Iran-aligned Hezbollah militia.
Trump said he had "a very good conversation" with Netanyahu. "He was hit, and he hit back."
"Now they've called it quits, so they're gonna just leave each other alone for another week or something," Trump added. "We're in the final throes of what will be a very, very good deal that will not allow in any way, shape, or form nuclear weapons, etc," Trump said.
Trump said he told Netanyahu to stop striking because he wants to get a peace deal. "I said, 'Do what's right, but I want you to stop as quickly as you can,' because they have to stop. It's had to do with Lebanon, and it has to stop. We want to get it finished."
-ABC News' Isabella Murray
Trump says pilots 'are fine' after reported helicopter crash near Strait of Hormuz
President Donald Trump appeared to confirm that a U.S. Army helicopter went down near the Strait of Hormuz, which was reported by The New York Times late on Monday.
Trump claimed that the pilots were not injured and that a report on the incident will be released on Tuesday.
"The pilots are fine," the president said. "Nobody injured. We are going to issue a report tomorrow, but the pilots are fine," Trump added, when asked about an update on the crash during a gaggle on the tarmac in New York following Game 3 of the NBA finals.
-ABC News' Isabella Murray
Trump on Iran: 'We have all the power'
In a call with the Israeli prime minister, President Donald Trump told ABC News that he told Benjamin Netanyahu to "use his judgment" but warned not to hurt his effort to get a peace deal with Iran.
"I don't want to do anything that's going to hurt the deal, but I said, 'You have to use your own judgment.' Just go out and use your own judgment, but I don't want the deal to be hurt," Trump told ABC News chief Washington correspondent Jonathan Karl in a telephone interview on Monday.
The president insisted that negotiations with Iran are actively going on and that "we're trying to finish it up." Trump said he wouldn't say it's "complicated," saying, "It's actually pretty simple. It's the one with the power wins. We have all the power."
He said that some of his "best friends" want him to start bombing again, but that "they don't understand." A resumption of wide-scale U.S. military attacks, he said, would be costly and result in the Strait of Hormuz being closed for months longer.
In a post on social media this morning, Trump said peace talks toward a deal are proceeding "subject to ignorance or stupidity getting in its way." Asked what he meant by that, Trump told ABC News, "If people are stupid, we'll end up in something where we have to wipe out an entire infrastructure of a nation, and I don't think that's a good thing, because somebody's going to have to rebuild it."
He suggested that if the U.S. destroyed Iran’s infrastructure, the U.S. would likely end up helping to pay to rebuild it.
"Somebody's going to have to build all that infrastructure, new bridges, new this, new that, new power plants. You know, they're talking about a trillion dollars, probably more. And you know that's why we'll probably get involved in rebuilding, right, helping them rebuild," he said.
Asked if that would be like a Marshall Plan for Iran, Trump responded, "Yeah," then quickly added, "But we'll get half their oil."