Trump is now answering questions from reporters at the White House. He's asked how he would react should the Iranian people "rise up against the regime".

The president says "they should do it", saying the consequences would be "great".

Trump also pushes back against criticism of his plan, saying "everything has been thought out by us".

He's then asked about the impact of the US targeting civilian infrastructure in Iran, to which Trump says Iranians would be "willing to suffer to have their freedom".

Trump adds that the US has had "numerous intercepts" suggesting Iranian people are calling for further strikes against the regime.

Image source, Getty Images

Dan Caine, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, is up next at the podium. He begins by again reiterating that the rescue mission was a dangerous undertaking for the US military.

Detailing the early hours of the rescue, he says a US A-10 plane was involved in trying to find the first downed pilot, but it came under fire from gunmen in Iran, forcing it to fly to a nearby friendly country where the pilot safely ejected from the A-10.

Caine explains that after the first pilot was recovered, the search for the second crew member continued even as Iranian forces also embarked on their own mission to capture the stranded US service member.

He says the rescue mission was protected overhead by air armada, and that both crew members are now safely back with the US military.

"The United States of America will recover our war fighters, anywhere in the world, under any conditions when we want to," he says.

Bernd Debusmann Jr
Reporting from the White House

We've so far heard very little detail in this news conference about the wider conflict and how the administration plans to handle the war, or how the US will withdraw from it.

Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth's comment that "Iran has a choice", however, is telling.

By saying that Iran should "choose wisely" and noting that "this president does not play around", Hegseth seems to be suggesting, as Trump has in the past, that Iran should come to the negotiating table and meet US demands or face a wave of expanded strikes.

So far, that kind of negotiating has not happened, and earlier Trump said that Iran's "significant proposal" was "not good enough".

It is unclear what that proposal entailed, but reports have suggested that Iran has made maximalist demands and is wary of the US proposal.

In a series of phone interviews today, Trump has expressed optimism that a deal is possible, but has also very much left open the possibility that devastating strikes against Iranian infrastructure remain an option.

Today will be largest volume of strikes on Iran since the start of the war, Hegseth says, repeating a frequent line.

And tomorrow, the strikes will be even heavier, he adds, which is when Trump has set an 20:00 deadline Tuesday (0100BST) for Iran to make a deal.

Image source, reu

Next up to speak is Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth, who touts the skill and precision it took to rescue the US aviator.

"Iran's military is embarrassed and humiliated and they should be," Hegseth says.

This was "deep" into Iran, he says, and the airman activated his transponder to send the message "God is good".

Hegseth alludes to the dates of the pilot's rescue happening on Easter weekend, seeming to draw a biblical parallel to airman's concealment in a cave on Saturday before his rescue.

Crews performed with near perfection under fire, he says.

Image source, Reuters

In final remarks, Trump says it was "like finding a needle in a haystack, finding this pilot". He then gives the floor to CIA Director John Ratcliffe.

Ratcliffe says the rescue operation in Iran was a "no fail mission", as his agents were committed to bringing the Air Force personnel back home.

He says that while he cannot share all details about the operation, he says both human and tech assets were deployed to locate the missing airmen.

The CIA director says the "audacious" operation was a "race against the clock", which relied on a deception campaign to confuse Iranians "desperately hunting for our airmen".

He says agents received confirmation on Saturday night that the missing service member had found refuge in a mountain crevice "still invisible to the enemy but not to the CIA".

Bernd Debusmann Jr
Reporting from the White House

Image source, Reuters

Trump has directed much of his ire at the media's handling of the rescue of the two US F-15 crew members, arguing that a leak from within the government endangered American lives on the ground in Iran.

The US president has long had a contentious relationship with journalists, who he regularly derides as "fake news".

But today's comments are stronger than usual, in that he has directly vowed that the journalists who broke the story will give up their source or "go to jail".

"We are gonna go to the media company that released it and we are going to say ' national security, give it up or go to jail,'" he says.

That statement is likely to raise alarm among members of the US media, some of whom have accused Trump in the past of trying to clamp down on freedom of the press - a charge that Trump denies.

He says the leak made the operation to find the missing service member even more difficult. "We have to find that leaker because that is a sick person; probably didn't realise the extent of how bad it was... They put this mission at great risk."

We now know that several US news outlets held back on reporting about the rescue mission over the weekend that recovered the F-15's weapons systems officer while the operation was still ongoing.

Trump says the rescue mission to retrieve the second US airman, who was still trapped in Iran days after the first was rescued, involved 155 aircraft, including four bombers, 64 fighters, 48 refuelling tankers, 13 rescue aircraft, and more.

"We were bringing them all over, and a lot of it was subterfuge. We wanted to have them think he was in a different location, because they had a vast military force out there - thousands of people were looking," Trump says.

The "heroic" officer evaded capture on the ground in Iran for almost 48 hours, Trump says.

US forces had to leave planes behind in Iran, but rather than let Iran get hold of the equipment on those aircraft, the US military "blew them up to smithereens", Trump says of the planes.

"I never forget the extraordinary risk taken by the warriors that we send into battle," he adds.

Trump sticks to the script in early remarkspublished at 18:21 BST

18:21 BST

Anthony Zurcher
North America correspondent

Image source, Reuters

At least so far, Trump is reading from written remarks at the White House press room lectern, as he recounts the details of the downed US aircraft and the recovery efforts.

As is typical of this president, he is frequently riffing on the prepared script.

"We're doing unbelievably well," he says of the ongoing war against Iran.

He then makes a reference to tomorrow night’s deadline for attacks against Iranian energy and transportation infrastructure if Iran doesn't open the Strait of Hormuz.

"The entire country can be taken out in one night – and that night might be tomorrow night," he says.

Trump calls Iran "evil" and doubles down on threats against the country's civilian infrastructure that he posted on social media earlier.

"The entire country can be taken out in one night, and that night might be tomorrow night," he says.

The president talks more about the rescue, saying he ordered US armed forces to do whatever was necessary to bring home the stranded airman.

He says they took "extraordinary risks", and that none of the rescuers were injured.

The ejected airman himself was injured badly, though, and scaled cliff faces while bleeding profusely to transmit his location, Trump says.

Image source, Reuters

President Donald Trump starts his news conference by saying the administration will "celebrate the success" of the rescue operation of two US Air Force members shot down over Iran at the weekend.

He says similar missions aren't usually attempted, but adds there was "great talent" involved - but we got a bit of luck too, he adds.

Trump describes the operation as "historic" and says it shows that in the US military, "we leave no American behind".

Image source, Reuters

President Donald Trump steps up to the podium and is about to speak to the press from the White House.

You can watch live at the top of the page and we'll bring you all the key lines here.

Sarah Smith
North America editor, reporting from the White House

Image source, Sarah Smith / BBC

There is a strict hierarchy of reporters in Washington.

A few hundred of us are lucky enough to have passes that let us enter the White House grounds whenever we like. But only 49 journalists have assigned seats inside the press briefing room. It's a hallowed privilege to get a spot on the seating chart.

On a day like today - when President Trump himself will appear to take questions - the small briefing room is absolutely packed with journalists who don't have assigned seats, crammed around the edges of the room. Many have been here for hours already, trying to secure a spot from which to ask the president a question.

As we wait we can hear bursts of music coming from the Easter celebrations on the South Lawn

An Iranian airstrike damaged buildings in Ramat Gan, Israel as Houthi supporters in Yemen rallied in solidarity with Iran and Lebanon. Meanwhile, Israel continued bombarding southern Lebanon, killing at least four people and injuring dozens of others in Dahieh.

Here's the latest in pictures.

Image source, Anadolu via Getty Images

Image source, AFP via Getty Images

Image source, Getty Images

Image source, Reuters

Image source, Getty Images

Bernd Debusmann Jr
Reporting from the White House

Image source, Bernd Debusmann Jr / BBC News

There have been very few occasions in which the White House briefing room is as crowded as it is now.

I just returned from an attempted walk-through of the briefing room to try get to the area in which some of the White House press staff have their offices - but was forced to return, unable to make my way through a sea of reporters.

Only some outlets have a dedicated seat in the room, meaning that many reporters - in today's case, dozens - have to find space from which they hope to catch a glimpse of the president, or get his attention for a question.

Space is at a premium today, and since about 0830 this morning, reporters from some outlets came early to get a good spot.

There will always be a high level of attendance when Trump makes an appearance, but today is more crowded than usual - a sign of the enormous international interest in the ongoing war in Iran.

I've been in two of his rare briefing room appearances of this term, but both were impromptu, last-minute affairs that appear to already be dwarfed by today.

A display of American tactical might, but many strategic objectives still unrealisedpublished at 17:50 BST

17:50 BST

Anthony Zurcher
North America correspondent

Donald Trump has repeatedly said that the joint US-Israeli war on Iran is nearly over and a negotiated settlement is close.

Perhaps the president will provide more information about the status of mediated talks with Iranian leaders at his press conference this afternoon. But barring evidence of a breakthrough, any claims he makes of impending American victory clash with a less-than-conclusive reality on the ground.

First and foremost, Iran still controls the strait of Hormuz. While Trump has at times said that ending the Iranian threat to shipping in this key waterway is not a US goal, his recent threat to attack Iranian civilian power and transportation targets if the strait is not fully opened undercuts this.

Iran has also proven that it still has the military capability to attack its neighbours with drones and missiles. And as demonstrated by recently the downing of two US aircraft, its air defences still have a bite.

Pro-Iranian proxies in the region, while weakened, also still pose a regional danger. Houthi rebels in Yemen, in particular, have shown an ability to strike commercial shipping outside the Gulf and targets in Israel.

Finally, Iran's regime is still in power. While Trump has backed away from early calls for unconditional surrender or a popular uprising, an end to the conflict that leaves potentially more hard-line Iranian leaders in control may not be the kind of victory many Iran hawks in the administration hoped for – or expected – when this war began.

While this war has been a display of American tactical military might, many of the overall strategic objectives are still unrealised.

We've been reporting Iran had submitted a 10-point response to a US proposal to end the war, including a rejection of a proposed ceasefire, saying there needs to be a permanent end to the war.

At an earlier press conference Iran's Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmail Baqai claimed a truce would allow the US and Israel "a short pause to regroup and commit new crimes".

He said Iran could not trust American negotiators. "The enemy must be compelled to regret its actions to the point that it no longer dares to threaten Iran's sovereignty," he said.

During his earlier media conference Trump continued his recent criticism of the UK, which he said has "a long way to go".

"We won't want another Neville Chamberlain, do we agree? We don't want Neville Chamberlain."

Chamberlain led a policy of appeasement towards Nazi Germany in the 1930s. He famously - and prematurely - proclaimed "peace in our time" after signing an agreement with Adolf Hitler in September 1938 to allow him to annex Czechoslovakia's Sudetenland, in order to avoid a wider European war.

Hitler broke the agreement and invaded Poland in 1939.

Trump has repeatedly criticised the UK's refusal to become involved in the Iran war and has previously said of Prime Minister Keir Starmer: "He's no Winston Churchill".

We'll hear more from Trump at his press conference at 13:00 ET (18:00 BST).

Image source, EPA

Returning to the rescued airman, Trump said Iran was able to down a US aircraft with a "lucky shot".

However, he conceded "we have some helicopters with a lot of bullet holes in them right now probably".

Before ending his remarks to journalists, Trump also insisted, amid an intense US-Israeli bombing campaign, "the Iranian people are most unhappy... when those bombs stop".

The president repeated his demand that Iran could not have nuclear weapons. "They are lunatics and you can't put nuclear weapons in the hands of a lunatic," he said.

We can bring you more now from Trump's comments to the press made a short while ago at the White House.

The president repeated threats to Iran that the US would continue striking its infrastructure if they don't surrender.

"And if they don't, they'll have no bridges. They'll have no power plants. They'll have no anything."

He added that he "won't go further, because there are other things that are worse than those two."

"If I had my choice, what would I like to do? Take the oil," he says.

"Because it's there for the taking. There's not a thing they can do about it.

"Unfortunately the American people would like to see us come home. If it were up to me I'd take the oil, I'd keep the oil [...] make plenty of money and I'd also take care of the people of Iran."