Middle East crisis live: Iran rejects Trump’s 48 hour deadline to ‘make a deal’; US races to find missing pilot

Iran launches missiles and drones at Israel and Kuwait after US president says regime will face ‘all hell’

• https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/apr/04/iran-search-missing-us-crew-member-downed-fighter-jet-second-day">Search for missing US crew member of downed fighter jet enters second day

Welcome to the Guardian’s continuing coverage of the US-Israel war on Iran and the ongoing crisis in the Middle East.

Iran launched missiles and drones at Israel and Kuwait early on Sunday, a day after Donald Trump said the Islamic republic had 48 hours to cut a deal or face “all Hell”.

The Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, confirmed that https://www.theguardian.com/world/israel">Israel attacked Iran’s petrochemical plants after reports from Iranian media saying at least five people were killed in an attack on the Mahshahr petrochemical zone.

US search and rescue efforts for the missing second crew member of the downed F-15E fighter jet continued into a second day as Iran came under heavy bombing.

A pilot had been rescued on Friday after the F-15E Strike Eagle became the first US plane to be downed over https://www.theguardian.com/world/iran">Iran during the five-week-long war.

American and Israeli fighter jets targeted multiple strategic and civilian sites inside Iran’s capital on Friday afternoon, including Shahid Beheshti University, one of the country’s leading academic institutions, Iranian state media reported.

The death toll in https://www.theguardian.com/world/lebanon">Lebanon has reached 1,422 since the conflict with Israel began on 2 March, according to data from the Lebanese health ministry and reported by the Associated Press.

In just the past 24 hours, Israeli strikes have killed 54 people and wounded 156.

The Kuwaiti Ministry of Defense said on Saturday that its air defense forces successfully intercepted eight ballistic missiles and 19 drones over the last 24 hours.

However, on Sunday a fire has erupted in the Shuwaikh oil sector complex that houses the oil ministry and Kuwait Petroleum Corporation headquarters, after a drone attack, and Kuwaiti state media reported that two power and water desalination plants sustained “significant material damage” after being attacked by Iranian drones.

A Lebanese security source at the main crossing between Syria and Lebanon, said they were evacuating the crossing after Israel threatened to attack it.

The Israeli military said on Saturday it would strike an area near the Masnaa crossing urging residents to evacuate immediately as it continued its attacks across Lebanon.

Residents of southern Lebanon’s Kfar Hatta were told on social media by Israel to immediately leave the area, and warned that the Israeli military would soon act “with force” in the area.