The UN Security Council is set to vote on Tuesday for a resolution addressing Iran’s threats to the Strait of Hormuz, diplomatic sources told AFP.

The latest draft, seen by AFP, demands Iran end its attacks on commercial vessels and halt “any attempt to impede transit passage or freedom of navigation in the Strait of Hormuz”.

But objections from several veto-holding permanent members have seen the text watered down, and the latest draft does not expressly authorise force.

Trump’s ultimatum

US President Donald Trump has issued an ultimatum for Iran to reopen the Strait of Hormuz and threatened to bomb Iranian power plants and bridges if it doesn’t by Tuesday, 8:00 pm EDT.

President Trump was on the verge of a crisis in the Iran war, faced with the rare instance of an American airman shot down and stranded ​deep inside enemy territory.

Then, the airman’s daring Easter weekend rescue gave the US president the chance to quickly flip the script.

Standing ‌before cameras on Monday, Trump recast the perilous operation as a providential military triumph, leaning in to its cinematic elements to project strength and command of a five-week-old war that remains deeply unpopular with US voters.

“We have incredibly talented people, and if the time comes, we move heaven and earth to bring them home safely,” Trump told reporters at the White ​House. “God was watching us”.

It was the second time in less than a week that the president had scheduled time to directly deliver ​his message on Iran to the public, taking on the role of executive producer and chief publicist of his ⁠presidency in his uniquely Trumpian way.

He has struggled to explain his rationale for the bombing campaign, including during a muddled prime-time address last week. His profanity-laced tirade ​on social media on Easter Sunday further pushed past the normal bounds of presidential communications and prompted questions from reporters about the 79-year-old president’s mental ​fitness.

Read: Iran rejects ceasefire as deadline nears on Trump ‘hell’ ultimatum

The scene in the James S. Brady Press Briefing Room on Monday offered a familiar display of Trump’s political instincts: seizing a high-profile moment to tell the story on his terms and using it as a unifying rallying cry to win support from war-weary Americans.

He detailed an intricate rescue mission that he conceded was bolstered ​by luck. Trump administration officials, normally loath to discuss internal deliberations, over the weekend helped reporters write vivid accounts of the stunning operation.

Trump described a ​bleeding officer who evaded capture in Iran for two days, and search-and-rescue teams scaling mountains and trying to lift aircraft out of wet sand before destroying machinery that ‌might otherwise ⁠fall into enemy hands.

“Hundreds of people could have been killed,” Trump told reporters, noting that some military officials advised him against the operation.

“How many men did you send altogether?” Trump asked the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Dan Caine, who was standing nearby.

“I’d love to keep that a secret,” Caine said.

“I’ll keep it a secret, but it was hundreds and hundreds of these people,” Trump said.

Reporters squeezed into the crowded room, blocking aisles and ​an entryway, and verbally sparred with ​one another to gain a more ⁠advantageous position in the president’s line of sight.

Though Trump seemed to revel in the details of the military’s prowess – suggesting at a separate White House event earlier on Monday that the rescue might someday be depicted in a ​movie – he also threatened to jail a journalist at an unnamed news outlet who first reported that one airman ​had been successfully ⁠rescued before the second missing airman was found.

Trump continued to express frustration with the speed of diplomacy to end the war, anger at US allies who will not help and exasperation with the blocked Strait of Hormuz, a vital route for global energy supplies. He dismissed a question about his mental ⁠health, saying, “I ​don’t care about critics”.

Asked whether he planned to escalate the war or end it, Trump ​was noncommittal.

“I can’t tell you,” Trump said. “I don’t know”.

As he moved to wrap up the hour-plus news conference, Trump sought to portray victory as an all-but-foregone conclusion.

“We won, OK?” he said. “They ​are militarily defeated”.

Read More: Trump confirms Pakistan-mediated peace talks

Iran

The King Fahd Causeway, a key bridge linking Saudi Arabia to the island kingdom of Bahrain, closed early Tuesday over threats from Iranian attacks.

The King Fahd Causeway Authority announced in a post on X.

It said vehicle movements had been “suspended as a precautionary measure” over Iranian attacks targeting Saudi Arabia’s Eastern Province.

The 25-kilometer (15.5-mile) bridge is the only connection by road for Bahrain, home to the US Navy’s 5th Fleet, to the Arabian Peninsula.

US-Israeli projectile flattened a synagogue in the centre of Tehran, according to reports from the Iranian news agency Mehr. The report did not elaborate on the casualties from the attack.

Iran has conveyed its response to the US proposal for ending the war to ​Pakistan, rejecting a ceasefire and emphasising the necessity ​of a permanent end to the war, the official IRNA ‌news ⁠agency said on Monday.

The US and Iran weighed ​a framework plan to end their five‑week-old conflict, as Tehran ⁠said it wanted a lasting end to the ​war and pushed back against pressure to swiftly reopen ​the Strait of Hormuz under a temporary ceasefire.

The Iranian response consisted of 10 clauses, including an end to conflicts in the region, a protocol for safe passage through the Strait ​of Hormuz, ​lifting of ⁠sanctions, and reconstruction, the agency added.

Trump has threatened to rain “hell” on Tehran if it ​did not make a deal by 8:00 pm ⁠EDT (00:00 GMT) Tuesday that would allow traffic to start moving again through the vital route for global energy ⁠supplies.