"Remember when I gave Iran ten days to MAKE A DEAL or OPEN UP THE HORMUZ STRAIT. Time is running out - 48 hours before all Hell will reign (sic) down on them," he wrote on Truth Social.
US President Donald Trump repeated his threats to intensify attacks on Iran if it failed to reach a deal or open the key Strait of Hormuz waterway on Saturday.
"Remember when I gave Iran ten days to MAKE A DEAL or OPEN UP THE HORMUZ STRAIT. Time is running out - 48 hours before all Hell will reign (sic) down on them. Glory be to GOD!" he said in a post on Truth Social.
This comes as Iranian and US forces were searching for a missing American pilot on Saturday from one of two warplanes downed over Iran and the Gulf.
The prospect of a US service member alive and on the run in Iran raised the stakes for Washington as the conflict entered its sixth week with scant prospect of peace talks in sight and polls showing low public support.
The downing of two US warplanes shows the risks still facing US and Israeli aircraft, despite assertions by Trump and his Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth that US forces had total control of the skies over Iran.
Iranian fire brought down a two-seat US F-15E jet, officials in both countries said on Friday, and a US official said search-and-rescue efforts had recovered one of the crew.
Iran says new air defense system shot down US fighter jet
Two Black Hawk helicopters engaged in the search for the missing crew member were hit by Iranian fire but made it out of Iranian airspace, the two US officials told Reuters.
Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps said it was combing a southwestern area near where the pilot's plane came down, while the regional governor promised a commendation for anyone who captured or killed "forces of the hostile enemy."
In a separate incident, an A-10 Warthog fighter aircraft was hit and crashed over Kuwait, with the pilot ejecting, the US officials said.
Iranians, pummeled by air power since the US and Israel began their attacks, celebrated their success.
The Khatam al-Anbiya joint military command said it used a new air-defense system on Friday, which targeted a US fighter jet, three drones, and two cruise missiles.
"The enemy should know that we rely on new air-defense systems built by the young, knowledgeable, and proud people of this country, unveiling them one after another in the field," a Khatam al-Anbiya spokesperson said, according to Iran's state media.
With Iran's leadership defiant since the start of the war, its foreign minister left the door open in principle for peace talks with the US via mediation from Pakistan, but gave no sign of Tehran's willingness to bow to Trump's demands.
"We are deeply grateful to Pakistan for its efforts and have never refused to go to Islamabad. What we care about are the terms of a conclusive and lasting END to the illegal war that is imposed on us," Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi said on X.