Trump threatens Iran, demands journalist reveal leak source

Donald Trump threatened military action against Iran and demanded that journalists reveal their sources regarding reporting on a US airman rescue, in separate incidents Monday.

In a social media post, Trump threatened to destroy Iran's power plants and bridges if the country did not open the Strait of Hormuz. He told Iran they would "be living in Hell" if they did not comply with his demand. The post used expletive language and drew sharp criticism from Capitol Hill.

Chuck Schumer, a senior Senate Democrat, said in response: "The president of the United States is ranting like an unhinged madman on social media … He's threatening possible war crimes and alienating allies. This is who he is, but this is not who we are. Our country deserves so much better."

Iran's parliament speaker warned that the US president's "reckless moves" would mean "our whole region is going to burn."

Trump separately told US media that there was a "good chance" of an agreement to end the five-week war, saying negotiations were happening.

During a White House press conference Monday afternoon, Trump threatened to jail journalists who reported that a second US airman was missing after being shot down by Iran on Friday. The airman was badly injured and hid in a mountain crevice to avoid capture before being rescued by a US recovery team that received heavy fire. Trump announced on Sunday that the service member had been recovered.

At the press conference, Trump said his government was aggressively pursuing the "leaker" who revealed information about the missing airman to the media. He claimed the news report put Iran on notice and endangered the airman. "They basically said that 'we have one and there's somebody missing.' Well, they didn't know there was somebody missing until this leaker gave the information," Trump said. "So whoever it was, we think we'll be able to find it out because we're going to go to the media company that released it."

Trump demanded that the journalist or journalists who reported on the rescue reveal their source, threatening jail time if they did not cooperate.