President Donald Trump warned the Iranian regime a "whole civilization will die tonight" with less than 12 hours left until a deadline he has set to reopen the Strait of Hormuz.
Trump had previously told the Iranian regime that it faced "complete destruction" of its civilian infrastructure if it didn't accept his demands to lift an effective blockade on the vital waterway by 8 p.m. ET on Tuesday.
In a post on his Truth Social platform on Tuesday morning, the president said he didn't want the bombardment to happen but added "it probably will". He later described the looming deadline as "one of the most important moments in the long and complex history of the world."'
Why It Matters
Trump's previous warning that American troops could target bridges and power plants in Iran if the deadline was not met had drawn sharp criticism from some Democrats, who accused him of threatening possible war crimes.
Trump himself dismissed the accusations, saying he was not "at all" concerned, while White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt previously said U.S. forces and Trump's administration "will always act within the confines of the law".
iran responded to the warnings on Tuesday by urging young people to form human chains to protect power plants. Iranians have formed human chains in the past around nuclear sites at
What To Know
times of heightened tensions with the West.
Trump stood by his previous threats on Monday, when he told reporters that "every bridge in Iran will be decimated" within a few hours, adding "the entire country can be taken out in one night—and that night might be tomorrow night."
His latest threat came after British newspaper The Times reported that Iran's new supreme leader Mojtaba Khamenei is unconscious and being treated for a "severe" medical condition, citing a diplomatic memo.
"Mojtaba Khamenei is being treated in Qom in a severe condition, unable to be involved in any decision making by the regime,” the memo reportedly says.
If this is true, it is unclear what impact not having a single, final decision-maker will have on major calls like whether to open the Strait of Hormuz.
Meanwhile, Tehran rejected a 45-day ceasefire deal that would see the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz, saying it wanted a permanent end to the war, according to The Associated Press (AP).
“We only accept an end of the war with guarantees that we won’t be attacked again,” Mojtaba Ferdousi Pour, head of Iran’s diplomatic mission in Cairo, told AP.
What People Are Saying
Donald Trump wrote on Truth Social: "A whole civilization will die tonight, never to be brought back again. I don’t want that to happen, but it probably will. However, now that we have Complete and Total Regime Change, where different, smarter, and less radicalized minds prevail, maybe something revolutionarily wonderful can happen, WHO KNOWS? We will find out tonight, one of the most important moments in the long and complex history of the World. 47 years of extortion, corruption, and death, will finally end. God Bless the Great People of Iran!"
Michigan Democrat, Senator Elissa Slotkin, previously said in a post on X: "President Trump's latest threats on Truth Social, if carried out, would violate the law of armed conflict as laid out in the Geneva Conventions and the DoD [Department of Defense] Law of War Manual."
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