Donald Trump issued an expletive-laden warning on Sunday that Tehran has until Tuesday night to reopen the Strait of Hormuz or the US will destroy Iran’s power plants and bridges.
Iran’s parliament speaker responded with a warning that the US President’s “reckless move” would mean “our entire region is going to burn”.
The latest threat of escalation in the five-week war came after US commandos rescued the second crew member of a downed F-15E fighter plane, ending a two-day search after the warplane crashed in southwestern Iran.
Iran distributed photos showing the wreckage of several planes, but did not deny that US forces had rescued the officer, who hid in a mountainous area while US special forces and Iranian troops raced to find him.
Trump has at least twice extended the deadline for Iran to reopen the Strait of Hormuz, sending oil prices soaring, and moved his deadline again from Monday to Tuesday in his profanity-laden post, before later clarifying that he meant Tuesday night.
The US president posted on his Truth Social website: “Tuesday will be Power Plant Day and Bridge Day in Iran, all at the same time. No such thing will happen!!! OPEN THE FUCKIN’ strait, you crazy bastards, or you’ll be in hell – just stay tuned! Praise Allah. President Donald J Trump.”
Crude oil prices opened higher on Monday, with West Texas Intermediate – the US benchmark – rising 1.86% to more than $112 a barrel and Brent climbing above $110.
Trump separately suggested on Monday that there was a “good chance” of a deal with Iran, telling Fox News that talks were taking place. “If they don’t make a deal quickly, I’m considering blowing everything up and taking over the oil,” he said.
Later on Sunday, he posted again, giving a more precise time frame: “Tuesday, 8:00 PM Eastern Time!”
However, since the US-Israeli war began on February 28, Trump has repeatedly said Iran wants a deal.
Iran has acknowledged that messages were sent between both sides, including Pakistan. But Tehran insists it has not entered peace talks. According to diplomatic mediators, Iranian officials also fear that they will be targeted if they go into hiding for any talks.
Iran Parliament Speaker Mohammad-Bagher Ghalibaf responded to Trump’s latest threats in a social media post. He wrote, “Your reckless actions are pushing the United States into hell for every single family, and our entire region is going to burn because you insist on following Netanyahu’s orders.”
“Make no mistake: you gain nothing from war crimes. The only real solution is to respect the rights of the Iranian people and end this dangerous game.”
Trump’s profanity-laden post was also criticized on Capitol Hill.
“Happy Easter, America. As you go to church and celebrate with friends and family, the President of the United States is blabbering like a madman on social media,” Democratic Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said on Twitter.
“He’s threatening potential war crimes and alienating allies. That’s who he is, but that’s not who we are. Our country deserves much better.”
The destruction of the region’s highest bridge on Thursday, seen as an engineering marvel in Iran, points to a grim new phase of the war, with the US president threatening to throw Iran back to the “Stone Age”.
During war, international law protects civilians and what are known as civilian objects, such as infrastructure, under rules that are enshrined in the Geneva Conventions.
Una A. Hathaway, a professor of international law at Yale University, said the US president has not provided any explanation that the civilian targets he has threatened to target could be considered legitimate military objectives. He also said that other countries have a responsibility to ensure respect for the Geneva Conventions, and not to aid and abet wrongdoing.
“If these threatened attacks were carried out, they would constitute war crimes,” Hathaway said. “It is not legitimate to hold the civilian population hostage for bargaining leverage.”
Iranian steel manufacturing sites, petrochemical plants, universities, and medical facilities have been bombed during the joint US-Israeli campaign. According to Iranian officials, approximately 81,000 civilian sites were damaged, including 61,000 homes, 19,000 commercial sites, 275 medical centers, and approximately 500 schools.
Israel’s Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, has said that Israel has destroyed 70% of Iran’s steel production, which he claims was used to make missiles. He has also confirmed the attack on petrochemical plants.
Iran has been able to take control of the Strait of Hormuz by threatening and attacking ships passing through the waterway, blocking oil trade that is Tehran’s strongest pressure point in the conflict.
Iran continued to damage economic infrastructure across the Gulf over the weekend in response to the attacks, with legal experts also calling these acts illegal. On Sunday it attacked a petrochemicals complex in Bahrain. Video footage shows thick black smoke rising from the scene.
Kuwait Petroleum Corporation said that several of its facilities were targeted by Iranian drone strikes, resulting in fires and “significant material damage”. Kuwait also reported that two electricity and water desalination plants suffered “significant material damage” after being attacked by Iranian drones.
In Lebanon, Israel struck again in southern Beirut, killing at least four people and wounding 39 others. At least seven people, including a four-year-old girl, were killed in an Israeli airstrike on Kfar Hatta in southern Lebanon, Lebanon’s national news agency reported.
On Thursday the Iranians got a stark demonstration of the types of attacks that can now be carried out, with the destruction of the 136-metre-high $400m (£300m) B1 suspension bridge between Tehran and Karaj.
The attack occurred on the last day of the Iranian New Year holidays and according to reports several families were picnicking nearby when the missiles hit the bridge, creating a huge fireball. Day-trippers, who had set up tents to enjoy the holidays, ran away screaming. Local officials said that 13 people were killed and 95 were injured in the attack.
The bridge had not been opened yet. Before its summer inauguration, it was known simply as B1.
Trump posted a video of the bridge’s demolition and warned Iran to compromise before there is nothing left. On Sunday, Trump told Axios that several days ago, the US and Iran were close to an agreement to conduct direct talks.
He said, “But then they said they would meet us in five days. So I said, ‘Why five days?’ I thought they weren’t serious. So I attacked the bridge.
An engineer behind the construction of the bridge, interviewed on Iranian television, said: “We built everything with our own know-how, workers and resources. I feel ashamed of myself for not being able to use it for the people.”
A civil engineer who worked on other critical infrastructure projects in Iran said that recent attacks on civilian infrastructure, all of which was built with indigenous knowledge, had already “made it impossible to hide hostility toward the Iranian people behind the mask of opposition to the government”. But it was the attack on the bridge that was most painful to him, as he said it had no military, nuclear or government connection.
“This attack was aimed at nothing more than the pride of Iran,” he said. “A nation that has achieved such levels of self-reliance and productivity cannot be returned to the Stone Age.”
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