(TNND) — President Donald Trump warned that “a whole civilization will die tonight, never to be brought back again” on Tuesday as his deadline for Iran to open the Strait of Hormuz approached, escalating rhetoric ahead of potential U.S. strikes.
The U.S. hit military targets on the island, the official said Tuesday. The strikes came just hours before the cutoff for Iran to capitulate or face a broader attack. (TNND)
In the same message, Trump suggested the moment could mark a turning point, calling it “one of the most important moments in the long and complex history of the world” and predicting that “47 years of extortion, corruption, and death, will finally end.”
The U.S. again struck the Iranian oil hub of Kharg Island, a White House official who was not authorized to speak publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity told The Associated Press.
The U.S. hit military targets on the island, the official said Tuesday. The strikes came just hours before the cutoff for Iran to capitulate or face a broader attack.
Earlier Tuesday, Iran’s semiofficial Mehr news agency reported several explosions on Kharg Island without providing details.
Trump has threatened to deploy ground troops to seize critical oil infrastructure on the island.
The U.S. executed what it described as a “large-scale precision strike on Kharg Island” in March, destroying naval mine storage facilities, missile storage bunkers, and multiple other military sites, according to U.S. Central Command. “U.S. forces successfully struck more than 90 Iranian military targets on Kharg Island, while preserving the oil infrastructure,” CENTCOM said.
Trump has repeatedly shifted his initial March 23 deadline over the past six weeks of the war, and it remains unclear whether he will extend it again.
In a series of posts on Truth Social over the weekend, Trump escalated his rhetoric as the timeline narrowed.
“Remember when I gave Iran ten days to MAKE A DEAL or OPEN UP THE HORMUZ STRAIT,” Trump said Saturday. “Time is running out – 48 hours before all Hell will reign down on them.”
By Sunday, he pushed it back again in an expletive-filled post.
“Tuesday will be Power Plant Day, and Bridge Day, all wrapped up in one, in Iran. There will be nothing like it!!! Open the F*****in’ Strait, you crazy bastards, or you’ll be living in Hell,” Trump wrote, later specifying 8 p.m. Tuesday as the deadline.
During a news conference at the White House on Monday, the president doubled down on that timeline.
“The entire country can be taken out in one night, and that night might be tomorrow night,” Trump said. “We have a plan, because of the power of our military, where every bridge in Iran will be decimated by 12 o’clock tomorrow night.”
Asked whether he was winding down the conflict or escalating it, Trump told reporters, “I don’t know. It depends what they do.”
Trump said he extended the deadline by a day rather than letting it expire immediately after Easter.
“I thought it was inappropriate the day after Easter,” he said. “They have till tomorrow. Now we’ll see what happens. I can tell you they’re negotiating — we think in good faith, we’re going to find out. We’re getting the help of some incredible countries that want this to be ended, because it affects them also.”
The Iranian Foreign Ministry on Monday “officially rejected” the U.S.’s proposed 15-point peace plan, calling it “unrealistic.”
“Iran firmly refuses any negotiations conducted under the shadow of illegal sanctions, military threats, or coercion,” the government said on X, adding that diplomacy requires “mutual respect, not pressure.”
In response to Trump’s threats, Iranian officials called on citizens to form human chains around power plants.
“Power plants that are our national assets and capital,” said Alireza Rahimi, identified by Iranian state television as secretary of the Supreme Council of Youth and Adolescents, in a video statement.
President Masoud Pezeshkian also posted on X that 14 million Iranians had answered state media and text message campaigns urging volunteers to fight.
“I too have been, am, and will remain ready to give my life for Iran,” Pezeshkian wrote.
The U.S. and Iran also received a 45-day ceasefire proposal Monday from mediators in Egypt, Pakistan, and Turkey. Trump rejected the plan, calling it a “significant step” that ultimately fell short.
Iran dismissed the proposal as unacceptable, with Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmail Baghaei calling the terms “excessive” and criticizing negotiations under U.S. threats.
Iran’s ambassador to the United Nations, Amir-Saeid Iravani, also warned Tehran would respond forcefully if the U.S. follows through on its threats. Speaking during a U.N. Security Council session on the Strait of Hormuz, Iravani said Trump’s rhetoric “constitute[s] incitement to war crimes and potentially genocide.”
When asked whether strikes on power plants and bridges would constitute war crimes, Trump brushed off concerns.
“No, not at all,” he said, adding that most Iranians want the U.S. to “keep bombing” and are “willing to suffer” to gain freedom.
Pakistan’s prime minister on Tuesday urged the United States and Iran to agree to a two-week ceasefire, proposing a temporary pause in hostilities to allow ongoing diplomatic efforts to gain traction.
Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif called on President Trump and Iranian leaders to step back from escalating tensions just hours before the U.S. deadline tied to potential military action. Pakistan has played a central role in mediating talks between Washington and Tehran in recent weeks.
“Diplomatic efforts for peaceful settlement of the ongoing war in the Middle East are progressing steadily, strongly and powerfully,” Sharif said in a post on X, adding that negotiations could soon yield “substantive results.”
Sharif urged Trump to extend his deadline by two weeks and asked Iran to reopen the strategically critical Strait of Hormuz during the same period as a gesture of goodwill. He also called for a broader ceasefire across the region to “allow diplomacy to achieve conclusive termination of war.”
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and Joint Chiefs Chairman Gen. Dan Caine were scheduled to deliver a press briefing Tuesday morning, but it was canceled hours beforehand without explanation.