Trump says that 'a whole civilisation will die tonight' if Iran fails to make deal with US

LAST UPDATE | 4 hrs ago

PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP warned that “a whole civilisation will die tonight” in Iran if the country does not heed his ultimatum to accept US war demands.

“A whole civilization will die tonight, never to be brought back again. I don’t want that to happen, but it probably will,” Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform.

Trump did not give details but he has already said the US military could bomb Iran’s bridges, power plants and other civilian infrastructure into the “stone age.”

Trump has announced a deadline of by 8pm Tuesday (1am Irish time) for Iran to end its de facto closing of the Strait of Hormuz, a narrow, strategic waterway used to transport oil and other commodities.

Yesterday, he said a temporary ceasefire proposal being circulated was insufficient.

Iran has rejected US pressure, with state media reporting that the authorities are insisting that instead of just a ceasefire it wants a full end to the war.

In his Truth Social post, Trump left the door open for a last-hour agreement.

“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,” he wrote.

Trump said yesterday that starting tonight US forces would destroy “every bridge in Iran” and cripple “every power plant” in the country — something that many experts say would be a blatant war crime.

US and Israeli warplanes have been continuously bombing Iran since 28 February and today even before Trump’s threat about ending “civilization,” Tehran said that its crucial oil export terminal on Kharg island was under attack.

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The Israeli military said earlier it had completed a broad wave of strikes targeting “infrastructure sites” across Iran.

Israel did not provide details of what the sites were.

“A short while ago, the IDF completed a wide-scale wave of strikes targeting dozens of infrastructure sites belonging to the Iranian terror regime in several areas across Iran,” the military said in a statement.

Iran showed no sign of backing down today, defying threats by Trump to “decimate” the country’s civilian infrastructure.

The Iranian army dismissed what they called Trump’s “arrogant rhetoric and baseless threats”, saying they would not hinder operations against US and Israeli forces more than five weeks into the war.

Speaking yesterday, Trump said that “every bridge in Iran will be decimated by 12 o’clock tomorrow night”.

“I mean complete demolition by 12 o’clock, and it’ll happen over a period of four hours — if we wanted to,” Trump said at a press conference during which he also recounted the rescue of the two crew members of a US F-15 fighter jet shot down over Iran last week.

The Iranian army’s Khatam Al-Anbiya central command, responding to Trump’s threats, called him “delusional” and said “crushing operations of the warriors of Islam against the American and Zionist enemies” would continue.

Fighting raged across the region overnight, with Israel’s military saying today it carried out a new “wave” of air strikes on what it called Iranian “terror regime infrastructure” in Tehran and other areas.

Across the Gulf, Bahrain’s interior ministry said air-raid sirens sounded this morning, urging residents to seek shelter, while the United Arab Emirates said its air defences were actively engaging missiles and drones.

Saudi Arabia’s defence ministry said its air defences intercepted and destroyed seven ballistic missiles launched towards the kingdom’s east, with debris falling near energy facilities.

Ceasefire proposal rejected

Both Trump and Iran, meanwhile, said a proposal touted by international mediators for a 45-day ceasefire is not yet ready.

Trump had said earlier that the plan, which the US media said is being mediated by Pakistan, Egypt and Turkey, was a “significant proposal,” but he later went on to say it was not good enough.

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Iranian state media quoted officials as saying that Tehran too “has rejected a ceasefire and insists on the need for a definitive end to the conflict”.

The New York Times, citing two unnamed senior Iranian officials, reported that Iran was demanding guarantees against future attacks and an end to Israeli strikes on its ally Hezbollah in southern Lebanon.

Under the plan, Iran would reopen the strait while charging around $2 million per vessel, a fee it would share with neighbouring Oman, the paper reported.

UN vote on Hormuz

On the diplomatic front, the UN Security Council is set to vote today on a watered-down resolution addressing Iran’s threats to the Strait of Hormuz, diplomatic sources told news agency AFP, after more robust earlier drafts faced potential vetoes.

Iran has effectively blocked the waterway since the start of the war on 28 February, driving up global oil and gas prices. Around one‑fifth of the world’s oil normally flows through the strait.

Iran has let some vessels through the strait since the war began with US and Israeli attacks, but none belong to those countries or ones perceived as helping them.

More than 1,900 people have been killed in Iran since the war began, but the government has not updated the toll for days.

More than 1,400 people have been killed in Lebanon and more than one million people have been displaced.

Eleven Israeli soldiers have died there.

In Gulf Arab states and the occupied West Bank, more than two dozen people have died, while 23 have been reported dead in Israel and 13 US service members have been killed.

Additional reporting by PA