Iran: Trump following Netanyahu commands, Mideast will burn

‘Open the F***in’ Strait’: Trump threatens to bomb Iran’s power plants, starting Tuesday

US president promises ‘hell’ for regime’s ‘crazy bastards’ if they do not immediately allow passage of ships through key waterway, admits US sent guns to anti-regime protesters

In an expletive-laden post on his Truth Social account on Sunday, US President Donald Trump warned that the US would attack power plants and bridges in Iran starting Tuesday evening — when his latest ultimatum for Tehran to make a deal ends — if the Islamic Republic failed to reopen the Strait of Hormuz.

“Tuesday will be Power Plant Day, and Bridge Day, all wrapped up in one, in Iran. There will be nothing like it!!! Open the Fuckin’ Strait, you crazy bastards, or you’ll be living in Hell – JUST WATCH! Praise be to Allah,” wrote the president.

“Tuesday, 8:00 P.M. Eastern Time!” Trump wrote in his next post, seemingly extending the deadline that he had given Iran, which had previously been for Monday, without elaborating.

Trump had initially vowed on Saturday to rain “hell” on Iran if it failed to reach a ceasefire deal or open the strait by Monday, when time ran out on the ultimatum he had already extended twice before. Now, Trump extended the deadline for a third time, and it appeared that Iran had until Tuesday evening to reach a deal.

Trump repeatedly threatened to strike Iran’s power grid if Tehran failed to comply with US demands. In response to US and Israeli strikes that began at the end of February, Iran targeted shipping in the Strait of Hormuz, effectively closing the strategic waterway through which one-fifth of global oil usually passes.

Trump threatened on March 21 to “obliterate” Iran’s power plants within 48 hours if Hormuz remained shut, but has extended that deadline three times now, claiming behind-the-scenes negotiations were progressing. But reports in recent days indicated that talks have hit a wall.

Speaking to Israel’s Channel 12, the US president claimed that he is currently engaged in “deep negotiations” with Iran, while insisting that he is not going to “leave in the middle of the war.”

He insisted that “there is a good chance” that a deal will be reached before his deadline on Tuesday, before threatening: “But if they don’t make a deal, I am blowing up everything over there.”

According to Trump, top Middle East envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner are the point men for ongoing contacts with Iran. Two sources briefed on the talks told the outlet that there are two channels of communications — one through Pakistani, Egyptian, and Turkish mediation, and the other through direct text messages between Witkoff, Kushner and Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi.

Asked whether he is concerned about harming civilians in Iran, Trump said that “they are living in fear” of the regime.

“They are afraid we are gonna leave in the middle of the war, but we are not going to leave,” he vowed.

Responding to Trump’s threats, Iranian parliament speaker Mohammad-Bagher Ghalibaf, a hardliner with whom the US is negotiating, said that the Middle East “will burn” because the US president is following the “commands” of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

“Your reckless moves are dragging the United States into a living HELL for every single family, and our whole region is going to burn because you insist on following Netanyahu’s commands,” Ghalibaf wrote in English on X.

“Make no mistake: You won’t gain anything through war crimes,” he said.

Oman, Iran in talks for easing Hormuz deadlock

Oman and Iran held talks on easing passage through the Strait of Hormuz, the Omani state news agency reported.

“Oman and the Islamic Republic of Iran held a meeting at the deputy ministers’ level in the foreign ministries of the two countries, with the attendance of specialists from both sides, during which the possible options were discussed regarding ensuring the smooth passage through the Strait of Hormuz,” the news agency posted on X.

“The experts from both sides put forward a number of visions and proposals,” it added.

The war has overwhelmed the Middle East and paralyzed shipping in the Gulf.

Iran has so far shown no signs of complying with Trump’s demand to reopen Hormuz, despite the heavy damage to its military and civilian infrastructure from weeks of US and Israeli attacks.

Its chokehold over the narrow shipping lane gave it a powerful weapon, and it continued to launch missile and drone attacks against Israel and on US allies in the Gulf, which remain highly vulnerable to attacks on key infrastructure, including power and water desalination plants.

Tehran has warned that attacks on its power infrastructure will be answered with devastating strikes on energy infrastructure in the Gulf.

In a phone interview with Fox News, Trump said Sunday he was considering “taking over” Iran’s oil if a deal wasn’t reached soon.

“If they don’t make a deal and fast, I’m considering blowing everything up and taking over the oil,” Trump told a Fox reporter, adding that he believed Washington could reach a deal with Iran by Monday.

Trump also told Fox that after the Iranian regime’s bloody crackdown on anti-government protesters earlier this year, the US attempted to arm Iranian protesters by sending them guns through Kurdish militia forces, but that the effort failed because the Kurds kept the weapons.

“We sent guns to the protesters, a lot of them…And I think the Kurds took the guns,” Trump said in what was apparently the first time the US admitted an attempt at direct involvement in the unrest.

Protests at the end of December, spurred by the collapse of Iranian currency, morphed by mid-January into a larger test of the then-supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and his repressive rule. Trump at the time told the Iranian people that “help is on its way,” while urging them to keep protesting and to take control of the country’s institutions.

The regime brutally suppressed the protests, killing many thousands. The full toll is still unclear, though anti-regime groups claim tens of thousands were slaughtered.

Khamenei and a number of other senior officials were killed in strikes on the first day of the US-Israel campaign, on February 28. Israel and the US launched the bombing campaign in a bid to destabilize its regime and destroy its ballistic missile and nuclear programs.

A US proposal to end the war reportedly includes demands that Iran dismantle its nuclear program, limit its ballistic missiles, halt support for terrorist proxies, and relinquish control of the Strait of Hormuz. Iran has reportedly rejected such demands, while demanding reparations for damages inflicted in the war and guarantees that it will not be attacked again.

The Strait of Hormuz is a bending waterway, about 33 kilometers (21 miles) wide at its narrowest point. It connects the Persian Gulf to the Gulf of Oman. From there, ships can then travel to the rest of the world. While Iran and Oman have their territorial waters in the strait, it is considered an international waterway where all ships can pass.