Donald Trump issued an expletive-laden ultimatum to Iran on Easter Sunday, giving Tehran a deadline to reopen the Strait of Hormuz or face devastating consequences. The US president and Iran’s parliament speaker traded pointed warnings as oil prices climbed and the five-week conflict entered a potentially catastrophic new phase.
Donald Trump issues expletive-laden warning to Iran
Donald Trump issued an expletive-laden warning on Sunday, giving Iran until Tuesday to reopen the Strait of Hormuz. He posted on Truth Social: “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.” He later clarified the deadline as “Tuesday, 8:00 P.M. Eastern Time.”
Trump has extended the Strait of Hormuz deadline at least twice. Iran’s closure of the waterway has sent oil prices higher. West Texas Intermediate rose 1.86% to above $112 a barrel on Monday, with Brent climbing above $110.
Iran’s parliament speaker, Mohammad-Bagher Ghalibaf, responded on social media. “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,” he wrote. Democratic Senate minority leader Chuck Schumer called Trump “an unhinged madman on social media.”
The threats follow the US destruction of Iran’s B1 suspension bridge on Thursday. The 136-metre, $400 million structure connected Tehran and Karaj. Local authorities confirmed 13 people died and 95 sustained injuries in the attack. Trump told Axios he ordered the strike after Iran asked for a five-day delay to negotiations. “I felt they were not being serious. So I attacked the bridge,” he said.
Yale law professor Oona A Hathaway said the threatened strikes would constitute war crimes. “Immiserating the civilian population for bargaining leverage is not lawful,” she said (via The Guardian). Iranian authorities report that approximately 81,000 civilian sites have sustained damage during the US-Israeli campaign, including 61,000 homes, 275 medical centres, and nearly 500 schools.
Originally reported by Vritti Johar on Mandatory.com.
