Check out the chronology of Trump’s ultimatums to Iran over the Strait of Hormuz
President Donald Trump raised his tone again this Sunday, issuing a new ultimatum to Iran: he threatened to bomb the country’s critical energy infrastructure if the Strait of Hormuz — the route through which about a fifth of the world’s oil and gas passes — is not reopened.
“Tuesday will be Power Plant Day and Bridge Day all together in Iran. There will be nothing like it!!!,” Trump wrote on social media. “Open this f***ing Strait, you crazy bastards, or you’re going to live in hell — JUST WAIT.”
Then he said, “Tuesday, 8 p.m. Eastern time!”
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“If they don’t do something by Tuesday night, they won’t have any power plants or any bridges standing,” said the US president this Sunday (5).
It was not the first time in the past two weeks that Trump has threatened to attack Iranian power plants, which tens of millions of people depend on to run schools, hospitals, homes and basic services. Deliberate attacks against this type of civilian infrastructure often violate international humanitarian law and, in many cases, can be classified as war crimes.
See below the timeline of deadlines that Trump has already imposed on Iran over the Strait of Hormuz:
March 21
In a social media post, Trump said that if Iran did not “FULLY OPEN” the strait within 48 hours, the United States would “obliterate its many POWER PLANTS, STARTING WITH THE BIGGEST OF THEM!”
Ali Mousavi, Iran’s permanent representative to the International Maritime Organization, responded that the strait was “open to everyone” except the country’s enemies. Other Iranian officials warned that attacks on energy infrastructure would be a direct attack on the people and promised retaliation in kind.
March 23
Two days after the first threat, Trump said the US had had “productive” talks with Iran and that he had ordered the Pentagon to delay any attack on Iranian power plants and facilities for five days. Tehran, however, publicly denied that there was any type of negotiation.
March 26
With the New York stock markets falling sharply, Trump pushed the deadline again — this time by 10 days, until April 6, at 8 pm (East Coast time). He said he was “pausing the period of destruction of Power Plants” at the request of the Iranian government.
March 30
Trump said “great progress” was being made in negotiations to end the war. At the same time, he threatened that if there was no agreement and the Strait of Hormuz was not “immediately” reopened, the US would destroy all of Iran’s power plants and oil wells, as well as Kharg Island — the main export point for Iranian oil — and “possibly all” of the country’s desalination plants.
April 1st
Trump declared that Iran had called for a ceasefire — a statement that the Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman classified as “false and baseless,” according to state TV IRIB.
On social media, Trump said that the United States would only agree to discuss a ceasefire when the strait was “open, free and unobstructed”. He added: “Until then, let’s blow Iran to dust or, as they say, take them back to the Stone Age!!!”
April 4th
Two days before the extended deadline for Iran to open the strait, Trump wrote that “time is running out — 48 hours before all hell breaks loose on them.” The publication came after days of contradictory statements on the subject, in which he sometimes accused allies for not engaging in the reopening of the strait, and sometimes suggested that the maritime passage would be reopened “naturally”.
