Donald Trump escalates Iran threats, warning ‘a whole civilisation will die tonight’

As US President Donald Trump issued further threats pressuring Iran into striking a peace deal, the two sides stood far apart amid a trust deficit, a guarantor vacuum and Israel’s role, analysts said.

Trump extended the deadline for a deal calling on Iran to reopen the Strait of Hormuz until Tuesday 8pm Washington time – his third time doing so since the war began on February 28.

Trump escalated the threats on Tuesday, saying: “A whole civilisation will die tonight, never to be brought back again. I don’t want that to happen, but it probably will,” he posted on social media.

“However, now that we have Complete and Total Regime Change, where different, smarter, and less radicalised minds prevail, maybe something revolutionarily wonderful can happen, WHO KNOWS?

“We will find out tonight, one of the most important moments in the long and complex history of the World. 47 years of extortion, corruption, and death, will finally end. God Bless the Great People of Iran!”

The previous day he said Iran faced the “complete demolition” of its power plants and bridges if no deal was reached, adding: “The entire country can be taken out in one night, and that night might be tomorrow night.”

As the deadline approached, Reza Amiri Moghadam, Iran’s ambassador to Pakistan, which has sought to broker a truce between the warring sides, said in a social media post that Islamabad’s “positive and productive endeavours” in goodwill and good offices to stop the war were “approaching a critical, sensitive stage”.

South China Morning Post