WASHINGTON: US President Donald Trump launched a foul-mouthed threat to destroy Iran’s vital civilian infrastructure Sunday, demanding Tehran buckle to his demands for a deal to reopen the Gulf to shipping and end the Middle East war.
The US president said there was a strong chance of reaching an agreement with Iran as soon as Monday, while also threatening to escalate attacks dramatically if Tehran fails to deliver quickly. “There’s a good chance tomorrow,” Trump told Fox News about a possible deal with Iran, but later told Israeli Channel 12 News that an agreement with Tehran could be reached by Tuesday. In an interview with the Wall Street Journal, President Trump also mentioned the deadline for negotiations as the evening of the 7th. “If they (Iranian leadership) fail to implement and continue to close (the strait), they will lose all the power plants and all the other facilities across the country,” he said in an eight-minute telephone interview with the WSJ. Asked when he thought the war would end, Trump replied, “I’ll let you know soon.” “But we are in a very advantageous position, and even if the country is lucky enough to keep the country, it will take 20 years to rebuild,” Trump claimed. “If they don’t do something by Tuesday evening (7th), they won’t have any power plants and no bridges will stand,” he said.
Trump also told Axios that the US is in “deep negotiations” with Iran, naming his envoys Steve Witkoff and presidential son-in-law Jared Kushner as the lead negotiators. Two sources involved in the talks told the online outlet that the negotiations were taking place through Turkish, Pakistani, and Egyptian mediators, as well as via text messages between Trump’s advisers and Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi. Trump said talks were “going well” but that reaching a final agreement with Iran was never straightforward.
As Christians celebrated Easter, the US leader pivoted back to warnings of air strikes on Iranian power plants and bridges, after celebrating the rescue of a wounded airman whose F-15 jet was brought down inside Iran. President Trump said US forces had safely recovered a second airman downed in Iran, calling it “one of the most daring Search and Rescue Operations in U.S. History”. Iran said it had “completely foiled” the rescue operation, without however saying it had captured the US serviceman or denying that US forces had extracted him.
The war, which erupted on February 28 with deadly US-Israeli strikes on Tehran, has engulfed the Middle East and convulsed the global economy.
Deputy Prime Minister & Foreign Minister Senator Mohammad Ishaq Dar spoke with Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan Al Saud to review the latest regional developments, the spokesperson of the foreign ministry said in a statement on Sunday. “Both leaders emphasised the urgent need for de-escalation to ensure peace and stability, and agreed to remain in close contact,” it added.
Meanwhile, Egypt’s Foreign Minister Badr Abdelatty held separate calls to discuss proposals for regional de-escalation with US Envoy Steve Witkoff and regional counterparts including Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, the ministry said in a statement on Sunday. Egypt, Turkiye and Pakistan have emerged as active intermediaries in the crisis.
Iranian missiles have hit Israeli cities and economic infrastructure in the Gulf, sending world energy prices soaring. Iran has also effectively blocked the Strait of Hormuz shipping lane, a vital route for oil and gas, provoking Trump to demand Sunday in a post on his social media platform: “Open the Fuckin’ Strait, you crazy bastards, or you’ll be living in Hell.” Later, the president appeared to set the deadline for Iran to comply to “Tuesday, 8:00 PM’—midnight GMT—in a laconic follow-up post.
“Tuesday will be Power Plant Day, and Bridge Day, all wrapped up in one, in Iran. There will be nothing like it!!!” he declared, drawing criticism at home for his intemperate language and a rebuke from Tehran, which accused Trump of following orders from Israel’s 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,” Iran’s parliament speaker, Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, posted on social media.
In an English language post, Ghalibaf added: “Make no mistake: You won’t gain anything through war crimes. The only real solution is respecting the rights of the Iranian people and ending this dangerous game.”
Many residents of Tehran seemed indifferent to Trump’s declarations.
In a large park in the west of the city on Sunday, young Iranians had a picnic. Nearby, two friends played with a frisbee as techno music blared from a portable speaker.
One man was making the most of a windy day by flying his kite in front of Tehran’s iconic Milad Tower landmark. Critical infrastructure across the Gulf came under attack from Iran again on Sunday, with damage reported at civilian facilities in the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Kuwait.
UAE authorities in Sharjah said they were dealing with an “incident” in the key port of Khor Fakkan following an Iranian strike. UAE presidential adviser Anwar Gargash warned Iran that its strategy of targeting its Arab neighbours “will actually concretise the American role... It will not reduce it.
“We will also see Israeli influence become more prominent in the Gulf, not less,” he added, confirming the UAE was ready to “join any American-led effort, international effort to secure navigation in the Strait of Hormuz”.
On another front, Lebanon has increasingly been drawn into the conflict since the Iran-backed Hezbollah group began targeting Israel.
Israel has struck back and pushed its ground forces into southern Lebanon.
The war has cast a pall over Easter Sunday celebrations for Christian minorities in Lebanon and across the region.
In the usually lively alleyways of Jerusalem’s Old City, silence reigned on Sunday. As a security precaution, Israeli authorities restricted access to the Holy Sepulchre, where the faithful commemorate Christ’s crucifixion and resurrection.
“It’s very hard for all of us because it’s our holiday... It’s really hard to want to pray but to come here and find nothing. Everything is closed,” said Christina Toderas, 44, from Romania.
China’s top diplomat told his Russian counterpart on Sunday that he is willing to work together to “de-escalate” the war in the Middle East, Beijing’s state media reported. Wang Yi told Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov in a phone call that “China and Russia should uphold fairness on major issues of principle”, state news agency Xinhua said, noting that the call came at Lavrov’s request. Wang said that “the situation in the Middle East is still deteriorating and fighting is escalating”, Xinhua reported.
He also reiterated China’s call for an “immediate ceasefire” to the fighting triggered by US-Israeli strikes against Iran that began on February 28.
The OPEC+ oil cartel agreed on Sunday to again increase oil production quotas, while warning that repairing energy facilities, such as those damaged in the Middle East war, is “costly and takes a long time”.
For the second month in a row, OPEC+ countries—which include key oil producers Russia and Saudi Arabia, as well as several Gulf countries that have been targets of Iranian airstrikes—agreed to raise quotas by 206,000 barrels per day (bpd) from May. But OPEC+ warned that damage to energy infrastructure increases oil market volatility, potentially hitting global supplies well into the future.
Its statement also stressed “the critical importance of safeguarding international maritime routes to ensure the uninterrupted flow of energy”.
The Israeli military and medics said on Sunday that a missile fired from Iran hit a residential building in the northern city of Haifa, injuring four people.
In a separate statement, Israel’s emergency service, Magen David Adom, said four people were wounded when a seven-storey building sustained a direct hit.
Images and footage published by MDA show smoke rising from the remains of a flattened building in a densely populated area, and stretchers laid on the road by rescuers for casualties.
Critical infrastructure across the Gulf came under attack from Iran on Sunday, with damage reported at civilian facilities in the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Kuwait.
The Kuwait Petroleum Corporation said a number of facilities of its subsidiary Petrochemical Industries Company were targeted in the attack which “resulted in the outbreak of fires at several of these facilities and caused severe material damage”.
The UAE’s official news agency reported authorities were dealing with an incident after Khor Fakkan port in the Gulf of Oman was targeted.
British maritime security agency UKMTO said “splashes from unknown projectiles” had been reported close to one container ship while it was loading in the key port near the strait.
Oman and Iran held talks on easing passage through the Strait of Hormuz, the Omani state news agency reported Sunday, with the key shipping chokepoint effectively closed due to war in the Middle East.
“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 regarding it,” it added.
While the Republican president is well known for his straight talk, the post on his Truth Social network raised eyebrows, especially on a Christian holiday.
“Happy Easter, America. As you head off to church and celebrate with friends and family, the President of the United States is ranting like an unhinged madman on social media,” Democratic Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said on X. “He’s threatening possible war crimes and alienating allies. This is who he is, but this is not who we are. Our country deserves so much better.”
For Democratic Senator Chris Murphy of Connecticut, who opposes the war in Iran, Trump’s attitude was “completely, utterly unhinged.”
Murphy added: “If I were in Trump’s Cabinet, I would spend Easter calling constitutional lawyers about the 25th Amendment,” referring to the clause that provides for a transfer of power if the president is unable to serve.
Senator Tim Kaine of Virginia, also a Democrat, noted it was not the first time that the 79-year-old Trump had used stark language since the US and Israel launched their assault on the Islamic republic in late February. “Bombing them back to the Stone Age, cursing them,” Kaine said on NBC’s “Meet the Press” news program.
“This is all embarrassing and juvenile, and it’s people trying to act like they’re puffed up and tough, when what we really see from the administration in this war is the absence of a plan, the absence of a clear rationale.”
Criticism was not limited to Trump’s Democratic opponents. Marjorie Taylor Greene, the former congresswoman who was once a staunch Trump backer but now a fervent critic, slammed his message, especially on Easter Sunday.
“Everyone in his administration that claims to be a Christian needs to fall on their knees and beg forgiveness from God and stop worshipping the President and intervene in Trump’s madness,” Greene said in a post on X. “Our President is not a Christian and his words and actions should not be supported by Christians,” said Greene, who opposes US military interventions abroad.
Some however praised Trump’s fiery rhetoric.
Conservative firebrand commentator Laura Loomer, who speaks regularly with Trump and has described herself as an Islamophobe, had nothing but praise.
“This is what I voted for. Bomb jihadis back to the Stone Age where their mentality permanently lives,” Loomer wrote on X. “Trump said he’s going to bomb their infrastructure in Iran, and then he said ‘Praise be to Allah’. On Easter. Amazing. Just amazing.”
Bernie Sanders, an independent US senator, called it “dangerous and mentally unbalanced”. Senator Chris Murphy also called it completely unhinged.
Ro Khanna, a Democratic representative, also said that while Trump is “cursing out and threatening war crimes”, he is “failing” US troops in Iran who remain under fire even though the president has claimed to have destroyed Iran’s military capabilities.
Jake Auchincloss, a Democratic representative and US Marine Corps veteran, told Fox News Sunday: “Iran recognizes that, in fact, their control over the strait is even more strategically vital to them than the development of a nuclear weapon.” “Strategically, this war has been a failure,” he added.
Mehdi Tabatabaei, deputy for communications at the Iranian president’s office, said on Sunday that Iran would only open the strait only after receiving compensation for war damages, paid via a “new legal regime” based on transit fees. He added that Trump, with his threats to attack Iran’s civil infrastructure over the strait’s closure, had “resorted to obscenities and nonsense out of sheer desperation and anger”.
Iran’s foreign ministry spokesperson said Tehran will reciprocate attacks on its infrastructure and will target similar infrastructure owned by the US or related to it.
Indian Foreign Minister S Jaishankar said he received a call from Iran’s foreign minister Abbas Araghchi and discussed the current situation.
