WASHINGTON, DC - APRIL 06: U.S. President Donald Trump speaks during a news conference in James S. Brady Press Briefing Room of the White House on April 06, 2026 in Washington, DC. President Trump spoke about the successful military mission to rescue a weapons systems officer whose F-15E Strike Eagle was shot down in Iran. (Photo by Alex Wong/Getty Images)
The U.S.-bred war against Iran appears to be escalating as President Donald Trump continues to use social media to make deadly threats. Early Tuesday, he used Truth Social to follow up on his Easter warning, doubling down on tonight’s deadline for Iran to agree to a deal. Meanwhile, the Iranian president said 14 million people, including himself, have volunteered to defend the country.
Donald Trump warned that a “whole civilization will die tonight” if Tehran does not meet his latest deadline to agree to a deal. His deal includes reopening the Strait of Hormuz.
“A whole civilization will die tonight, never to be brought back again. I dont want that to happen, but it probably will. However, now that we have Complete and Total Regime Change, where different, smarter, and less radicalized 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.”
Trump has extended previous deadlines but suggested the one set for 8 p.m. in Washington was final. Furthermore, the president has threatened to destroy all of Irans power plants and bridges if Tehran does not allow traffic to fully resume in the strait. In peacetime, a fifth of the world’s oil travels through the strait.
President Masoud Pezeshkian posted on X that 14 million Iranians had answered campaigns urging people to volunteer to fight and said he would join them. According to the Wall Street Journal, the country has also cut off direct communications with the U.S. following Trump’s threat, but talks with the cease-fire mediators are reportedly ongoing.
Meanwhile, a Revolutionary Guard general urged parents to send their children to man checkpoints. Also, the Guard warned that Iran would “deprive the U.S. and its allies of the regions oil and gas for years” and expand its attacks across the Gulf region if Trump carries out his threat.
Earlier, Iranian official Alireza Rahimi issued a video message calling on “all young people, athletes, artists, students and university students and their professors” to form human chains around power plants. Iranians have formed human chains in the past around nuclear sites at times of heightened tensions with the West. Some images of people surrounding power plants were posted by local Iranian media Tuesday. However, it was unclear whether the practice is widespread or quick shots spread by the government.
Responding to Trump’s latest threat, an Iranian diplomat described the countrys civilization as a tree that nourished the West.
“Therefore, no fool would cut off the branch of a tree he is sitting on because he himself would fall first, and it is the sturdy tree that always stands, not the branches and appendages that have grown from it,” Mojtaba Ferdousi Pour, head of the Iranian mission in Cairo, told The Associated Press.
Amid the escalating rhetoric, airstrikes hit two bridges and a train station in Iran. Also, the U.S. struck military targets on the Iranian oil hub of Kharg Island. The attack marked the second time the island was hit by American forces. More than 1,900 people have been killed in Iran since the war began, but the government has not updated the toll for days.
French Foreign Minister Jean-Nol Barrot joined international voices, calling for restraint. Barrot said attacks targeting civilian and energy infrastructure “are barred by the rules of war, international law.”
“They would without doubt trigger a new phase of escalation, of reprisals, that would drag the region and the world economy into a vicious circle,” the minister said on France Info television.
Furthermore, U.N. Secretary-General Antnio Guterres also warned the U.S. that attacks on civilian infrastructure are banned under international law, according to his spokesperson. Such cases are notoriously difficult to prosecute, and Trump told reporters hes “not at all” concerned about committing war crimes.
Associated Press reporters Bassem Mroue, Jon Gambrell, Mike Corder, Samy Magdy, Seung Min Kim and Michelle Price contributed to this report. International-based writers David Rising, John Leicester, Rod McGuirk, Natalie Melzer also contributed.
