WASHINGTON — President Trump ominously declared that “an entire civilization will die tonight” as his 8 p.m. EST deadline for Iran to strike a deal or face an offensive attack against its bridges and power plants arrives.
“An entire civilization will die tonight, never to be brought back,” Trump warned grimly. “I don’t want that to happen, but it probably will.” Social truth Tuesday.
“However, now that we have a complete and comprehensive change of system, where different, smarter, less extreme minds prevail, perhaps something wonderfully revolutionary could happen, who knows?” He added. “Tonight, we will discover one of the most important moments in the long and complex history of the world.”
Trump’s latest threat to the Islamic Republic comes after he warned Iran’s leadership on Sunday to “open the strait, you crazy people, or you’ll live in hell,” referring to the Strait of Hormuz, a critical chokepoint through which more than a fifth of the world’s seaborne oil flows annually.
If Iran fails to meet the deadline, the president threatened to make Tuesday “Power Plant Day and Bridge Day, in one day.”
Trump later told Axios that he made the threat after he was certain the deal was close, but then “Iran said they would meet with us in five days,” raising his doubts about Tehran’s seriousness.