Trump’s deadline on Strait of Hormuz nears amid rising tensions in Iran

U.S. President Donald Trump’s deadline for Iran to reopen the Strait of Hormuz is drawing closer. He has reiterated his threat to bomb all of Iran’s power plants and bridges by 8 p.m. tonight if shipping movement doesn’t fully resume.

At least 18 people were killed in a recent airstrike in Iran — well before the deadline approaches.

Trump has repeatedly extended this deadline before, but he says that this is the final one. He gave a briefing yesterday, threatening to take out Iran in one night.

“I mean, complete demolition by 12 o’clock, and it will happen over a period of four hours, if we wanted to. We don’t want that to happen. We may even get involved with helping them rebuild their nation. And you know what? If that’s the case, the last thing we want to do is start with power plants, which are among the most expensive things – and bridges,” said Trump.

Iranian officials are urging its youth to form human chains around power plants – and the country’s president said that 14 million Iranians have volunteered to sacrifice their lives in the war.

Trump says there needs to be a deal that’s “acceptable” to him before tonight’s deadline. Part of the deal would involve “free traffic of oil” through the critical waterway.

WATCH MORE: Trump assures Iranian military objectives will be completed ‘shortly’

He doubled down on his threats yesterday, claiming that this is something that Iranians want.

“We’ve had numerous intercepts – ‘please keep bombing.’ Bombs that are dropping near their homes. ‘Please keep bombing. Do it’ – and these are people that are living where the bombs are exploding. And when we leave and we’re not hitting those areas they’re saying, ‘please come back, come back, come back,’” said Trump.

Some Iranians have dismissed Trump’s threats with one man telling reporters that if the U.S. were capable of carrying out these attacks, it would’ve already done it.

Trump’s comments come following criticism that his plan to blow up civilian infrastructure is banned under international law.

But the president said yesterday that he’s not at all concerned about committing possible war crimes.

This all comes after Tehran rejected a 45-day ceasefire proposal saying it wants a permanent end to the war.

Early this morning, the Israel Defense Forces issued an urgent warning to Iranians to not use trains and stay away from railway lines until 9 p.m. Iran time, saying it’ll put people’s lives in danger. That warning ends about six and a half hours before Trump’s deadline.

Tuesday morning, Trump took to his social media platform Truth Social to reiterate his threats against Iran.

With files from The Canadian Press

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