US President Donald Trump has ratcheted up pressure on Iran, threatening in an expletive-laden Easter Sunday social media post to target Iran’s power plants and bridges if the strategic Strait of Hormuz is not reopened.
“Tuesday will be Power Plant Day, and Bridge Day, all wrapped up in one, in Iran. There will be nothing like it!!!” Trump said in a Truth Social post, referencing the vital shipping lane that Tehran has effectively closed since the US and Israel launched attacks on Iran more than a month ago.
“Open the Fuckin’ Strait, you crazy bastards, or you’ll be living in Hell — JUST WATCH!” Trump said, ending his Easter morning post with: “Praise be to Allah.”
Later on Sunday local time, the president in a follow-up post gave a more precise deadline: “Tuesday, 8:00 PM Eastern Time!”
The White House did not respond to a question on whether Trump was indicating a time when the US would attack Iran.
US special forces rescues missing serviceperson
Trump’s threats follow an intense 48-hour rescue operation for two US pilots inside Iran.
Trump said in an earlier Sunday social media post that the second pilot rescued was “seriously wounded” and is a “highly respected Colonel”.
“The rescue was an Easter Miracle,” Trump said in a text message to US broadcaster NBC News on Sunday before heading to his Washington golf club.
“Such a rescue has never happened before in so violent an enemy territory.”
In at least seven Sunday interviews, Trump continued his threats against Iran as he pushed for concessions.
He told Fox News that Iran is negotiating and that a deal is possible on Monday, but if not, he will “take” the country’s oil.
In an interview with ABC News, Trump said the conflict should be over in days, not weeks, but if not, “we’re blowing up the whole country” and there is “very little” off the table.
Trump focuses on Iran infrastructure
Trump’s Easter warning targeting Iranian power plants and bridges follows a threat to hit desalination plants, which some international law experts said could violate international humanitarian law.
“I wouldn’t toy with him if I were the Iranians,” US House Intelligence Chairman Rick Crawford, an Arkansas Republican and US Army veteran, said on Fox News’ “Sunday Morning Futures with Maria Bartiromo” about Trump’s post.
“He has a lot of backbone, and he’s not going to be dissuaded.”
But others criticizsed Trump’s rhetoric for going too far.
US Senator Tim Kaine, a Virginia Democrat on the armed services committee, urged Trump to “please dial back the rhetoric”.
On NBC, Kaine said Trump’s language was “embarrassing and juvenile” and raised the risk for US service members.
“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,” former US representative Marjorie Taylor Greene, a Georgia Republican who was one of Trump’s most vocal defenders before her recent resignation, said online about the president’s language.
In a statement posted on Instagram, the Council of American-Islamic Relations said: “The casual use of “Praise be to Allah” in the context of violent threats reflects a disturbing willingness to weaponize religious language while simultaneously denigrating Islam and its followers.”
Search for survivors of Iran strike in Israel
Israeli firefighters were searching for three missing people in the rubble of a residential building in the northern city of Haifa after it was struck by an Iranian missile on Sunday local time.
The direct hit on a seven-storey building tore through parts of the structure, injuring four people, the military and rescue services said.
The strike took place minutes after the military warned it had detected a new round of missiles fired from Iran at around 1500 GMT.
The building was hit by a “direct impact of a missile”, a military spokesperson told Agence France-Presse, confirming the missile was fired from Iran.
Israel’s emergency service, Magen David Adom, said four people were wounded when the building sustained a direct hit.
Israel’s Fire and Rescue Services said firefighters were searching for three missing people “at the scene of a building that has partially collapsed”.
Iran has fired missiles daily at Israel since 28 February, in retaliation to joint US-Israeli attacks on the country that has killed several top Iranian leaders, including supreme leader Ali Khamenei.
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