Iran's response: Trump is delusional and threatens for nothing / Tehran threatens “much broader” retaliation / When the ultimatum expires and what Trump said is next
Iran has refused to reopen the Strait of Hormuz and accept a ceasefire deal as US President Donald Trump's deadline for Tehran to accept his terms or be “knocked out” expires overnight.
Iran has rejected a US proposal brokered by Pakistan for an immediate ceasefire and lifting of the effective blockade of the strait, followed by talks on a broader peace deal within 15-20 days, a source familiar with the plan told Reuters.
When the ultimatum expires and what Trump threatened
Iran responded with a counter-proposal with ten clauses, including an end to conflicts in the region, a protocol for safe passage through the Strait of Hormuz, the lifting of sanctions and reconstruction, the official IRNA news agency wrote.
“Iran rejected the truce and insisted on the need for a definitive end to the conflict,” according to IRNA.
Trump said Monday that “the whole country can be wiped out in one night, and that night could be tomorrow night.” He said he would destroy Iran's power plants and infrastructure if Tehran refused to comply before the deadline.
The ultimatum expires Tuesday at 8:00 PM EDT (3:00 AM Wednesday) in Romania.
Trump said that if Tehran does not capitulate in the next four hours by midnight EDT (07:00 on Wednesday), “every bridge in Iran will be destroyed” and “every power plant in Iran will be decommissioned, burn, explode and never be used again.”
Iran's response: Trump is delusional
Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) said Trump's threats to blow up the country were “baseless” and vowed to continue the fight, according to CNN.
Ebrahim Zolfaqari, spokesman for the IRGC's Khatam al-Anbiya Central Headquarters, said the “coarse rhetoric, arrogance and baseless threats of the delusional American president, stemming from the stalemate it faces and aimed at justifying the repeated defeats of the American military” will not stop Iran from fighting.
“If attacks on civilian targets are repeated, our retaliation will be much stronger and on a much wider scale,” the IRGC warned in a statement carried by state media on Tuesday.
The mutual attacks continued on Tuesday
The Israeli military said Tuesday morning it had completed a series of airstrikes targeting Iranian government infrastructure in Tehran and other areas. It also said its anti-aircraft systems went into action to intercept missiles fired from Iran.
Saudi Arabia also intercepted ballistic missiles aimed at its eastern region, with debris falling near energy facilities, the defense ministry said, without specifying who fired the projectiles.
Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain issued simultaneous public safety alerts on Tuesday.
Trump is not worried about committing war crimes
Trump dismissed questions that his promise to destroy Iran's power plants would constitute war crimes, saying he was “not at all” concerned about the prospect.
“I hope I don't have to,” he said.
Iran's envoy to the United Nations said Monday that Trump's threat to launch an attack was “a direct incitement to terrorism and provides clear evidence of intent to commit war crimes under international law.”
Iran's Deputy Sports Minister Alireza Rahimi called on artists and athletes to form human chains at power plants across the country on Tuesday.
A synagogue in the center of Iran's capital was badly damaged by a US-Israeli projectile on Tuesday, according to the semi-official Mehr news agency.
The price of oil is around 110 dollars/barrel
Oil prices hovered around $110 a barrel on Tuesday as a deadline set by Trump approached and there was little visible prospect of reopening the Strait of Hormuz, a key global oil transit point.
Brent crude futures were up 0.4 percent at $110.19 a barrel, while U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude futures were up 0.8 percent at $113.31.
Trump was on the brink of a political crisis as Iran proved a tougher adversary than he had anticipated at the start of the conflict, which he said was aimed at preventing the country from building nuclear weapons and developing missiles to launch them.
With 13 US servicemen killed since the conflict began, he found himself in an even more dangerous situation when a US F-15E fighter jet was shot down on Friday, leaving one of the two pilots stranded deep in Iranian territory.
A rescue mission by US commandos to get the stranded weapons specialist to safety helped avert a disastrous escalation of the political crisis for Trump.
Thousands of people have been killed in the Middle East war, including 3,546 in Iran, the US-based human rights group HRANA said, and nearly 1,500 in Lebanon, where Israel is striking the Iran-backed Hezbollah group.
