TEHRAN, April 7: Iranian officials on Tuesday urged young people to form human chains to protect power plants, as US President Donald Trump warned that a “whole civilisation will die” if Tehran does not meet his latest deadline for the Islamic Republic to agree to a deal that includes reopening the crucial Strait of Hormuz.
Meanwhile, airstrikes hit two bridges and a train station in Iran, and the US struck military targets on the Iranian oil hub of Kharg Island. The attack marked the second time the island was hit by American forces.
Trump has extended previous deadlines but suggested the one set for 8 pm in Washington (5 am Wednesday) was final, and the rhetoric on both sides reached a fever pitch, leaving Iranians on edge.
Trump threatened to destroy all of Iran’s power plants and bridges if Tehran does not allow traffic to fully resume in the strait, through which a fifth of the world’s oil transits in peacetime.
It was not clear if the latest airstrikes were linked to Trump’s threat to attack bridges. At least two of the targets were connected to Iran’s rail network.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israeli warplanes struck bridges and railways in Iran. In a statement released by his office, Netanyahu claimed Iran’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard was using them to transport materials to make weapons. Israel had earlier issued a Farsi-language warning telling Iranians to avoid trains throughout the day.
Iran, meanwhile, fired on Israel and Saudi Arabia, prompting the temporary closure of a major bridge.
While Iran cannot match the sophistication of US and Israeli weaponry or their dominance in the air, its chokehold on the strait is roiling the world economy and raising the pressure on Trump both at home and abroad to find a way out of the standoff.
Officials involved in diplomatic efforts said talks were ongoing, but Iran has rejected the latest American proposal, and it was unclear if a deal would come in time to head off Trump’s threatened attacks. World leaders and experts warned that strikes as destructive as Trump threatened could constitute a war crime.
In Tehran, the mood was bleak. A young teacher said that many opponents of Iran’s Islamic system had hoped Trump’s attacks would quickly topple it.
Now, as the war drags on, she fears US and Israeli strikes will spread chaos. “If we don’t have the internet, electricity, water, and gas, we’re really going back to the Stone Age, as Trump said,” she said, speaking anonymously. (AP)
