Trump warns 'a whole civilization will die tonight' if Iran fails to meet his deadline

President Donald Trump threatened to annihilate the Iranian nation if a deal is not reached to reopen the Strait of Hormuz by 8 p.m. ET.

"A whole civilization will die tonight, never to be brought back again. I don't want that to happen, but it probably will," Trump wrote on his social media platform.

The president has been escalating his threats over the past weeks to obliterate Iranian bridges, power plants and water treatment facilities. Wide-scale destruction of infrastructure, without distinction between civilian and military objects, would be considered a war crime under international and U.S. law, legal experts tell NPR.

The U.S. struck military targets early Tuesday on Kharg Island, a U.S. official told NPR. The island is Iran's oil export hub on the Persian Gulf, but the official said the targets were not oil infrastructure — they were "restrikes" on sites the U.S. hit previously. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because they weren't authorized to speak about it publicly.

Earlier, Iranian officials rejected U.S. demands and presented a plan of their own, and Iran's president said that he was willing to die along with millions of Iranians to defend his country.

Iran's 10-point proposal included a guarantee that Iran would not be attacked again, an end to Israeli strikes against the Iranian-backed Hezbollah in Lebanon and removal of sanctions in exchange for the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz, with Iran imposing a $2 million fee for every ship moving through the key waterway, according to The New York Times.

With the clock ticking, Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian wrote on social media: "More than 14 million brave Iranians have so far declared their readiness to sacrifice their lives to defend Iran. I too have been, am, and will be sacrificing my life for Iran."

Pezeshkian's message appeared to be in response to a call by Iran's junior minister for youth late Monday issued to Iranians, including "young people, cultural and artistic figures, athletes" to form human chains next to the power plants across Iran.

"We will stand hand in hand next to power plants across the country, with every belief and taste, to say: attacking public infrastructure is a war crime," Iran's Deputy Minister of Sports and Youth Alireza Rahimi wrote on social media.

US President Donald Trump, alongside US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth (2R) and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General Dan Caine (R), takes questions as he speaks about the conflict in Iran in the James S. Brady Press Briefing Room of the White House on April 6, 2026, in Washington, DC.

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Here are more updates on the war in Iran today:

Iranian envoy on negotiations | Strikes in the region

Iran's envoy says efforts to stop the war "approaching a critical" period

Iran's ambassador in Islamabad, Reza Amiri Mughadam, said on Tuesday that Pakistan's efforts to stop the war are "approaching a critical, sensitive" period.

But Mughadam sounded less enthusiastic in an interview with state-run media, where he set out the country's position: "A complete cessation of the war is Tehran's maximum demand in the process of peace diplomacy," adding, "with a guarantee of non-repetition of aggression."

Doctors and medical staff hold a demonstration regarding recent attacks on hospitals on April 6, 2026, in Tehran, Iran.

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Mughadam also warned Gulf countries, which he did not name, to "pay attention to their conditions and relations with Iran." He warned: "Know that sooner or later America will leave this region by accepting defeat and you will stay."

Meanwhile, the United Nations Security Council is expected to table a resolution demanding the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz on Tuesday at 11 am ET. The resolution is sponsored by Bahrain.

Israel attacks Iran's petrochemical facilities, Iran hits energy facility in Saudi Arabia

Israel's military said it attacked one of the "few remaining" petrochemical facilities producing ballistic missile and explosive material in Shiraz. It also said its forces struck a ballistic missile site in northwestern Iran and infrastructure across Iran.

Israel also issued a warning to Iranians on Tuesday, over X, to avoid traveling by train and stay away from railway tracks.

People walk among buildings destroyed in a joint attack by Israel and the United States on April 6, 2026, in Tehran, Iran.

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Iran retaliated by firing missiles in central Israel, Saudi Arabia and Bahrain, forcing the closure of the key King Fahd bridge between the two Gulf countries. Saudi Arabia's ministry of defense said it was assessing damage on its energy facility caused by falling debris from dozens of ballistic missiles and drones intercepted by its air defense systems on Tuesday.

Air defense systems in the United Arab Emirates also engaged with incoming missiles and drones on Tuesday, authorities said.

Daniel Estrin in Tel Aviv, Israel, Diaa Hadid in Mumbai, India, Tina Kraja and Alex Leff in Washington, D.C., contributed to this report.
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