Trump threatens ‘whole civilization will die tonight’ ahead of Iran deadline
By: Gregory Svirnovskiy (POLITICO)
Would someone, please, explain why Trump's 'maximum pressure' is expected to open the Strait of Hormuz? I just don't get it.
The United States and Israel have killed Iran's political leadership, destroyed large portions of Iran's military, obliterated Iran's nuclear enrichment program, threatened the Bushehr Nuclear Power Plant, destroyed desalination and petrochemical infrastructure, and imposed general destruction across Iran. US and Israeli aircraft can fly into Iranian airspace and strike any target whenever they wish. If all the death and destruction inflicted on Iran has not intimidated the Iranian regime then why would more of the same work this time?
Iran doesn't have to destroy things to wreck the US economy. Iran only needs a handful of drones to threaten the Strait of Hormuz. So who actually has the strategic advantage here? Who controls the sticks and who controls the carrots? I just don't understand President Trump's magical thinking.
S E E D E D C O N T E N T
April 7, 2026 -- President Donald Trump threatened the death of an entire civilization in a Tuesday morning post on Truth Social, the latest violent warning for the Iranian regime ahead of an 8 p.m. deadline for reopening the Strait of Hormuz.
Tuesday night may well be “one of the most important moments in the long and complex history of the World,” he wrote.
“A whole civilization will die tonight, never to be brought back again,” he wrote. “I don’t want that to happen, but it probably will. However, now that we have Complete and Total Regime Change, where different, smarter, and less radicalized minds prevail, maybe something revolutionarily wonderful can happen, WHO KNOWS?”
The president’s increasingly dire warnings come after he has suggested strikes would hit bridges, desalination plants and energy targets — which could include civilian infrastructure that, if attacked deliberately, could constitute a war crime. Pentagon war planners are revising a list of energy sites, POLITICO previously reported, strikes can target to include ones that provide fuel for civilians and the military as a likely workaround to avoid war crime accusations.
Iran effectively closed the Strait of Hormuz — a critical waterway for the transit of 20 percent of the world’s oil — soon after the U.S. began to strike the country in a joint operation with Israel in February.
The president is now conditioning an end to the war on the reopening of the strait. “Until then, we are blasting Iran into oblivion or, as they say, back to the Stone Ages!!!” he wrote last week on social media.
Trump has also skewered U.S. allies — including NATO — for balking at his calls to help reopen the strait. But he’s trained the bulk of his threats at Tehran.
“We have a plan because of the power of our military where every bridge in Iran will be decimated by 12 o’clock tomorrow night, where every power plant in Iran will be out of business, burning, exploding, and never to be used again,” Trump said on Monday.
Also on Monday, the president told reporters that negotiations between U.S. and Iranian interlocutors were ongoing “in good faith.” Reopening the strait, he said, is a “very big priority.”
Meanwhile, the U.S. struck dozens of military targets on Iran’s Kharg Island overnight — including bunkers, radars and ammunition storage sites — while avoiding oil infrastructure, according to Vice President JD Vance and a U.S. official who was granted anonymity to provide additional details.
Vance told reporters in Hungary on Tuesday that the strikes did not represent a change in strategy for the U.S. because they were focusing exclusively on military targets.
“The president’s deadline … has been followed by us and everybody else,” he said. “And he said very clearly, we’re not going to strike energy and infrastructure targets until the Iranians either make a proposal that we can get behind or don’t make a proposal. But he’s given them until Tuesday, at eight o’clock.”
Global oil prices have skyrocketed in the wake of the Strait’s closure. Domestically, the price of gas has rocketed up ahead of the midterm elections, which could spell disaster for the GOP.
Trump, meanwhile, has developed a penchant for talking about the conflict in a variety of settings — including, in one instance, in front of a costumed bunny at the annual White House Easter egg roll on Monday.
“They’re capable fighters, they’re very tough people,” he told an audience of parents and children. “And there are others like that. You don’t mind when the enemy is weak, but that enemy is strong. Not so strong like they were about a month ago — I can tell you, in fact, right now they are not too strong at all in my opinion. But we’re soon going to find out, aren’t we?”
Paul McLeary and Cheyenne Haslett contributed to this rep
Be a good human. Grossly derogatory comments, blatantly inflammatory comments, excessive trolling, mean-spirited taunting and insults, scamming, spamming, and off topic comments may be removed in compliance with the site's Terms of Service and the Code of Conduct. The moderators have the final word.
Tags
Who is online
162 visitors
How will 'destroying a civilization' change anything? What will the United States gain from this black stain on our history?
Americans don't need the oil. Americans don't need the allies. The Middle East has been a burden on American taxpayers for decades. Americans have fought for Israel, for Saudi Arabia, for Kuwait, for global trade, and the liberal world order. What has the American taxpayer gotten in return? Inflation, oil shocks, Muslim hate, and blank check commitments. Maybe its time to gift the Middle East to one of our adversaries?
Greenland would just regift it.
In a lunatic rant yesterday Trump traced the dilemma in Iran back to Europe's refusal to give him Greenland.
How (what's the word?) ...
... pragmatic.
usually far better results than found in idealistic.
Yeah, ours! Are people so oblivious to what will happen to our own country in the aftermath!!!???
Verbal alarm bells are not enough, call your Senators and Congressional reps and shout!!
If you think gas, food and housing are bad now, we the American people will suffer untold misery if this lunacy isn't stopped today!!
No delays, stand up for America, because it's clear that this chaos and madness is not putting America First.
Stay glued to your TV!
If only for MTG's former riding bi-election in Georgia as the first salvo.
In this photo Trump is talking about what he's going to do to Iran.
and no, its not SNL or Comedy Central.
It's 9:50 pm in Iran so if he starts 8 pm DC time it will be 3:30 am in Tehran. Kind of a rude wakeup call from a hotelier.
8 pm is convenient for trmp...not the Iranians. I would expect a nuke to fall on my head at the witching hour (3 AM)