US President Donald Trump said on Monday that it is possible to eliminate Iran in one night, “and it could be tomorrow night,” warning Tehran that it must reach an agreement by Tuesday evening or it will face dire consequences.
Trump said the United States could destroy “within four hours” all of Iran’s bridges and power plants.
He explained, “We have a plan, thanks to the strength of our armed forces, that envisions destroying all of Iran’s bridges by midnight tomorrow, and putting all of Iran’s power stations out of service (…) so that they cannot be used anymore.”
In the same context, US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said that Monday would see the largest number of strikes on Iran since the first day of Operation Epic Wrath, vowing that Tuesday would see more strikes.
United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres warned the United States that attacking civilian infrastructure is prohibited under international law.
UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric said, “Even if a particular civilian infrastructure is classified as a military target, an attack will still be prohibited if it risks causing significant collateral civilian casualties.”
Dujarric added that it is the International Court of Justice that should decide whether such attacks constitute war crimes.
During the conference on Monday, Trump, accompanied by Higseth and his top national security advisers, gave a detailed account of the American operation carried out in the past few days to rescue a U.S. Air Force member whose plane had crashed and who had taken refuge in an Iranian mountainous region and escaped capture by Iranian forces.
Speaking to reporters on Monday on the sidelines of the annual White House Easter event, Trump pledged to give Iran until Tuesday night to agree to a ceasefire deal, warning that if it failed to comply, it would face widespread attacks on power plants and other critical infrastructure. Iran refused to meet this deadline.
Trump added, “They made a proposal, and it’s an important proposal. It’s an important step. But it’s not enough.”
He added, “The war can be ended very quickly if they do what they need to do. They have to do certain things. They realize that, and I think they are negotiating in good faith.”
Trump's top aides are negotiating indirectly with Iran through Pakistan in an effort to reach an agreement under which Iran would abandon its nuclear weapons and reopen the Strait of Hormuz. Iran has said it wants a permanent end to the war, not just a temporary ceasefire.
Trump said the latest group representing the Iranian government appeared to be “not as extreme” as the others killed in the airstrikes. He added, “We think they are actually much smarter.”
Trump stated that if it were up to him, the United States would take control of Iran's oil, but added that the American people might not understand such a move.
When asked by a reporter about his threat to destroy Iranian power plants and whether that would constitute a war crime, Trump said he was “not worried about it.”
He added, addressing the journalist, “Do you know what a war crime is? The war crime is allowing Iran to possess a nuclear weapon.”
On Monday, the Iranian news agency IRNA reported that Tehran rejected the latest ceasefire proposal, stressing its desire to end the war permanently, not just settle for a temporary truce.
Mojtaba Ferdowsi Pour, the head of the Iranian diplomatic mission in Cairo, said that his country “will not accept a mere ceasefire,” adding, “We will only accept an end to the war with guarantees that we will not be attacked again.” He also indicated that Iranian and Omani officials are working on a mechanism to manage shipping traffic in the Strait of Hormuz.
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