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Iran showed no sign of agreeing to U.S. President Donald Trump’s ultimatum to open the Strait of Hormuz by the end of Tuesday or face bombing of civilian infrastructure in what would be the biggest escalation yet of the war.
As the clock ticked down on Trump’s deadline to unleash “hell,” strikes on Iran intensified throughout the day, hitting railway and road bridges, an airport and a petrochemical plant and knocking out power lines, according to Iranian media.
Iran responded by declaring it would no longer hold back from hitting infrastructure of its Gulf neighbours, and claimed to have carried out fresh strikes on a ship in the Gulf and Saudi industrial facilities linked to U.S. firms.
Trump has given Iran until 8 p.m. ET — 3:30 a.m. in Tehran — to end its blockade of Gulf oil, saying he will otherwise destroy every bridge and power plant in Iran within four hours. Iran says it would retaliate against infrastructure of U.S. allies in the Gulf, whose desert cities would be uninhabitable without power or water.
Trump, on social media, once again warned Iran to make a deal on Tuesday, saying a “whole civilization will die tonight” if an agreement is not reached to end the conflict.
Brian Finucane, a former U.S. State Department legal adviser now with the International Crisis Group, said Trump’s remarks “could plausibly be interpreted as a threat to commit genocide” under U.S. and international law.
Prime Minister Mark Carney, at a domestic policy announcement in Brampton, Ont., said in response to a CBC News question that Canada “expects all parties in this conflict, in any conflict, to respect international laws, the rules of engagement, and that means not targeting, certainly, civilians or civilian infrastructure.”
“It’s a point we’ve made publicly and privately,” Carney added.
Among the reports of strikes inside Iran throughout the day were attacks on railway bridges, a highway bridge, a petrochemical plant and an airport. Power was knocked out in parts of Karaj just west of Tehran by a strike on transmission lines and a substation.
Explosions were reported on Kharg Island, site of Iran’s main oil export terminal which Trump has publicly mused about destroying or seizing.
Another strike hit the Khorramabad International Airport in western Iran, and a strike on an unidentified target in Alborz province, northwest of Tehran, killed 18 people, according to state media.
Israel confirms striking bridges, railways
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.
A synagogue in Tehran was destroyed overnight by what Iran described as Israeli airstrikes. Footage in Iranian media showed Hebrew texts scattered in the debris.
“The synagogue building was completely destroyed and our Torah scrolls were left under the rubble,” said Homayoun Sameh, a lawmaker who represents Iran’s Jewish community, one of the Middle East’s largest outside Israel. Israel’s military had no immediate comment.
Iran responded to an overnight attack on a major petrochemical site with a strike on Saudi Arabia’s huge downstream oil industry site at Jubail, where Western oil firms operate multi-billion dollar ventures. Video verified by Reuters showed smoke and flames rising.
Iran’s Revolutionary Guards said in a statement that Tehran’s response would “deprive America and its allies in the region of oil and gas for years.”
“America’s regional partners should know that up to today we have shown great restraint for the sake of good neighborliness and have had some consideration in choosing targets for retaliation,” it said. “But all these considerations have since been removed.”
Iranians hoped the threatened escalation could be averted.
“I hope it is another bluff by Trump,” Shima, 37, from the central city of Isfahan, told Reuters by phone. Like many, she said she wanted the hardline clerical government removed, “but infrastructure being destroyed and people being unable to build the future of the country is another matter.”
Trump has abruptly called off similar threats over the past several weeks, citing what he has described as productive negotiations with unidentified figures in Iran, though Tehran has denied any substantive talks have taken place.
The two countries have so far exchanged proposals, with Pakistan acting as the main go-between, but there has been no sign of compromise, with both sides claiming to have won the war and demanding concessions to end it.
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Iran’s ambassador to Pakistan said on Tuesday “positive and productive endeavors” by Islamabad to mediate an end to the war were “approaching a critical, sensitive stage,” but gave no further details.
A proposal brokered by Pakistan would call for a temporary ceasefire and the lifting of Iran’s effective blockade of the strait, while putting off a broader peace settlement for further talks, according to a source familiar with the plan.
But Iran’s 10-point response, as reported by IRNA news agency on Monday, would require a permanent end to the war, the lifting of sanctions and a promise of the reconstruction of Iranian sites damaged by the Israeli-U.S. strikes.
It would also include a new mechanism to govern passage through the Strait of Hormuz — previously an open international waterway through which a fifth of global oil and liquefied natural gas typically passed. Since the U.S. and Israel attacked Iran on Feb. 28, Iran has effectively closed it to nearly all ships apart from its own.
U.S. President Donald Trump says Iran has until 8 p.m. ET on Tuesday to open the Strait of Hormuz — or else he’ll destroy civilian infrastructure, CBC’s Katie Simpson reports. Plus, Power & Politics hears from former Middle East peace negotiator Aaron David Miller on how this could impact negotiations to end the war.
Trump first laid out his deadline in a post Sunday, doubling down at a news conference on Monday.
“Every bridge in Iran will be decimated,” he threatened. “Every power plant in Iran will be out of business, burning, exploding, and never to be used again.”
Iran’s envoy to the UN said Trump’s threats were “direct incitement to terrorism and provide clear evidence of intent to commit war crimes under international law.” Its top military command said Trump was “delusional.”
UN Secretary General António Guterres warned the U.S. that attacking civilian infrastructure is banned under international law, his spokesperson said Monday.
Israel’s military said it had attacked a Iranian petrochemical site in Shiraz, the second day in a row it had hit such a facility after striking an offshore plant at the South Pars natural gas field. Israel also issued a Farsi-language warning telling Iranians to avoid trains, throughout the day, likely telegraphing intended strikes on the rail network.