By Bo Erickson, Humeyra Pamuk and Susan Heavey
WASHINGTON, April 5 (Reuters) – U.S. President Donald Trump on Sunday ratcheted up pressure on Iran, threatening in an expletive-laden Easter Sunday social media post to target Iran’s power plants and bridges on Tuesday if the strategic Strait of Hormuz is not reopened.
“Tuesday will be Power Plant Day, and Bridge Day, all wrapped up in one, in Iran. There will be nothing like it!!!” Trump said in a Truth Social post, referencing the vital shipping lane that Tehran has effectively closed since the U.S. and Israel launched attacks on Iran more than a month ago.
“Open the Fuckin’ Strait, you crazy bastards, or you’ll be living in Hell – JUST WATCH!” Trump said, ending his Easter morning post with: “Praise be to Allah.”
Later on Sunday, the president in a follow-up post gave a more precise deadline: “Tuesday, 8:00 P.M. Eastern Time!”
The White House did not respond to a question on whether Trump was indicating a time when the U.S. would attack Iran.
Trump’s threats follow an intense 48-hour rescue operation for two U.S. pilots inside Iran. Trump said in an earlier Sunday social media post that the second pilot rescued was “seriously wounded” and is a “highly respected Colonel.”
“The rescue was an Easter Miracle,” Trump said in a text message to NBC News’ “Meet the Press” on Sunday before heading to his Washington golf club. “Such a rescue has never happened before in so violent an enemy territory.”
In at least seven Sunday interviews, Trump continued his threats against Iran as he pushed for concessions. He told Fox News that Iran is negotiating and that a deal is possible on Monday, but if not, he will “take” the country’s oil. In an interview with ABC News, Trump said the conflict should be over in days, not weeks, but if not, “we’re blowing up the whole country” and there is “very little” off the table.
The president also posted online that he will hold a Monday news conference with the U.S. military from the Oval Office.
Last week, the president said the U.S. would carry out aggressive strikes on Iran over the next two to three weeks and is nearing completion of its main strategic objectives in the war. He has repeatedly said since the operation started on February 28 that Iran wants to make a deal, although its leadership has not shown a willingness to comply with Trump’s demands.
On Sunday, Iran’s Revolutionary Guards warned that attacks against U.S. economic interests in the region would be intensified if attacks on civilian targets in Iran are repeated.
TRUMP FOCUSES ON IRAN INFRASTRUCTURE
Trump’s Easter warning targeting Iranian power plants and bridges follows a threat to hit desalination plants, which some international law experts said could violate international humanitarian law.
“I wouldn’t toy with him if I were the Iranians,” U.S. House Intelligence Chairman Rick Crawford, an Arkansas Republican and U.S. Army veteran, said on Fox News’ “Sunday Morning Futures with Maria Bartiromo” about Trump’s post. “He has a lot of backbone, and he’s not going to be dissuaded.”
But others criticized Trump’s rhetoric for going too far.
U.S. Senator Tim Kaine, a Virginia Democrat on the Armed Services Committee, urged Trump to “please dial back the rhetoric.” On “Meet the Press” Kaine said Trump’s language was “embarrassing and juvenile” and raised the risk for U.S. service members.
“Everyone in his administration that claims to be a Christian needs to fall on their knees and beg forgiveness from God and stop worshipping the President and intervene in Trump’s madness,” former U.S. Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene, a Georgia Republican who was one of Trump’s most vocal defenders before her recent resignation, said online about the president’s language.
In a statement posted on Instagram, the Council of American-Islamic Relations said: “The casual use of ‘Praise be to Allah’ in the context of violent threats reflects a disturbing willingness to weaponize religious language while simultaneously denigrating Islam and its followers.”
Thirteen U.S. service members have died and hundreds of others have been wounded throughout the Middle East since the U.S. and Israel launched the war more than a month ago.
Iran responded by blocking the Strait of Hormuz, crucial for global oil transport, leading to sharply higher oil and gasoline costs for consumers around the world. The average U.S. gasoline price hit $4.11 a gallon on Sunday, according to AAA, up from below $3 when strikes on Iran began.
“Iran recognizes that, in fact, their control over the Strait is even more strategically vital to them than the development of a nuclear weapon,” U.S. Representative Jake Auchincloss, a Massachusetts Democrat and U.S. Marine Corps veteran, said on “Fox News Sunday.”
He added that while the United States remains militarily unrivaled in destroying targets, “strategically, this war has been a failure.”
(Reporting by Bo Erickson; additional reporting by Courtney Rozen; Editing by Dan Burns, Ros Russell, Aurora Ellis and Edmund Klamann)
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