Five weeks after a joint US-Israeli air offensive on Tehran ignited a sweeping conflict across the Middle East, US President Donald Trump has amplified his aggressive rhetoric, issuing a stark new threat to Iran’s civilian infrastructure that has sent shockwaves through the international community. Speaking at a press conference in Washington on Monday, Trump doubled down on his warning that American military power could wipe out every bridge and power plant across Iran in as little as four hours, dismissing a 45-day ceasefire proposal brokered by global intermediaries as insufficient to de-escalate the crisis. The US leader has issued an ultimatum: Iran must reopen the strategically critical Strait of Hormuz to international commercial shipping by midnight GMT Tuesday, or the country will face a devastating new wave of airstrikes.
Both Washington and Tehran have rejected the current draft of the ceasefire, which diplomatic sources confirm is being negotiated through mediators from Pakistan, Egypt and Turkey. While Trump previously acknowledged the plan as a significant step forward, he emphasized it still falls short of US demands. “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 told reporters. “I mean complete demolition by 12 o’clock, and it’ll happen over a period of four hours — if we wanted to.”
For its part, Iranian state media quotes senior officials confirming Tehran has also turned down the proposed truce, insisting a permanent, definitive end to hostilities is the only acceptable outcome. The Iranian military has reiterated it will continue offensive operations as long as the country’s political leadership deems it necessary, following recent high-casualty strikes that have killed top Iranian security commanders.
The conflict has already escalated dramatically on the ground in recent days. On Monday, Israeli airstrikes targeted two of Iran’s largest petrochemical facilities: the major complex at Asaluyeh on the Persian Gulf coast, Iran’s biggest petrochemical hub, and a second installation outside the central city of Shiraz. The Israeli military also confirmed it struck Iranian Air Force assets, including fighter jets and helicopters, at airports across the country, including in Tehran. The strikes claimed the life of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards Corps intelligence chief Majid Khademi, who was killed early Monday in a joint US-Israeli raid, one day after Israeli forces killed Asghar Bagheri, commander of the Quds Force’s elite special operations unit.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu reaffirmed his government’s stance Monday, saying “We will reach anyone who seeks to harm us.” In response, the Revolutionary Guards’ intelligence branch has vowed to carry out a major retaliatory strike against the US and Israel for the assassinations, according to the group’s official Sepah News outlet. The spillover of the conflict has spread across the region: Yemen’s Houthi rebels, who back Iran, announced a new attack targeting Israel Monday, while Iran’s ally Hezbollah continues to engage Israeli forces along the Lebanon border. US-aligned Gulf nations have also been drawn into the fighting, with Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates reporting strikes and injuries between Sunday and Monday.
Iran’s virtual blockade of the Strait of Hormuz, through which roughly 20% of global oil supplies pass daily, has triggered a sharp spike in global oil and gas prices, sending ripple effects through economies around the world. The conflict first erupted on February 28, when the initial joint US-Israeli airstrike killed Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, opening a full-scale war that has upended global energy markets.
On Monday, Indonesia announced it would raise jet fuel surcharges, and long-haul low-cost carrier AirAsia X said it would implement ticket price increases of up to 40% to offset soaring fuel costs. South Korea’s ruling party confirmed Monday that Seoul will redirect oil tankers to Saudi Arabia’s Red Sea port of Yanbu, bypassing the Strait of Hormuz entirely to avoid the risk of attack, with Taiwan’s government announcing it would adopt the same alternate shipping route.
Even as diplomatic efforts continue to revise the ceasefire proposal to meet both sides’ demands, Trump’s latest threats — including a profanity-laced social media post Sunday directed at Iran — have drawn sharp international condemnation. Mirjana Spoljaric, president of the International Committee of the Red Cross, warned that deliberate threats targeting essential civilian infrastructure violate international humanitarian law.
As tensions remain at a boiling point, both sides continue active operations across the region. Iran has kept up missile and drone attacks against Israel: Monday, Israeli military and medical officials confirmed four civilians were pulled dead from the rubble of a residential building in the northern Israeli city of Haifa after an Iranian missile strike. On the Iranian side, state media reported multiple strikes on residential neighborhoods in Tehran, and a strike on a Tehran university knocked out gas service to large swathes of the capital.