President Donald Trump made renewed threats against Iran on Sunday, telling a reporter that the country faces “total decimation” if it does not comply with his ultimatum about reopening the Strait of Hormuz.
On Saturday evening, the president threatened to “obliterate” Iran’s power plants if the nation did not fully open the crucial strait within 48 hours. The deadline ends Monday night at approximately 7.45 p.m.
Speaking to Israel’s Channel 13 News reporter Neria Kraus on Sunday, Trump doubled down on his threats, telling Kraus in response to her question about whether Iran will cave to his ultimatum, “You’re gonna find out soon. It’s gonna be very good. Total decimation of Iran. It’s gonna work out very good.”
The president also reiterated his complaint about Iran having been “very bad for 47 years,” adding that the country was now “getting their comeuppance.”
He also took aim at NATO, bemoaning the fact that fellow member nations were “not doing anything” about his war with Iran. NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte has expressed his support for Trump’s military efforts against Iran, but multiple member nations, particularly Spain, have been less forthcoming with their support.
Trump posted another ominous post on Sunday night, reiterating his position of achieving peace through strength, “to put it mildly,” he added.
Iran responded to the president’s threats, warning that it would “irreversibly” destroy critical infrastructure belonging to its neighbors if Trump followed through on his threat to target the country’s electricity grid.
Iranian Parliament Speaker Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf also noted in his X post that this would ensure that the price of oil, which has surged since Trump’s initial strikes on Iran, would remain elevated “for a long time.”
The country also said that the Strait of Hormuz, which is a vital corridor for oil exports and other trade, would be “completely closed” immediately if Trump carried out his attacks, which was echoed by Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.
Trump’s threats against Iran’s power plants raised several legal red flags, as targeting civilian infrastructure can be considered a war crime under international law; the Geneva Conventions prohibit attacks on “objects indispensable to the survival of the civilian population.”
Shortly before issuing his ultimatum, Trump had boasted in a Truth Social post that the U.S. had “blown Iran off the map” with its strikes, a claim undercut by his subsequent threat to obliterate Iran’s power plants.
“The United States has blown Iran off of the map,” Trump wrote, arguing that the country’s leadership was “dead” and that it has “absolutely no defense.” He had previously claimed to have “obliterated” Iran’s nuclear facilities in strikes conducted last June.
The initial strikes resulted in the deaths of several senior Iranian political figures, including Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who has since been replaced by his son.
The president has continued to maintain that the U.S. is “very close” to meeting its goals in the region while simultaneously delivering contradictory messaging over what exactly those goals are.
He has claimed that he launched the strikes in conjunction with Israel at the end of last month as a preemptive measure in response to reports that Iran was going to strike the U.S.; in order to prevent the country from obtaining nuclear weapons; to combat terrorism; to aid Israel; to enable regime change, and simply because Iran “wanted to practice evil.”
Despite changes to his public messaging, the president’s war in Iran continues to be unpopular with the American public, with 59 percent of adults disapproving of his actions, including one in five Republicans.
Just seven percent of respondents to a Reuters survey said they would support a “boots on the ground” invasion, something the president has previously said he is “not afraid” of doing.
“I’m really not afraid of that,” Trump told Irish Prime Minister Micheál Martin last week. “I’m really not afraid of anything.”
