US president Donald Trump has been condemned after issuing an astonishing threat to Iran, threatening to wipe out “a whole civilisation” if Tehran fails to make a deal.
The extraordinary statement came hours before a US-imposed time limit for an agreement was expected to run out at 1am BST on Wednesday (8pm EST Tuesday), in what Trump has called his “final” of several deadlines on the Middle East war.
“A whole civilization will die tonight, never to be brought back again,” he wrote in the post on Truth Social on Tuesday.
“I don’t want that to happen, but it probably will. However, now that we have Complete and Total Regime Change, where different, smarter, and less radicalized minds prevail, maybe something revolutionarily wonderful can happen, WHO KNOWS?”
The post has attracted widespread backlash from opponents and supporters of the president alike, with Trump accused of effectively threatening genocide on a country with 93 million people.
Amid “heated discussions” on Tuesday, the president was reported to be considering the Pakistani prime minister’s proposal for a two-week ceasefire with Iran.
Meanwhile, top House Democrats issued a joint statement asking for Congress to be brought back into session to end the war.
A spokesperson for British prime minister Sir Keir Starmer stressed the UK government had been clear “this isn’t our war” and “our position is very much focused on de-escalation”.
However, when asked whether the UK believed threatened attacks on Iran’s bridges and power stations would breach international law, the prime minister’s official spokesperson added: “I’m not going to comment or give a running commentary on our allies’ operations.”
The war in the Middle East has now entered its sixth week and oil prices have continued to surge amid the ongoing blockade of the Strait of Hormuz, a vital shipping route through which one-fifth of the world’s oil and gas passes.
Trump has insisted the Strait – effectively closed by Iran after he launched attacks with Israel at the end of February – is reopened.
In the meantime, the US has again ramped up its military operations in the region.
More than 50 military targets were hit on Iran’s key oil export hub Kharg Island on Tuesday, according to the Wall Street Journal, after Trump’s threats to annihilate and “decimate” the country’s civilian infrastructure, including all of its energy facilities. Kharg Island handles over 90 per cent of Iran’s oil exports.
The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps said that if the US crossed “red lines”, Tehran’s response would stretch “beyond the region” and that the US and partners would see oil and gas supplies disrupted for years to come.
“Restraint is over,” they said in a statement on Tuesday shortly after the attacks, sparking fears of even further escalation.
However, the Tehran Times reported that Iran’s channels of communications with the US were not closed despite the threats, and diplomatic and indirect channels remained open.
In other signs the conflict shows no signs of easing, Israel warned Iranians to stay away from trains and railways as it launched a series of attacks on the country’s transportation links.
Liberal Democrat leader Ed Davey called on Sir Keir to withdraw US access to UK air bases to prevent Britain becoming an “accomplice to war crimes”, while Green Party Leader Zack Polanski urged stronger action against what he called “a threat of genocide from our supposed ally”.
Even Reform leader Nigel Farage turned against his long-time ally and friend, describing Trump’s warning as “way too far”.
“I am quite shocked just to hear that. That is over the top in every single way,” he said after reading the first two lines of the post.
Neil Quilliam, a Chatham House expert in energy and geopolitics, told The Independent the US president “clearly has a limited sense of world history, civilisations and humanity.”
“His sentiment, nonetheless, is conceptually larger than genocide given that genocide means committing any act with the intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group,” he said. “Iran is a multi-ethnic, multi-faith complex society that has emerged from ancient civilisations - one of which the current regime has sought to suppress since seizing power in 1979.”
Trump’s ever-escalating threats have also led to domestic political backlash on both sides of the aisle in the US, and calls for his removal from office.
“This is an extremely sick person,” minority leader of the US senate Chuck Schumer said. “Each Republican who refuses to join us in voting against this wanton war of choice owns every consequence of whatever the hell this is.”
And former Trump ally turned critic Marjorie Taylor Greene called on the president to be removed from office.
“Not a single bomb has dropped on America,” she posted on social media. “We cannot kill an entire civilization. This is evil and madness.”
Joe Kent, Trump’s top counterterrorism chief who resigned last month in opposition to the war against Iran, said that the US leader’s latest threats enhanced the danger to ordinary Americans.
“Trump believes he is threatening Iran with destruction, but it is America that now stands in danger,” Kent wrote on X.
“If he attempts to eradicate Iranian civilization, the United States will no longer be viewed as a stabilizing force in the world, but as an agent of chaos—effectively ending our status as the world’s greatest superpower.”
Defending the president’s comments, Anna Kelly, a spokesperson for the White House, stressed “the Iranian regime has committed egregious human rights abuses against its own citizens for 47 years, just murdered tens of thousands of protestors in January, and has indiscriminately targeted civilians across the region”.
“The president will always stand with innocent civilians while annihilating the terrorists responsible for threatening our country and the entire world with a nuclear weapon,” she added.
“Greater destruction can be avoided if the regime understands the seriousness of this moment and makes a deal with the United States.”
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