Trump expands the threat to all Iranian power plants…

US President Donald Trump on Monday expanded his threat against Iran to include all power plants and bridges as an ultimatum to bring a deal closer, after Tehran rejected a 45-day ceasefire proposal and said it wanted a permanent end to the war.

“The whole country can be destroyed in one night, and that night could be tomorrow night,” Trump said. He suggested that the deadline of Tuesday at 8pm EDT was final, saying he had already granted Iran sufficient extensions.

The United States has told Iran to open the crucial Strait of Hormuz to all maritime traffic or see power plants and bridges swept away, sparking warnings of possible war crimes.

Israel increased the pressure by attacking a major petrochemical plant and killing the intelligence chief of the paramilitary Revolutionary Guard.

Tehran with its refusal conveyed its 10-point program to end the fighting through Pakistan, a key mediator, Iran’s state news agency IRNA said.

“We accept the end of the war only with the guarantee that we will not be attacked again,” Mojtaba Ferdousi Pour, head of Iran’s diplomatic mission in Cairo, told the Associated Press. He said Iran no longer trusts the Trump administration after the United States twice bombed the Islamic Republic during previous rounds of talks.

A regional official involved in the talks said the efforts had not failed. “We are still talking to both sides,” he said, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss closed-door diplomacy.

And Trump also said that negotiations with Iran continue.

Activists reported a new wave of strikes in Tehran early Tuesday morning. Israel claimed credit but offered no immediate details on what was targeted.

Meanwhile, Japan announced Tuesday that a Japanese citizen detained in Iran since January has been released on bail.

Chief Cabinet Secretary Minoru Kihara told reporters in Tokyo that his release was confirmed Monday and that Japan is asking Iranian authorities for a full release. He said the Japanese ambassador to Iran met with the released person and that he was in good health without providing further details.

The person released is believed to be a journalist from Japanese public television NHK. Another Japanese citizen, detained in Iran last June, was released and returned to Japan in March.

■ Trump says Iranians are “willing to suffer” for freedom

Trump has issued ultimatums to Iran in the past, only to find ways to backtrack. But this time he was more explicit about the plans to be carried out.

“Every bridge in Iran will be decimated by midnight tomorrow night,” he said, and all power plants “will burn, explode and never be used again.”

Asked if he was concerned about the war crimes allegations, Trump responded: “No, not at all.” He suggested that the Iranians want the United States to follow through on its threats because that could lead to the end of their current leadership.

Iranian citizens are “willing to suffer,” he said, “to have freedom.” But there has been no sign of uprising in Iran as residents shelter from the bombing.

International warnings against expanding strikes were piling up. “Any attack on civilian infrastructure is a violation of international law and it is very clear,” U.N. spokesman Stephane Dujarric later told reporters.

Egyptian, Pakistani and Turkish mediators have sent Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi and U.S. Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff a proposal calling for a ceasefire and reopening of the Strait of Hormuz, two Middle Eastern officials told the AP. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss private negotiations.

Iranian and Omani officials were also working on a mechanism to administer the strait, through which a fifth of the world’s oil is shipped in peacetime. Iran’s hold on this country has shaken the world economy.

Tehran refused to let US and Israeli ships pass after they started the war on February 28.

■ Iran’s new supreme leader releases rare statement

Israel struck a major petrochemical plant in the South Pars natural gas field, saying the aim was to eliminate a major source of revenue for Iran. The field, the largest in the world, is shared with Qatar and is Iran’s largest source of domestic energy for its 93 million inhabitants.

The strike appeared to be separate from Trump’s threats. An earlier Israeli attack in March prompted Iran to target energy infrastructure in other Middle Eastern countries, sparking a serious escalation.

Israel also killed the intelligence chief of Iran’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard, Major General Majid Khademi, according to Iranian state media. And Israel claimed to have killed the leader of the Revolutionary Guard’s undercover unit in its Quds Force expedition, Asghar Bakeri.

“We will continue to hunt them down one by one,” Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz said of senior Iranian officials.

New supreme leader Mojtaba Khamenei, who has not yet been seen or heard from in public, issued a rare statement expressing his condolences for Khademi. Israeli strikes have killed dozens of Iran’s top leaders, including Khamenei’s father.

The Israeli military also said it struck three airports in Tehran – Bahram, Mehrabad and Azmayesh – overnight, hitting dozens of helicopters and planes belonging to the Iranian air force.

A Tehran resident said “there is constantly the noise of bombs, air defenses, drones,” speaking on condition of anonymity for her safety. Another detailed taking sleeping pills to overcome nightly shelling and said people worry about cuts to electricity, gas and water.

■ Airstrikes kill at least 29 people across Iran

Smoke rose near Azadi Square in Tehran after an airstrike hit the area of ​​Sharif University of Technology. Several countries have sanctioned the university for its work with the military, particularly on Iran’s ballistic missile program.

Iranian authorities and state media reported that at least 29 people were killed across the country as a result of the attacks.

In Lebanon, where Israel launched airstrikes and a ground invasion that it said targeted the Iran-linked Hezbollah militia, an airstrike hit an apartment in Ain Saadeh, a mostly Christian town east of Beirut. He killed an official of the Lebanese Forces, a Christian political party strongly opposed to Hezbollah, his wife and another woman.

More than 1,900 people have been killed in Iran since the start of the war, but the government has not updated the toll for days.

More than 1,400 people have been killed in Lebanon and more than 1 million people have been displaced. Eleven Israeli soldiers died there.

More than two dozen people have died in the Arab Gulf states and occupied West Bank, while 23 have been reported dead in Israel and 13 US service members have been killed.

[AP]

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