President Trump’s latest deadline for Iran to open the Strait of Hormuz is, according to a post on social media, “Tuesday, 8:00 P.M. Eastern Time!”
Mr. Trump did not explain his decision to quietly tack on an extra day to carry out his threats. But over the course of the monthlong war, Mr. Trump has repeatedly issued ultimatums and deadlines to Iran, only to extend them, and this one was no different.
The social media post was an extension of a previous deadline, Monday, that he set last month when he threatened that if Iran did not make a deal he would “keep blowing them away.” But that itself was an extension of a deadline for Iran to reopen the Strait of Hormuz, a vital oil and gas shipping route. Mr. Trump initially gave Iran 48 hours to reopen the vital oil shipping route back on March 21.
The latest deadline comes as Mr. Trump and Iranian leaders have ramped up forceful threats against one another, indicating a new escalatory phase of the war.
After the U.S. rescue of an American airman in Iran over the weekend, Mr. Trump again threatened to attack Iranian power plants and bridges unless Tehran ends its chokehold on the Strait of Hormuz, the vital waterway through which a quarter of the world’s oil and one-fifth of its natural gas moves.
Just a week after he suggesting he did not need a deal to open the strait in order to end the war, Mr. Trump on Sunday demanded Iran open the corridor in a profanity-laced social media post. He also told Fox News he was “considering blowing everything up” and taking control of Iran’s oil if it did not cooperate.
“If they don’t do something by Tuesday evening, they won’t have any power plants and they won’t have any bridges standing,” Mr. Trump told The Wall Street Journal in an interview on Sunday.
Iran said on Monday that it would retaliate forcefully if the United States struck the country’s power plants and bridges.
Zolan Kanno-Youngs is a White House correspondent for The Times, covering President Trump and his administration.
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