The American New York Times has compiled all the ultimatums that Donald Trump has issued to Iran. Their content, of course, varies completely, making it increasingly difficult to follow the American president and his political moves.
"Tuesday will be Power Plant Day and Bridge Day, all in one, in Iran. There will be nothing like it. Open the damn strait, you crazy bastards, or you will live in hell," was Trump's latest post.
This was not the first time in the past two weeks that Mr. Trump has threatened Iranian power plants, which tens of millions of Iranians rely on to power schools, hospitals, residential buildings, and other basic aspects of civilian life. Deliberate attacks on such civilian infrastructure are usually violations of international humanitarian law and in many cases can be considered war crimes.
Here is a timeline of previous deadlines that Trump set for Iran regarding the Strait of Hormuz:
In a social media post on March 21, Trump stated that if Iran did not completely open the strait within 48 hours, the United States would destroy their various power plants, starting with the largest.
Ali Mousavi, Iran's permanent representative to the International Maritime Organization, said that the strait is open to all except enemies of his country. Other Iranian officials warned that attacks on energy infrastructure would be a direct attack on the Iranian people and that Iran would retaliate in kind.
Two days after issuing the first threat, Trump said that the United States had productive talks with Iran and ordered the Pentagon to postpone all attacks on Iranian power plants and energy infrastructure for five days. Iranian officials publicly denied that any talks were ongoing.
On March 26, as Wall Street stocks were falling, Trump again postponed his original deadline by 10 days, this time until April 6 at 8 PM Eastern Time, saying he was pausing the power plant destruction period at the request of the Iranian government.
On March 30, Trump claimed that significant progress had been made in negotiations to end the war. Simultaneously, he threatened that if no agreement was reached and the Strait of Hormuz was not "immediately opened," the United States would destroy all Iranian power plants and oil wells, as well as Khark Island, Iran's main oil export hub, and possibly all desalination facilities.
Two days later, on April 1, Trump stated that Iran had requested a ceasefire, a claim that the spokesperson for the Iranian Ministry of Foreign Affairs called false and baseless, according to IRIB, the Iranian state news agency.
Trump wrote on social media that the United States would only consider a ceasefire once the strait was open, free, and clear. He added:
"Until then, we will consign Iran to oblivion or, as they say, back to the Stone Age!!!" he declared.
Two days before the postponed deadline for Iran to open the strait (April 4), Trump said that time was running out—48 hours before all hell would break loose on them. His post followed several contradictory statements about the strait in previous days, alternately attacking allies for not fighting to reopen it themselves and saying that it would reopen naturally.