GoKawiilPresident Donald Trump threatened in a Truth Social post Tuesday that "a whole civilization will die tonight" as the deadline nears for an agreement on a ceasefire in the war with Iran.
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The message is his most extreme public rhetoric to date against the country and comes less than 12 hours before he says the United States will launch attacks on Iran's infrastructure over Tehran's continued disruption of shipping through the Strait of Hormuz.
"A whole civilization will die tonight, never to be brought back again," Trump said in the post. "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?" Trump wrote, referring to the killings of Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and other leaders, although it's unclear what the full impact of their deaths has been on Iran's government.
A man stands at his home near a synagogue, which was damaged in a strike, in Tehran on Tuesday. Majid Asgaripour via Reuters
"We will find out tonight, one of the most important moments in the long and complex history of the World," Trump continued. "47 years of extortion, corruption, and death, will finally end. God Bless the Great People of Iran!"
In recent days, the president has made a series of escalatory threats against Tehran, threatening to bomb the country into the “the Stone Ages,” and calling the Iranian government "crazy bastards" while demanding it open up the key shipping route.
Reached for comment on what the president meant by his latest threat and whether "whole civilization" signified that the U.S. would target civilian areas, White House spokesperson Anna Kelly said, "refer to the TRUTH."
After extending the deadline multiple times for Iran to reopen the Strait of Hormuz, a vital shipping route that about a fifth of the world's oil and natural gas usually passes through, the president announced 8 p.m. ET Tuesday as the final deadline for Iran to come to a deal.
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