President Trump is now threatening to destroy the nation of Iran if a deal to reopen the Strait of Hormuz is not reached by 8 p.m. Eastern time tonight. Just after 8 a.m. this morning, he wrote on social media, quote, A whole civilization will die tonight, never to be brought back again. I don't want that to happen, he continued, but it probably will. Previously, the president has threatened to destroy every bridge, every power plant, every water treatment facility in Iran if there's no agreement. We will find out tonight, he wrote, one of the most important moments in the long and complex history of the world. Having threatened to annihilate their entire civilization, he then ended his message, God bless the great people of Iran. Consider this, the president of the United States issued Iran an ultimatum. What happens now? From NPR, I'm Juana Summers. This week on Up First, with the president threatening to target Iran's civilian infrastructure, such as power plants and bridges, even as gas prices in the U.S. continue to climb, what are the chances of an end to the war in Iran? Listen for updates every morning on the latest overnight news on Up First. Find us on the NPR app or wherever you get your podcasts. It's consider this from NPR. President Trump has set an 8 p.m. deadline for launching a massive escalation in the Iran War. The U.S. and Iran are holding indirect talks on ways to pause or end the war. But there's no real sign of progress. Trump held out some hope. Who knows, he mused on the truth social in all caps. But if not, it's worth reiterating the president's language from earlier in that post. A whole civilization will die, he wrote. We're going to discuss all of this with NPR National Security correspondent Greg Meijer and NPR's White House correspondent Deepa Shivoram. Deepa, let's start with you. We've known about President Trump's deadline. And then today there was this very ominous social media post. What's the latest from the White House? Yeah, the president really set the table there with that very stark warning, referencing his 8 p.m. Eastern deadline for striking a deal. And he was, you know, threatening dramatic consequences here. As you mentioned, he said a, quote, whole civilization will die tonight, never to be brought back again. Later on in his post, he said that he didn't want that to happen, but it, quote, probably will, and said that maybe something in terms of a deal could happen between now and that 8 p.m. deadline. Here at the White House, Trump's day so far seems to be on the quieter side. He hasn't had any public facing events, but press secretary Caroline Levitt said that the president has been made aware of a request from the Prime Minister of Pakistan to extend this 8 p.m. deadline for Iran for another two more weeks. Pakistan has been trying to mediate a deal between the U.S. and Iran. That request came earlier today and Levitt says Trump will respond, but we haven't seen that response quite yet. Greg, over to you. I know that the U.S. has already carried out an attack today on a sensitive site, Iran's Karg Island. What do we know there? Yeah, the U.S. struck military targets, including runways and bunkers on this island. This comes from a U.S. official who's not authorized to speak publicly. The official described them as restrikes. Targets the U.S. has hit previously. The official said the U.S. did not hit oil infrastructure, which is the most important part of the island. Trump said previously that he might seize control of the island and its oil facilities. There's been a lot of speculation about a possible ground operation to take it, but none of this has happened. And still, today's attack is worth noting since the president is threatening this major escalation. And Greg, just remind us if you can briefly about the significance of this island. Yeah, Karg Island is really critical to Iran's oil industry. Iran's oil comes from the mainland, but then it's sent for export to this island about 15 miles off the coast in the northern part of the Gulf. Oil gets loaded onto tankers and then heads south through the Strait of Hormuz, which Iran controls right now. The U.S. hit Karg Island back on March 13th, again, hitting military sites. Trump said those sites were obliterated, and he described it as an example of what the U.S. could do to oil facilities. And Israel has also announced new military strikes. Greg, what did Israel hit? Yeah, Israel carried out strikes that seem directly related to what President Trump is threatening. Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said his country hit railways and bridges because they were being used to transport weapons and other military equipment. Now, Iran responded or state media showed Iranians with flags lining up on bridges and around power plants, hoping to prevent attacks by the U.S. or Israel. And Iran's president said millions of his countrymen had volunteered to fight against the U.S., though he gave no indication at what they would be able to do to take part in what's essentially an air war. Deepa, President Trump has set multiple deadlines, and then he's supposed to hone them for these attacks on Iran's power plants and bridges. Does he appear ready to act this time? Yeah, I mean, it's been weeks of this, right, of the president making these threats to target these civilian infrastructure sites, power plants, like you mentioned, desalination plants, and then pulling back or extending that deadline for Iran. At this point, it doesn't seem like he has any intention to scale any of these threats back, but it's hard to say, given that the president has a track record in this last month of saying a lot of different things, moving the goalposts. I will say, though, earlier today, Caroline Levitt, the White House Press Secretary, did say that only the president knows where things stand and what he will do. So given that statement, it's kind of unclear where things stand. Yeah, Deepa, if the president ramps up the war, can he expect full support or perhaps see some opposition from Republicans and his political base? I mean, polling shows that the war has been really unpopular overall among Americans, and many Americans, of course, are dealing with the uncertainty that's come with this war, right? The economic costs that have come with higher gas prices and things like that. The president's own supporters have also been feeling less enthused about Trump in these last few weeks, and that's pretty rare for that to happen. Politically, it's, you know, putting the Republican Party in a tough spot in this midterms year, and especially after Trump's threats to attack civilian infrastructure. There are some supporters who are now breaking with Trump. Tucker Carlson is one of them. He's recently been critical of the president and over on Capitol Hill, Wisconsin Senator Ron Johnson, who has been a consistent and vocal supporter of Trump. He said on a podcast earlier today that he doesn't want to see the U.S. blowing up civilian infrastructure. Interesting, Greg. To you, there are last minute efforts now to extend Trump's deadline. What do we know about recent peace efforts? Yeah, I think in a word, confusion. We keep hearing reports that talks are on, talks are off, and the sides seem far apart. As you mentioned with this Pakistani move, that could provide a way to get through this this imminent deadline here, asking for Trump to extend his deadline for two weeks, asking Iran to open up the Strait of Hormuz for two weeks. So maybe that provides a way off or a way to pause the clock. But more broadly, the sides just don't seem anywhere near an agreement. The U.S. wants things like Iran to permanently reopen the Strait of Hormuz. It wants Iran to effectively shut down its nuclear enrichment program and to stop supporting proxy groups across the Middle East. These are all very big asks by the U.S. And then Iran in turn wants a permanent end to the war, not just a ceasefire. It wants guarantees of no more U.S. attacks and it wants a lifting of all sanctions. And one, I finally I'd note it's worth noting Trump's change in tone over the past week. When he spoke on TV last Wednesday in his big address, he sounded like he wanted to deescalate and wrap up the war in two to three weeks. You know, now he's talking about this massive escalation, hoping this will lead Iran to capitulate. But Iran is remaining defiant and no sign that it's about to give up. NPR's Greg Meyry and Deepa Chevron, thanks to both of you. Thanks for having me. Sure thing, wanna. This episode was produced by Brianna Scott and Karen Zamora. It was edited by Rebecca Metzler, Andrew Sussman and Patrick Jerron Wattanannon. Our executive producer is Sammy Yedigan. It's Consider this from NPR. I'm Wonna Summers.
