Trump sends expletive-laden Easter message threatening Iran’s infrastructure
US President Donald Trump has dropped the F bomb, ordering Iran to open the Hormuz Strait naming a day that the US will target power plants.
Source: Fox News
US President Donald Trump has issued an expletive-laden threat on Easter Sunday, ordering Iran to “open the Fuckin’ Strait, you crazy bastards or you’ll be living in Hell”.
Trump ratcheted up pressure on Tehran in a social media post and warned that the US would target power plants and bridges within days if the Strait of Hormuz was not reopened.
Trump said his deadline was Tuesday evening.
The Strait of Hormuz has been largely shut down since the war began five weeks ago, impacting the transit of about a fifth of the world’s oil and natural gas supply.
“Tuesday will be Power Plant Day, and Bridge Day, all wrapped up in one, in Iran,” he wrote on his Truth Social platform.
“There will be nothing like it!!! Open the Fuckin’ Strait, you crazy bastards, or you’ll be living in Hell — JUST WATCH! Praise be to Allah. President DONALD J. TRUMP”
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Later on Sunday, the president gave a more precise deadline in a follow-up post: “Tuesday, 8:00 P.M. Eastern Time!”
Tehran condemned Trump’s threat and warned that the US president’s “reckless” behaviour would destroy the Middle East.
“Your reckless moves are dragging the United States into a living HELL for every single family, and our whole region is going to burn because you insist on following Netanyahu’s commands,” posted Iran’s parliamentary speaker, Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf, on X.
Adding to the pressure, Washington’s ally in the war, Israel, was preparing to attack energy facilities next week and was awaiting US approval, a senior Israeli defence official said.
However, in another baffling mixed message, Trump told Fox News on Sunday that Iran was negotiating, with a deal possible by Monday.
Trump’s tirade followed a daring 48-hour rescue operation for two US airmen whose jet was shot down inside Iran.
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Both men were ejected from their F-15E Strike Eagle. The pilot was rescued but the location of the second crewman was unknown.
Iranian TV showed footage of the US jet crash site.
CNN reports that the injured second American climbed a mountain to 7,000 feet (2133 metres) above sea level and hid out until a team of US commandos swarmed to locate him.
The rescue team involved hundreds of military and intelligence personnel, including US aircraft dropping bombs to clear the area and CIA operatives mounting a deception campaign to throw off Iranian hunters, CNN reports.
“WE GOT HIM!” Trump wrote on social media. “Over the past several hours, the United States Military pulled off one of the most daring Search and Rescue Operations in U.S. History.”
“The rescue was an Easter Miracle,” Trump said.
Thirteen US military personnel have died and hundreds of others have been wounded throughout the Middle East since the US and Israel started operations.
The average US petrol price hit $US4.11 ($5.95) a gallon on Sunday, according to AAA, up from below $US3 ($4.3) when strikes on Iran began.
The war, which opened with US and Israeli air strikes across Iran on February 28, has spread into Lebanon, where Israel has resumed its campaign against the Iranian-backed Hezbollah.
Thousands have died, mainly in Iran and Lebanon, where Israeli air strikes killed another 11 people on Sunday, according to Lebanon’s health ministry.
-with AAP
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