Donald Trump at the White House on 6 April. The US and Iran have agreed to a two-week conditional ceasefire. Photograph: The Washington Post/Getty
US president abandons threat for Iran to surrender or face destruction with last-minute intervention led by Pakistan
The US and Iran agreed to a two-week conditional ceasefire on Tuesday evening, which included a temporary reopening of the strait of Hormuz, after a last-minute diplomatic intervention led by Pakistan, canceling an ultimatum from Donald Trump for Iran to surrender or face widespread destruction.
Trump’s announcement of the ceasefire agreement came less than two hours before the US president’s self-imposed 8pm Eastern time deadline to bomb Iran’s power plants and bridges in a move that legal scholars, as well as officials from numerous countries and the pope, had warned could constitute war crimes.
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For several hours afterwards, Israel’s position or agreement with the deal was unclear. But just before midnight ET, the prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, said Israel backed the US ceasefire with Iran but that the deal did not cover fighting against Hezbollah in Lebanon. His office said Israel also supported US efforts to ensure Iran no longer posed a nuclear or missile threat.
Pakistan’s prime minister had previously said that the agreed ceasefire covered “everywhere including Lebanon”.
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Iran’s foreign minister, Abbas Araghchi, issued a statement shortly after Trump’s announcement saying Iran had agreed to the ceasefire. “For a period of two weeks, safe passage through the Strait of Hormuz will be possible via coordinating with Iran’s Armed Forces,” he wrote. …
For several hours afterwards, Israel’s position or agreement with the deal was unclear. But just before midnight ET, the prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, said Israel backed the US ceasefire with Iran but that the deal did not cover fighting against Hezbollah in Lebanon. His office said Israel also supported US efforts to ensure Iran no longer posed a nuclear or missile threat.
Pakistan’s prime minister had previously said that the agreed ceasefire covered “everywhere including Lebanon”.
US Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) attends a news conference in Washington, DC on March 25, 2026. (Photo by Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc. via Getty Images)
“We can still stop this,” said one think tank.
As US lawmakers and the international community registered President Donald Trump’s threat to commit genocide in Iran on Tuesday, rights advocates demanded action from Trump’s Cabinet, congressional leaders, and the country’s European allies to take action—while US Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez issued a reminder that the president can be stopped by a lack of action as well, if those in the US military chain of command refuse to carry out his orders.
Trump’s threat to wipe out Iran’s civilization of 93 million people “merits removal from office,” said Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY). “To every individual in the president’s chain of command: You have a duty to refuse illegal orders. That includes carrying out this threat.”
Rep. Ted Lieu (D-Calif.) also addressed the Joint Chiefs of Staff, whose chairman, Dan Caine, has been joining Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth in briefings recently as Hegseth has made bellicose threats against Iran and portrayed the unprovoked US-Israeli assault as a holy war.
“Obviously eradicating a whole civilization constitutes a war crime. You must disobey that order,” said the congressman. “If you commit war crimes, the next administration will prosecute you.”
Erik Sperling, executive director of think tank Just Foreign Policy, called on Senate and House Democrats, including those on committees that oversee the armed services and foreign relations, to make Lieu’s threat “absolutely clear.”
“We can still stop this,” said Just Foreign Policy on social media.
US military must refuse orders to commit genocide or war crimes.@HouseDemocrats@SenateDems should PLEDGE now that anyone carrying out genocidal acts and war crimes WILL be prosecuted.
It's unfair for the US military to be put in this position — but they must refuse orders. https://t.co/xa70ttkIXB
Journalist Ryan Grim of Drop Site News added that federal laws prohibiting war crimes “will apply in January 2029,” after Trump is out of office.
Since Trump took office for his second term in January 2025, Democratic lawmakers have previously issued reminders to the US military that the UCMJ prohibits service members from carrying out illegal orders, with six House members and senators releasing a video in November—as the Pentagon was continuing its bombings of boats in the Caribbean Sea and eastern Pacific Ocean and threatening to attack Venezuela—to remind them, “You must refuse illegal orders.”
Sen. Elissa Slotkin (D-Mich.) was among the lawmakers who participated in the video. On Tuesday the former CIA analyst addressed service members across the military once again, warning that “targeting civilians en masse would be a clear violation of the law of armed conflict as laid out in the Geneva Conventions, as well as the Pentagon’s Law of War Manual.”
“If [service members] are today or have been asked to do things that violate the law and their training, it puts them in very real legal jeopardy. I know that our service members up and down the chain of command know their duty and the law to refuse illegal orders,” said Slotkin. “It’s moments like these that are why we made the video to service members last year. And I hope and believe our troops—especially those in command—will have the moral clarity to push back if they are given clearly illegal orders.
Keir Starmer explains that UK is actively supporting Israel’s genocidal expansion and repeats his previous quotation that he supports Zionism “without qualification”. Keir Starmer said “I said it loud and clear – and meant it – that I support Zionism without qualification.” here: https://www.jewishnews.co.uk/keir-starmer-interview-i-will-work-to-eradicate-antisemitism-from-day-one/Donald Trump warns against following the https://onaquietday.org blog, says that it’s easy atm, she only needs to report war crimes supporting Israel’s genocidal expansion.Orcas discuss rotting brain, front Orca says disinhibition and swearing are typical and common symptoms
UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer speaks at an event on March 30, 2026 in Wolverhampton, United Kingdom. (Photo by Christopher Furlong/Getty Images)
“One of the biggest implications of this war is how badly Europe miscalculated,” said one analyst.
As President Donald Trump made his most explicitly genocidal threat yet against Iran on Tuesday, one historian based in Tehran suggested that countries which have aided and abetted the rapidly intensifying US-Israeli assault on the Middle Eastern country are coming face-to-face with the fact that appeasing Trump has been a grave error.
Trump’s threat that “a whole civilization will die tonight, never to be brought back again”—referring to Iran’s population of 93 million people—was the “textbook definition of genocide,” said Narjes Rahmati. “Those who could have intervened but did not will come to regret it.”
Trump has lashed out at numerous European countries for being insufficiently supportive of the US-Israeli war, which has killed more than 2,000 people in Iran, nearly 1,500 in Lebanon, and hundreds across the Middle East, but countries including the United Kingdom have provided various support to the US and Israel since they abruptly cut off diplomatic talks and began bombing the country in February.
While UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer has attempted to distance his government from the conflict, saying, “This is not our war,” the UK has allowed US bombers to use British military bases for “defensive” missions. Late last month the UK also authorized the US to use military bases for strikes against Iranian missile sites that were targeting ships in the Strait of Hormuz. The country has ramped up its military resources in the region in recent weeks.
Ed Davey, leader of the Liberal Democrats Party in the UK, said Tuesday that Starmer and his Labour government face “a choice” about continuing to back the US and Israel in light of Trump’s latest threat on what the president previously referred to as “Power Plant Day, and Bridge Day.”
After Trump's latest shocking threats, Keir Starmer faces a choice.
Withdraw US access now to UK air bases, or risk letting British soil be used to commit war crimes. pic.twitter.com/XK9b6rrgum
“The UK must immediately and unequivocally suspend support for the US military,” added Zack Polanski, the British Green Party leader. “The government have tried to appease him, then they tried to say they’re standing up to him. Words aren’t enough—it’s time for action.”
Philippe Dam, European Union director for Human Rights Watch, also condemned the European Commission for its tepid response to Trump’s threat against “a whole civilization.”
Anitta Hipper, foreign affairs spokesperson for the commission, said it rejects threats to attack critical civilian infrastructure, warning that “such attacks risk impacting millions of people across the Middle East and beyond, and also may lead to further dangerous escalation.”
Dam warned that “international law is eroded by those who flout it as much as by those who fail to speak up.”
“Despite renewed threats of attacks on civilian infrastructures in Iran—would be war crimes and possible crimes against humanity—EU leaders still fail to name USA and Israel in their statements,” said Dam.
The US has also received varying degrees of military support from Portugal, Italy, Germany, and France, though the French and Italian governments have angered Trump in recent weeks by blocking the US from using certain military bases and barring military flights from French airspace. Spanish President Pedro Sánchez has stood out among North Atlantic Treaty Organization leaders, leading the way in refusing to allow the US to use its bases for Iran attacks.
Sina Toossi, a senior fellow at the Center for International Policy, said European leaders over the last several weeks “had [a] real chance to help make diplomacy succeed. Instead, they aligned with and enabled Trump’s worst instincts.”
One of the biggest implications of this war is how badly Europe miscalculated.
On Iran, they had real chance to help make diplomacy succeed. Instead, they aligned with and enabled Trump’s worst instincts.
Now they face a cascading crisis: severe economic shock, a fraying NATO,… https://t.co/hng7RI7n8v
Adil Haque, a Rutgers University law professor and executive editor of Just Security, called on “all states” to “immediately condemn Trump’s threat; deny the use of their territory and airspace by US forces to attack Iran; demand an immediate, unconditional, and permanent end to the war.”
“Hormuz can be dealt with separately,” he said, referring to Iran’s closure of the strait, a key trade waterway. “Enough is enough.”
Keir Starmer explains that UK is actively supporting Israel’s genocidal expansion and repeats his previous quotation that he supports Zionism “without qualification”. Keir Starmer said “I said it loud and clear – and meant it – that I support Zionism without qualification.” here: https://www.jewishnews.co.uk/keir-starmer-interview-i-will-work-to-eradicate-antisemitism-from-day-one/Donald Trump warns against following the https://onaquietday.org blog, says that it’s easy atm, she only needs to report war crimes supporting Israel’s genocidal expansion.Orcas discuss rotting brain, front Orca says disinhibition and swearing are typical and common symptoms
Iranians protest against American and Israeli aggression and US President Donald Trump in Tehran on February 11, 2026. (Photo by AFP via Getty Images)
Iran “has not been and will never be the one to initiate attacks on civilian targets,” said one Iranian military commander, but Tehran “will not hesitate to retaliate against despicable aggression on civilian facilities.”
Iran on Tuesday responded to US President Donald Trump’s threat to destroy its civilization by warning that further attacks on its civilian infrastructure would trigger a crushing response that “will exceed the region’s boundaries.”
Trump’s rhetoric has grown increasing genocidal as his Tuesday night deadline for Iran to reopen the Strait of Hormuz draws nearer, writing on his Truth Social network that “a whole civilization will die tonight, never to be brought back again,” if no deal is reached on the resumption of all shipping in the vital waterway, through which about 20% of the world’s oil passes.
In response, Brig. Gen. Seyyed Majid Mousavi, commander of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) Aerospace Force, declared the start of a “new phase” of operations aimed at deterring further US-Israeli escalation by preparing in-kind attacks.
BREAKING: Iran's IRGC Statement:
"Self-restraint is over. Our response will now be carried out without any consideration, depriving the U.S. and it's allies of oil and gas for years.
If the U.S. Army crosses red lines, our response will exceed the region’s boundaries."
Iran “has not been and will never be the one to initiate attacks on civilian targets,” Mousavi said, warning that Tehran “will not hesitate to retaliate against despicable aggression on civilian facilities.”
Mousavi added that should Trump follow through on his threat, the IRGC “will inflict such damage on the infrastructure of the US and its partners that they will be deprived of the region’s oil and gas for years to come.”
Iranian Ambassador to the United Nations Amir-Saeid Iravani said Tuesday: “Iran will not stand idle in the face of such egregious war crimes. It will exercise, without hesitation, its inherent right of self-defense and will take immediate and proportionate reciprocal measures.”
Even as US and Israeli bombing has killed around 2,000 Iranians since February 28—including hundreds of women and children—Tehran has insisted that it does not want to retaliate against American civilians, who Iranian Foreign Minister Seyed Abbas Araghchi recently said “overwhelmingly voted to end involvement in costly foreign wars.”
While Iran has responded to US and Israeli bombing of civilian sites with measured missile and drone strikes on energy and economic targets in Israel and Gulf nations allied with the United States, Tehran has notably abstained from carrying out retaliatory attacks on US civilians.
Iranian officials have also shown a surreal penchant for pairing ominous brinkmanship with defiantly deadpan trolling.
Following Trump’s Sunday ultimatum for Tehran to “open the Fuckin’ Strait, you crazy bastards,” Iran’s Embassy in Zimbabwe quipped, “We’ve lost the keys.”
To which the Iranian Embassy in South Africareplied, “Shh… the key’s under the flowerpot.”
Highlighting Tehran’s policy of allowing ships from friendly nations to pass through the Strait of Hormuz—and throwing in a barb referring to the late child sex criminal and former Trump friend Jeffrey Epstein—Iran’s Embassy in Bulgaria posted: “Door’s open for friends. Epstein’s friends need keys.”
Echoing calls from across the US political spectrum, Iran’s Embassy in South Africa on Sunday urged congressional leaders to “seriously think about the 25th Amendment,” which allows for the dismissal of a president who is incapacitated, unable, or unwilling to perform their duties.
Iran’s UK Embassy chimed in with a quote from the iconic American author—and ardent anti-imperialist—Mark Twain: “It is better to keep your mouth closed and let people think you are a fool than to open it and remove all doubt.”
Ordinary Iranians, meanwhile, shrugged off Trump’s threat while trying to go about their lives the best they could under the circumstances.
“The first thing that came to my mind is that I think Trump is under a lot of pressure, and that he has lost his mind,” a Tehran resident who gave only her first name, Lili, told The New York Times on Tuesday, adding that the US-Israeli war has got Iranians rallying behind a government despised by millions of her compatriots.
“So now, we are supporting Iran and whatever government is running it,” she said.
Iranian businessman Pedram Soltani said in a social media message to Americans, “Your president has now placed not only Iran, but also America and the entire world at a tremendous risk.”
“If he pushes the war with Iran toward the destruction of bridges and power plants, more than 90 million people in Iran will be severely affected, and a humanitarian catastrophe will unfold,” Soltani continued, referring to Trump’s threat to attack such sites, which would be a war crime.
“Consequently, the war spreads further across the Middle East, and critical energy infrastructure in the region will be damaged,” he said. “This will trigger a surge in the prices of oil, petrochemicals, metals, and other essential commodities. The consequences will hit you and billions of others, through skyrocketing fuel prices and widespread food inflation.”
“At the same time, the United States will become one of the most hated countries in the world,” Soltani added.
Donald Fuhrump says that Amerikkka doesn’t bother with crimes or charges anymore, not being 100% Amerikkkan and opposing his real estate intentions is enough.Donald Trump sings and dances, says that it’s fun to kill everyone …Orcas discuss Donald Trump and the killer apes’ concept of democracy. Front Orca warns that Trump is crashing his country’s economy and that everything he does he does for the fantastically wealthy.
A man takes pictures of Shahid Beheshti University following a US-Israeli strike in Tehran on April 4, 2026. (Photo: AFP via Getty Images)
“This is an express public incitement for war crimes and crimes against humanity—and, I would say, for genocide,” said a spokesperson for Iran’s Foreign Ministry.
Iranian officials on Monday warned US President Donald Trump that his name will be “etched in history as a supreme war criminal” if he follows through with his threat to wage total war on Iran’s civilian infrastructure, including bridges and power plants.
Kazem Gharibabadi, Iran’s deputy foreign minister, wrote on social media following Trump’s Easter-morning outburst that “threats to attack power plants and bridges (civilian infrastructure) constitute war crimes under Article 8(2)(b) of the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court and Protocol I to the Geneva Conventions of 1977 (Article 52).”
“The president of the United States, in his capacity as the highest-ranking official of his country, has openly threatened to commit war crimes—an act that entails his individual criminal responsibility before the International Criminal Court and any competent national court,” Gharibabadi added, vowing that Iran “will deliver a decisive, immediate, and regret-inducing response” to any attack.
Esmail Baghaei, a spokesperson for Iran’s Foreign Ministry, said Trump’s threats are “an indication of a criminal mindset.”
“This is an express public incitement for war crimes and crimes against humanity—and, I would say, for genocide,” Baghaei said in an interview on Sunday. “Threatening to attack a country’s critical infrastructure, energy sector, it would mean that you want to put at risk the whole population.”
Absolute bombshell. Iran's Spokesperson Esmail Baghaei accuses the Trump administration of a criminal mindset and public incitement for genocide. Threatening a nation's critical infrastructure puts the entire population at risk. The White House has completely abandoned morality. pic.twitter.com/HcBZGZho5p
The US and Israel have already done significant damage to Iran’s civilian infrastructure. The country’s deputy health minister said Monday that more than 360 healthcare, education, and research centers have been hit by US-Israeli strikes, and dozens of medics have been killed since the bombing began on February 28.
But Trump on Sunday threatened an indiscriminate assault, telling Fox News that if the Iranians “don’t make a deal and fast,” he is “considering blowing everything up and taking the oil.”
“You’re going to see bridges and power plants dropping all over their country,” the president said, setting a new deadline of 8 pm ET for the complete reopening of the Strait of Hormuz.
Trump’s remarks came after he published a deranged post on his Truth Social platform demanding that Iran “open the Fuckin’ Strait, you crazy bastards, or you’ll be living in Hell.”
Analysts and lawmakers in the US echoed Iranian officials’ warnings that Trump’s threatened attacks would constitute war crimes.
“Trump’s advisers are telling him to hit civilian sites because it will cause unrest and potentially topple the regime. But just think about the insanity of this plan: kill tens of thousands of civilians in order to cause a national panic,” US Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) wrote. “Bombing to induce political panic IS A WAR CRIME.”
Dylan Williams, vice president for government affairs at the Center for International Policy, said that “any lawmaker who votes for supplemental funding for the war on Iran or against war powers resolutions to end it will be fully complicit in the war crimes threatened here, as well as those already committed by this unhinged and unfit Commander in Chief.”
The US president’s renewed threats came amid reports of a diplomatic effort, mediated in part by Pakistan, to enact a 45-day ceasefire to provide space for a lasting resolution to the war.
Axios reported that the talks are seen as “the only chance to prevent a dramatic escalation in the war that will include massive strikes on Iranian civilian infrastructure and a retaliation against energy and water facilities in the Gulf states.”
Keir Starmer explains that UK is actively supporting Israel’s genocidal expansion and repeats his previous quotation that he supports Zionism “without qualification”. Keir Starmer said “I said it loud and clear – and meant it – that I support Zionism without qualification.” here: https://www.jewishnews.co.uk/keir-starmer-interview-i-will-work-to-eradicate-antisemitism-from-day-one/Donald Trump warns against following the https://onaquietday.org blog, says that it’s easy atm, she only needs to report war crimes supporting Israel’s genocidal expansion.Orcas discuss rotting brain, front Orca says disinhibition and swearing are typical and common symptoms
dizzy: There are more signs, appearance and demeanour even. There is no shame to it, often just comes with advanced age. The issue is about competency to perform a certain role (and having the codes).
Other parties e.g. the UK Labour government under Keir Starmer and – separately – the UK military should decide whether they are going to be further supportive and complicit in war crimes i.e. faced with this current situation of Trump threatening and it being explicitly recognised and recorded.
