'Complete demolition': Trump outlines 4-hour attack plan if Iran deal isn't reached by 8 p.m. ET Tuesday
President Donald Trump on Monday held firm to his threat to launch massive attacks on critical Iranian infrastructure if Tehran doesn't make a peace deal that he said needs to include reopening the Strait of Hormuz.
"The entire country can be taken out in one night, and that night might be tomorrow night," Trump said as he held a news conference in the White House briefing room.
Trump's latest deadline for Iran to agree to his demands or face a huge bombardment is 8 p.m. ET Tuesday.
"And after that, they're going to have no bridges," Trump said on Monday. "They're going to have no power plants. Stone ages."
The president said the administration is planning a four-hour blitz.
"We have a plan because of the power of our military, where every bridge in Iran will be decimated by 12 o'clock tomorrow night, where every power plant in Iran will be out of business, burning, exploding, and never to be used again," Trump told reporters. "I mean, complete demolition by 12 o'clock. And it will happen over a period of four hours if we want it to."
"We don't want that to happen," the president added.
Trump has previously pushed back his deadlines for Iran to comply with his demands.
When a reporter asked him earlier Monday, "Is Tuesday at 8 p.m. your final deadline?" Trump responded, "Yeah."
ABC News Chief White House Correspondent Mary Bruce asked Trump about his threats to take out Iran's energy infrastructure.
"Wouldn't that be punishing Iranians for the actions of the regime?" Bruce asked.
"They would be willing to suffer that in order to have freedom," Trump responded.
The president claimed, "We've had numerous intercepts, 'Please keep bombing.'"
Experts have warned that possible attacks on civilian infrastructure could constitute a war crime and violate international law, a claim Iran makes as well.
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt, when pressed on the issue last week, told reporters: "Of course, this administration and the United States Armed Forces will always act within the confines of the law."
President Trump on Monday, though, repeatedly brushed off questions about whether he was concerned his threatened attacks could amount to a war crime.
"I’m not worried about it," Trump told reporters earlier Monday during the White House Easter Egg Roll.
"You know what’s a war crime? Having a nuclear weapon. Allowing a sick country with demented leadership have a nuclear weapon, that's a war crime," Trump continued.
Iran's deputy foreign minister, Kazem Gharibabadi, said in a post on X that if the U.S. attacks power plants, then Iran would deliver "a decisive, immediate, and regret-inducing response."
Amid the threats of escalation, questions abound about the status of talks between the U.S. and Tehran.
According to a U.S. official and another person close to the ongoing talks, mediators are attempting to broker a 45-day ceasefire between the U.S. and Iran ahead of Trump's latest deadline. Iran signaled it would not accept the mediators' proposal on Monday, responding instead with its own 10-point plan.
When asked about the ceasefire proposal, Trump said that it's a "significant step" but "not good enough," although it wasn't immediately clear which of several proposals he was referring to.
Trump would not discuss specifics of ceasefire negotiations during Monday's briefing.
"But we are dealing with them. I think it's going well," Trump said. He added, "I think it's going fine, but we'll have to see. You have to understand, we've been dealing with these people for 47 years."
When asked if the conflict is winding down or ramping up, Trump said: "I can't tell you. I don't know."
"It depends what they do," he continued. "This is a critical period. They have a period of, well, until tomorrow at 8 o'clock."
