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Iran official urges young people to form human shields around power plants ahead of Trump's 8 p.m. ET deadline
Iranian officials are urging young people to form human chains around the country’s power plants, part of an effort to thwart U.S. attacks as President Donald Trump warned that a “whole civilization will die tonight” if Iran does not meet his administration’s latest deadline.
Trump has been escalating his threats against Iran, saying U.S. forces would strike civilian infrastructure like power plants and bridges if the country does not reopen the Strait of Hormuz by 8 p.m. ET on Tuesday. The U.S. president has previously threatened to ramp up attacks on the regime if it failed to reopen the critical trade corridor, but ultimately relented.
However, Trump has suggested the latest deadline is final, and on Tuesday the U.S. military struck targets on Kharg Island, a critical oil depot in the strait, as well as two Iranian bridges and a train station, according to The Associated Press.
Meanwhile, Iranian deputy minister of youth and sports Alireza Rahimi recorded a video calling on “all the youth, athletes, artists, university students and professors” to encircle the power plants in an effort to deter airstrikes.
Iran has deployed the use of human shields in the past, including during the Iran-Iraq war in the 1980s, when then Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini used civilians to clear landmines or fight alongside Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) forces.
Iran’s current willingness to use young people and civilians to defend against attacks come as the U.S. and Iran exchange intensifying threats, with both sides digging into their positions.
“A whole civilization will die tonight, never to be brought back again,” Trump said on social media platform Truth Social on Tuesday. “I don’t want that to happen, but it probably will.”
At the same time, the IRGC said it would deprive America and its allies of oil and gas in the region for years,” according to a text message sent to Iranian mobile subscribers.
“America’s regional partners should also know that until today we have shown great restraint for the sake of good neighborliness, but since then all these considerations have been lifted,” the revolutionary guard said, according to the Wall Street Journal.
On X, Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian said that 14 million Iranians have already “registered to sacrifice their lives to defend Iran.”
Iranian military forces have kept a chokehold on the Strait of Hormuz since U.S. air strikes began in late February.
Roughly 20 per cent of the world’s oil supply is shipped through the critical waterway, and so its closure prompted a sharp spike in oil prices. The shutdown has also crimped supplies of other critical products like fertilizers and petrochemicals. Higher oil prices have in turn amplified pressure on Trump to bring the Iran war to an end and restabilize prices.
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