President Donald Trump has set a precise deadline for a further round of strikes on Iran, stating that operations would begin at 20:00 Washington time on Tuesday unless Tehran agrees to his terms. He said the first four hours would see “every bridge and power plant” in the country “decimated”, adding that “very little is off-limits”.
He framed the alternative as a deal “acceptable to me”, with a component requiring “free traffic of oil” through the Strait of Hormuz. The emphasis on secure maritime passage places energy supply and shipping risk at the centre of the negotiation.
With five weeks of joint US–Israeli operations behind them, there is little indication that Tehran will accept the ultimatum. Iranian officials have rejected a temporary ceasefire and set out their own conditions, which a US official described as “maximalist”.
The president has already extended earlier deadlines three times in the past three weeks. A further extension would delay immediate escalation but, after such explicit threats, it risks eroding credibility as the campaign continues.
Mr Trump insisted the United States had already achieved military dominance. “We won,” he said, arguing that Iran is “militarily defeated” and that the remaining pressure lies in what he called the “psychology” of threatening to lay mines in regional waters.
That psychology matters at the Strait of Hormuz, a critical chokepoint for global tanker traffic. The prospect of drones, missiles and mines deterring shipowners can disrupt flows even without a formal closure, pushing up insurance costs and complicating voyage planning for carriers and refiners.
At a White House press conference on Monday, he praised recent US operations, citing last year’s “Midnight Hammer” strikes on Iranian nuclear sites, the January capture of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, and a weekend mission that recovered two downed American airmen deep inside Iran.
Senior officials highlighted the rescue as evidence of precision and scale, describing extensive deception measures, advanced technology and the coordination of hundreds of aircraft and elite personnel. Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth called the averted loss of life a “potential tragedy”, underscoring the risks US forces still face.
Even as he lauded US capabilities, Mr Trump acknowledged constraints. “We can bomb the hell out of them,” he said, before warning that to close the Strait “all you need is one terrorist”. The remark underlined the asymmetry that continues to shape calculations on both sides.
He also tempered his threats with a reconstruction calculus. He said he does not want to destroy Iranian infrastructure, estimating that if the United States stopped now it would take Iran two decades to rebuild, and that following through fully on the new bombing plan would push recovery to “a century”.
Humanitarian consequences were left largely implicit but loom over any strike package aimed at power generation and transport links. Iranian officials have promised “crushing” retaliation; any large-scale damage to dual-use infrastructure would carry extensive civilian impacts and regional spillovers.
Despite the rhetoric, Mr Trump said there remains “an active, willing participant” on the Iranian side and that “every single thing has been thought out” in his plan, which he declined to detail. “They have till tomorrow,” he concluded, setting a binary choice between an agreement centred on maritime passage and de-escalation, or a renewed air campaign starting at 20:00 in Washington.