President Donald Trump warned on Sunday that Iran has 48 hours to reach a peace deal or the United States will start “blowing up the whole country,” naming bridges and power plants as specific targets. The threat, delivered in a phone interview with ABC News correspondent Rachel Scott, marks the president’s most direct ultimatum yet as the conflict between Washington and Tehran continues to escalate.
When asked whether his earlier timeline of two to three weeks for a deal was still in play, Trump made it clear he’s done waiting. “It should be days, not weeks,” he said, adding that Iran “has been decimated, decimated. And every day is going to get worse.” He went on to say, “Every day they’re gonna have to build more bridges, and they’re gonna have to build more power plants and more everything else. There’s been no country that’s ever taken a pounding like that.”
Trump laid out the consequences in blunt terms. “If it happens, it happens. And if it doesn’t, we’re blowing up the whole country,” he said. “It’s going to be bridge day and it’s going to be power plant day in the country of Iran.” When pressed on whether that included targeting civilian infrastructure, Trump dodged the question, saying only, “I don’t want to talk about that.” He also said “very little” would be off limits if no deal is reached and did not rule out sending ground troops to Iran.
The ultimatum echoes a profanity-laced post Trump made on Truth Social earlier Sunday, where he warned Iran of “Power Plant Day” and “Bridge Day” if the Strait of Hormuz wasn’t fully opened by Tuesday at 8 p.m. ET. “Open the F–in’ Strait, you crazy bastards, or you’ll be living in Hell – JUST WATCH!” he wrote. Democratic lawmakers, including Chuck Schumer, blasted Trump for “ranting like an unhinged madman” about Iran on Easter Sunday.
Trump has already extended this deadline multiple times
This is far from the first time Trump has drawn a line in the sand with Iran. He has now set and extended the same type of deadline at least three times, on March 21, March 23, and March 26. On March 26, Trump paused what he called “Energy Plant destruction by 10 days” at Iran’s request, saying peace talks were “going very well.” During a cabinet meeting that same day, Trump claimed Iran was “begging to make a deal” and pointed to Iran allowing 10 Pakistani-flagged oil tankers through the strait as a sign of progress.
But Iran tells a very different story. The U.S. sent a 15-point peace proposal through Pakistani mediators, but Iran’s state media quoted an official on March 25 saying the country had rejected it outright. Iranian officials have denied that negotiations are even happening. Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said on state TV that “Iran’s power is the Hormuz Strait” and that the waterway is only closed to “our natural enemies”, countries that support U.S. and Israeli military action against Iran.
“We are in a wartime situation; the region is a war zone,” Araghchi said. “There is no reason to allow the ships of our enemies and their allies to pass, but it is free for the rest.”
Iran fires back at Trump’s threats
Iranian Parliament Speaker Mohammad-Bagher Ghalibaf responded directly to Trump on X. “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,” Ghalibaf wrote. “Make no mistake: You won’t gain anything through war crimes. The only real solution is respecting the rights of the Iranian people and ending this dangerous game.”
Araghchi also pushed back on Trump’s earlier promise to send Iran “back to the stone ages,” posting on X, “There’s one striking difference between the present and the Stone Age: there was no oil or gas being pumped in the Middle East back then.” He asked, “Are POTUS and Americans who put him in office sure that they want to turn back the clock?”
Meanwhile, tensions on the ground remain high. Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps claimed on Saturday that it struck an Israeli-linked container ship, the MSC Ishyka, with a drone near the Strait of Hormuz. Neither Israel nor the U.S. has confirmed the attack. The Tuesday 8 p.m. ET deadline is now roughly 48 hours away, and whether Trump follows through, extends again, or announces a breakthrough remains to be seen.
