US President Donald Trump on Tuesday, hours before his deadline for Iran to reopen the Strait of Hormuz expires, warned of catastrophic consequences, saying a “whole civilization" could be wiped out.
“A whole civilization will die tonight, never to be brought back again. I don’t want that to happen, but it probably will," he said in a social media post.
In the same message, Trump appeared to shift tone, suggesting the possibility of regime change in Iran leading to a different outcome.
“However, now that we have complete and total regime change, where different, smarter and less radicalised minds prevail, maybe something revolutionarily wonderful can happen, who knows?" he wrote on Truth Social.
“We will find out tonight, one of the most important moments in the long and complex history of the world."
The US President also accused Iran of decades of “extortion, corruption and death", adding that “47 years" of such actions would come to an end.
US Vice President JD Vance, meanwhile, said that the US ‘has largely accomplished its military objectives’ in Iran, according to a report by AFP.
Vance, visiting Hungary Tuesday to support nationalist Prime Minister Viktor Orban ahead of a close election, also said that “very shortly, this war will conclude…..The nature of the conclusion is up to the Iranians".
The remarks come as reports of attacks on Kharg Island and civilian infrastructure emerge from Iran but the nation is showing no sign of backing down as a US deadline loomed for it to reopen the Strait of Hormuz or have its civilian infrastructure “decimated", according to the US President.
