Iran war: Trump amps up threats ahead of Hormuz deadline

Pope Leo XIV on Tuesday strongly condemned US President Donald Trump's escalating threats to Iran if it fails to meet a deadline he set to reach a deal that would involve reopening the Strait of Hormuz.

On Tuesday, Trump said "a whole civilization will die tonight" if Iran ignores his latest ultimatum.

"Today, as we all know, there was this threat against the entire people of Iran, and this is truly unacceptable," the pope said, in his strongest criticism of the US-Israeli war on Iran to date.

"There are certainly issues here ​of international law, but even more than that, it is ​a moral ‌question for the good of the [world's] people," he told journalists outside his residence in Castel Gandolfo in Italy.

Pope Leo, the first American pope, also called on citizens worldwide to reach out to their political representatives to help bring the conflict to an end.

"People want peace," he said. "I would invite the citizens of all the countries involved to ​contact the authorities — political leaders, ‌congressmen — to ask them to work for peace."

Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has urged US President Donald Trump to extend his deadline to Iran by two weeks, saying that efforts for a peaceful settlement were "progressing steadily, strongly and powerfully."

"To allow diplomacy to run its course, I earnestly request President Trump to extend the deadline for two weeks," Sharif said on X.

He also urged Iran to open the Strait of Hormuz for two weeks as a "goodwill gesture."

"We also urge all warring parties to observe a ceasefire everywhere for two weeks to allow diplomacy to achieve conclusive termination of war, in the interest of long-term peace and stability in the region," he said.

White House press secretary Karoline Leavit told online news website Axios: "The President has been made aware of the proposal, and a response will come."

A senior Iranian official told Reuters news agency that Tehran was positively reviewing Pakistan's two-week ceasefire request.

Iran's envoy to the UN has told the Security Council that Tehran would "take immediate and proportionate" action if Donald Trump follows through on his threats to attack infrastructure in Iran after his overnight deadline expires. 

Amir Saeid Iravani also called out Trump's early morning comments online that threatened the end of "a whole civilization." 

Trump "today resorted to language that is not only deeply irresponsible, but profoundly alarming, declaring that 'the whole civlization will die tonight, never to be brought back.' Such rhetoric is unfitting of any political leader, let alone the head of a Permanent Member of the Council, entrusted with the maintenance of international peace and security," he said. 

Iravani also said that Trump's comment "openly reveals his intent to commit war crimes and crimes against humanity."

Iravani didn't elaborate on what an immediate and proportionate response from Iran might look like. But Iran has so far sought to hit comparable targets in the region to those targeted by the US or Israel.

For instance, when Israel attacked its South Pars gas site in mid-March, Tehran struck a liequfied natural gas production facility across the Gulf in Qatar. Iran has also frequently tried to hit US bases in the region.

It has also warned Gulf countries that it has so far "exercised great restraint" in its responses and attacks on their territory. Gulf states' energy production facilities, pipelines and ports are crucial to the world economy, while the desert countries are massively reliant on their water desalination infrastructure for drinking water. 

Russia and China on Tuesday opposed a UN Security Council resolution that was aiming to reopen the Strait of Hormuz that had been repeatedly watered down in hopes that the superpowers would abstain. 

The vote ended 11-2, with Pakistan and Colombia abstaining. 

Around one-fifth of the world's oil typically passes through the strait off Iran's coastline. 

Bahrain had put forward the motion, which encouraged states "to coordinate efforts, defensive in nature, commensurate to the circumstances, to contribute to ensuring the safety and security of navigation across the Strait of Hormuz." 

How this would have worked in practice, and whether any navies would have been willing to deploy naval assets in the narrow waterway amid the tension and fighting in the region, is not entirely clear, though the text recommended naval escorts as one option, and deterrence as another.

"Failing to adopt this resolution sends the wrong signal to the world, to the people of the world," Bahrain's Foreign Minister Abdullatif bin Rashid Al Zayani said after the vote, "the signal that the threat to international waterway can pass without any decisive action by the international organization responsible for the maintenance of international peace and security." 

The US had supported the motion, also in its original draft form that would have more explicitly authorized the use of force to guard cargo. 

"No one should tolerate that they are holding the global economy at gunpoint," Mike Waltz, US ambassador to the UN, said of Iran.

"But today, Russia and China did tolerate it. They sided with a regime that seeks to intimidate the Gulf into submission, even as it brutalizes it own people during a national blackout, for daring to imagine dignity or freedom." 

Russia and China have blamed the US and Israel for starting the war in Iran and now the wider Gulf region. They argued at the Security Council that the first priority should be halting the fighting, saying this would in turn ease passage through the strait.

The Iran-aligned Iraqi armed group Kataib Hezbollah has said it will release abducted US journalist Shelly Kittelson, on the condition that she leaves Iraq immediately. 

Kittleson was abducted on March 31 in Baghdad. 

According to the AL-Monitor Middle East news site, Kittleson was a US freelance journalist based in Rome who had covered several wars in the region and had contributed articles to the outlet. 

US news agency the Associated Press had earlier reported on moves to try to secure her release. 

Citing unnamed sources in the Iraqi goverment, it reported that Baghdad was willing to release six Kataib Hezbollah members from detention in exchange for the 49-year-old's freedom. 

AP cited anonymous US officials as saying they had warned Kittleson multiple times of threats against her, but the experienced freelance war correspondent replied that she did not want to leave.

The US Embassy in Bahrain has advised American citizens not seeking to leave the Gulf state to shelter in place until further notice. 

"The US Embassy in Manama has direfted all US government employees to shelter in place," it wrote on Tuesday. "We recommend all Americans in Bahrain do the same until further notice. To the extent possible, remain in a secure structure, and stay away from windows." 

The embassy has already suspended routine consular services. It advised people not planning to leave the country to "have a supply of food, water, medications, and other essential items" on hand. 

"Iran and its aligned terrorist militias may intend to target American universities in Bahrain," the embassy warned. "Iran has specifically threatened American universities across the Middle East." 

Two French nationals held in Iran are on their way back to France following their release in November after more than three years in prison on espionage chanrges, President Emmanuel Macron said on Tuesday. 

"Cecile Kohler and Jacques Paris are free and on their way to France, after three and a half years in detention in Iran," Macron wrote online. 

The AFP news agency cited a source at the French Foreign Ministry as saying that they had left Tehran at dawn and were "currently in Azerbaijan." 

Kohler, 41, and Paris, 72, were arrested in May 2022 and sentenced to lengthy jail terms in October, shortly before their eventual release from Tehran's notorius Evin prison as part of a prisoner swap. They had been waiting to leave the country since, something that became more problematic when the US and Israel launched attacks on Iran. 

Both are teachers, though Paris is retired. Their families say their visit to the country had been purely touristic in nature.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel struck railways and bridges in Iran on Tuesday "used by" the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC).

His comments followed reports from Iranian officials of damage to at least two briges and railway infrastructure.

"We are crushing the terror regime in Iran ... with even greater vigor and with increasing force," Netanyahu said in a video released by his office. "Yesterday, our pilots destroyed transport aircraft and dozens of helicopters at an Iranian Air Force base. Today they struck the railways and bridges used by the Revolutionary Guards." 

Netanyahu claimed that the IRGC was using the railways and bridges to transport materials and make weapons.

He said he had approved the strikes with Defense Minister Israel Katz and said they weren't meant to target civilians but rather the government. 

US President Donald Trump's first foray onto social media on Tuesday sought to portray a high-stakes situation, as his self-imposed deadline for Iran to open the Strait of Hormuz nears expiry on Tuesday night with no sign of Tehran budging. 

"A whole civilization will die tonight, never to be brought back again. I don't want that to happen, but it probably will," Trump began. 

But he immediately indicated a willingness to backpedal and voiced hope that Tehran would meet his demands in the next few hours. 

"However, now that we have Complete and Total Regime Change, where different, smarter and less radicalized minds prevail, maybe something revolutionarily wonderful can happen, WHO KNOWS?"

"We will find out tonight, one of the most important moments in the long and complex history of the world," the 79-year-old surmised. 

He concluded his message by proclaiming "God Bless the Great People of Iran," having started by threatening them with extinction four sentences previously. 

Trump's Vice President JD Vance, on deployment in Hungary amid Viktor Orban's difficult election campaign, told reporters that "there's going to be a lot of negotiation between now and then" when the deadline expires at 0000 GMT/UTC Wednesday.

Iranian officials say US-Israeli airstrikes struck two bridges and a highway, killing at least two people.

State media reported the bridges were hit near the holy city of Qom and in Kashan.

A major highway linking Tabriz to Tehran was closed after an overpass was damaged, while power cuts were reported west of the capital.

The Israeli military had said it completed a broad wave of strikes, without mentioning specific targets. 

Explosions have been reported on Iran's Kharg Island, the semi‑official Mehr news agency said.

The agency reported the island, which handles the bulk of Iran's oil exports, was under attack.

Unnamed US officials told Reuters and Axios that the US military had carried out strikes on military targets on Kharg island, without sharing further details. 

During a press conference during his visit to Budapest, US Vice President JD Vance said "military targets" were hit on Kharg Island. 

"My understanding ... is that we were going to strike some military targets on Kharg island: I believe we have done so," Vance said when asked about the reports

The US military previously carried out airstrikes on the island in mid-March.

At least two attackers were killed and one seriously wounded in a gun battle with police outside the building housing the Israeli consulate in Istanbul.

Reuters video shows officers drawing their weapons and taking cover as sustained gunfire echoed for around ten minutes. One person was seen covered in blood.

Other footage captured an apparent attacker moving among police and security buses, firing both an automatic rifle and a handgun. Two bodies were visible nearby.

One police officer was injured during the confrontation.

Authorities have secured the area and are investigating the motive behind the attack.

Overnight attacks hit Saudi Arabia's eastern industrial city of Jubail, reportedly setting fire to a major petrochemical complex.

A witness told the AFP news agency explosions were heard at plants operated by SABIC, the Saudi Basic Industries Corporation, and workers were evacuated from nearby housing.

Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) claimed responsbility for the attacks later Tuesday, claiming they were in response to "aggression against [Iran's] Asaluyeh petrochemical plants," which had reportedly ​been hit by several explosions overnight.

The IRGC said in a statement it used medium range missiles and suicide drones to target the Sadara complex, a $20 billion joint ‌venture between Aramco and Dow that was shut last week, and ‌other ​facilities in Jubail including one belonging to ExxonMobil.

Jubail, in eastern Saudi Arabia, is home to one of the world's largest industrial cities, where steel, gasoline, petrochemicals, lubricating oil and chemical fertilizers are produced.

There was no immediate comment from the Saudi government or SABIC.

Russia is earning billions more from commodity exports as the Strait of Hormuz is effectively closed, according to the German-Russian Foreign Trade Chamber in Moscow.

The chamber, representing German business interests, says Russia is making more than €10 billion ($11.57 billion) a month from oil, gas and fertilizer exports, benefiting from sharply higher global prices.

"At the current price level, Moscow can generate around $50 billion in additional revenue per year from oil and gas alone," the chamber said.

For fertilizer, Russia could achieve up to €8.9 billion in additional revenue under a medium scenario.

All of this could "bring Russia an unexpected windfall on a historic scale," Matthias Schepp, the chamber's chairman, said.

Russia continues to use the proceeds from commodity sales to finance its war against Ukraine.

Oil prices surged in early trading Tuesday as US President Donald Trump's deadline to Iran to open the Strait of Hormuz or be "taken out" loomed. 

Brent crude, the global benchmark, rose above $111 a barrel, up more than 50% since the war began.

US West Texas Intermediate crude climbed to around $115 a barrel, its highest level in a month.

Iran warned that any US attacks on its bridges or power plants would trigger retaliation against Gulf energy infrastructure.

Such a move could further squeeze already tight oil supplies and deepen risks to the global economy.