President Donald Trump reiterated to Fox News anchor Bret Baier on Tuesday that the U.S. would strike Iran’s civilian infrastructure if the country didn’t agree to a deal to open the Strait of Hormuz by his 8 p.m. ET deadline.
“8 p.m. is happening,” Trump told Baier, according to the Fox News anchor.
Baier said the president called him on Tuesday to discuss the threat. The Fox News anchor asked Trump what the odds were of a U.S. strike on the civilian infrastructure, which would include bridges and power plants.
Trump said he wouldn’t place odds on the state of negotiations, but he said Iran would face an attack “like they have not seen” during the war, as Baier recalled.
“He said if negotiations move forward today, and there is something concrete that could change,” Baier said. “But at this hour, he didn’t want to put odds on it, but he said it is moving forward with the plans that we have.”
The conversation followed Trump’s Tuesday morning Truth Social post that warned “a whole civilization will die tonight, never to be brought back again” if Iran didn’t agree to a deal.
“I don’t want that to happen, but it probably will,” Trump wrote. “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.”
Both Trump fans and critics condemned the threat, with British journalist Piers Morgan decrying it as a “pre-admission of genocide.” Some staunch conservatives — including former Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) and podcaster Candace Owens — joined some Democrats on Tuesday in calling for the invocation of the 25th Amendment to remove Trump from power over the threat.
The constitutional amendment allows the vice president and Cabinet officials to declare the president incapacitated to Congress and for the vice president to assume the duties of the president.
