Iran defies Trump’s deadline over Strait of Hormuz opening

Brian Finucane, a former U.S. State Department legal advisor now with the International Crisis Group, said Trump’s remarks “could plausibly be interpreted as ​a threat to commit genocide” under U.S. and international law.

The U.S. State Department warned Americans in Bahrain to shelter in place until further notice, while Iran’s Borna news agency said air defences had been activated over Tehran, with fighter planes flying at low​altitude over the city.

With only hours left before the deadline, a senior Iranian source said Tehran was still refusing to reopen the strait without U.S. concessions that had so far not been forthcoming.

Pakistan, the main go-between, was continuing to relay messages, but Washington had not softened its stance, the source said. If the U.S. carried out Trump’s threat to hit Iran’s power grid, Tehran would plunge Gulf states including Saudi Arabia into darkness, the source added, a threat that had been conveyed to Washington via Qatar.

Earlier, another senior Iranian source told Reuters that Tehran had rejected a proposal ​conveyed by intermediaries for a temporary ceasefire.

Any talks on a lasting peace could begin only after the U.S. and Israel stopped bombing, guaranteed not to resume and offered compensation for damage, the source said. Iran would also insist on retaining control of​the strait and imposing transit fees.

There were mixed signals over whether negotiations were continuing. The Wall Street Journal and the New York Times cited Middle Eastern and Iranian sources saying they had broken down and the state-run Tehran Times reported they were ongoing.

An Iranian official said ‌messages were still ⁠being exchanged through Pakistan until late afternoon Tehran time.

Global markets were largely paralysed, hesitant to bet on whether Trump would follow through on his threats or call them off as he has in the past.

Israel launched fresh attacks on Iranian infrastructure ahead of Trump’s deadline, having warned Iranians in a Persian-language social media post that anyone near railways would be in danger.

It had targeted train tracks and bridges that were used by Iran’s Revolutionary Guards to transport operatives, weapons and raw materials, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said, without providing evidence to support his claims.

Power was knocked out in parts of Karaj, west of Tehran, by a strike on transmission lines and a substation.

A synagogue in Tehran was destroyed overnight by what Iran said were Israeli air strikes. Footage in Iranian ​media showed Hebrew texts scattered in the debris.

Israel’s military confirmed the ​strike, stating that it had targeted a senior commander ⁠within the country’s top-level joint military command headquarters, and expressed regret over what it described as the collateral damage to the synagogue.

Iran responded to an overnight attack on a major petrochemical site with a strike on Saudi Arabia’s huge downstream oil industry site at Jubail, where Western oil firms operate multi-billion-dollar ventures. Video verified by Reuters showed smoke and flames rising.

“Up ​to today we have shown great restraint for the sake of good neighbourliness,” Iran’s Revolutionary Guards said in a statement. “But all these restraints have since been removed.”

Negotiations could be derailed ​if Saudi Arabia retaliates as it ⁠could also draw in Pakistan, which has a defence pact with Riyadh that binds both nations to fight for each other in case of a war, a Pakistani source with knowledge of the discussions told Reuters.

Iranians hoped the threatened escalation could be averted.

“I hope it is another bluff by Trump,” Shima, 37, from the central city of Isfahan, told Reuters by phone.

Trump has abruptly called off similar threats over the past several weeks, citing what he has described as productive negotiations with figures in Iran he has never identified. Tehran has ⁠denied any such ​substantive talks have taken place.

Trump was reluctant to comment on the likelihood of a negotiated deal in a telephone interview with Fox News’ Bret Baier.

“He ​wasn’t going to put odds on it, but he said 8 PM is happening,” Baier said. “He said... if we get to that point, there is going to be an attack like they have not seen.”