Trump's 8 PM Deadline Passes as Strikes Hit Iranian Bridges and Railways
Israel struck eight bridges and multiple railway lines across Iran on Tuesday as Trump's 8 PM deadline for Iran to reopen the Strait of Hormuz expired. Trump said he had a plan for 'complete demolition by 12 o'clock.' Iran rejected a 45-day ceasefire and called the threats 'incitement to genocide.'
President Trump set an 8 PM ET deadline on Tuesday, April 7 -- Day 38 of the conflict -- for Iran to agree to reopen the Strait of Hormuz or face strikes on civilian infrastructure. The deadline passed with no deal.
"A whole civilization will die tonight, never to be brought back again," Trump wrote on Truth Social. "I don't want that to happen, but it probably will."
Strikes Before the Deadline
Even before 8 PM, infrastructure strikes were already underway. Israel's military said Tuesday it had launched attacks on eight bridges in Iran, destroying sections it claimed were used for transporting weapons and military equipment. Multiple railway lines, freeways, and roads across Iran were struck throughout Tuesday. One attack on a railway bridge killed two people.
Trump told reporters the U.S. had a plan under which every bridge and power plant in Iran could be destroyed by midnight Tuesday -- "complete demolition by 12 o'clock." He said the U.S. could eliminate all Iranian bridges "within hours" and reduce power plants to rubble in a similar timeframe.
The U.S. also carried out "dozens" of strikes against military targets on Kharg Island late Monday night and early Tuesday morning, extending the pattern of strikes on Iran's oil export infrastructure.
What He's Demanding
The core demand: reopen the Strait of Hormuz to all vessel traffic. The strait, a narrow waterway between Iran, Oman, and the UAE, carries roughly 20 million barrels of oil per day and about one-fifth of global liquefied natural gas. Iran closed it to commercial shipping after U.S. and Israeli strikes began.
The deadline -- 8 PM ET Tuesday, which is 3:30 AM Wednesday in Tehran -- was the most specific timeline Trump had attached to any threat since the conflict began.
Iran's Response
Tehran rejected a 45-day ceasefire proposal, demanding a permanent cessation of hostilities instead. Iranian envoy Amir-Saeid Iravani called the threats "incitement to war crimes and potentially genocide."
Iran's president announced that 14 million citizens had volunteered to fight, including himself. Revolutionary Guard officials warned they would deprive the entire region of oil and gas for years if Trump followed through on strikes against civilian infrastructure. One military commander called Trump's threats "baseless" and "delusional," warning that any repeat of strikes on non-civilian targets would be met with a response "far more forcefully and on a much wider scale."
Reports emerged Tuesday that Iran had cut off direct negotiations with the U.S. ahead of the deadline, though the White House declined to confirm or deny the status of talks. A senior Iranian source told Reuters that indirect communications continued through Islamabad, but that Tehran was unwilling to show flexibility "as long as Washington demands surrender under pressure."
The Oil Seizure Angle
Separately, Trump floated seizing control of Iran's oil sector, framing it as both a war spoil and trade leverage against China.
"To the winner belong the spoils," he told reporters when asked to clarify. "If I had my choice, yeah, because I'm a businessman first."
He referenced Venezuela as precedent, claiming "the war was over in about 45 minutes" and that the U.S. had "taken hundreds of millions of barrels." He suggested willingness to deploy ground forces to secure Iranian oil fields.
Bloomberg reported the administration was weighing how seized Iranian oil capacity could be used as leverage in ongoing trade negotiations with China, which has been Iran's largest remaining oil customer.
Diplomatic Scramble
Pakistan's prime minister urged Trump to extend the deadline, proposing a two-week ceasefire during which Iran would temporarily reopen the strait. Mediators from Pakistan, Egypt, and Turkey worked through Tuesday "racing against time" toward a compromise framework.
Iran linked any agreement to reopen the strait to sanctions relief, while the U.S. expressed openness to easing some sanctions on Iran's oil sector to stabilize global energy markets.
The talks face a structural gap: Iran demands an end to the war as a precondition for reopening the strait, while the U.S. demands the strait reopened as a precondition for any deal.
Regional Impact
Kuwait instructed citizens to stay home as the deadline approached. Bond investors braced for a selloff. Oil prices rose through Tuesday trading as the deadline neared.