The clock is ticking — and the stakes couldn’t be higher

With only hours left before Trump’s self-imposed deadline, Iran showed no signs of backing down. A senior Iranian source confirmed that Tehran was still refusing to reopen the Strait of Hormuz unless the United States made significant concessions — concessions that, as of the deadline, had not materialised.

Signals about whether negotiations were even still alive were deeply mixed. While The Wall Street Journal and The New York Times cited Middle Eastern and Iranian sources saying talks had collapsed, Iran’s state-run Tehran Times reported otherwise. An Iranian official added that messages were still being exchanged through Pakistan as late as Tuesday afternoon Tehran time.

What Trump actually said — and why it alarmed the world

Trump’s Tuesday remarks were stark. He warned that if Iran refused to reach a deal by the deadline, “a whole civilization will die tonight.” He also threatened to go after Iran’s power plants and core infrastructure — comments that drew immediate and sharp condemnation from lawmakers, legal experts, and international bodies.

Brian Finucane, a former U.S. State Department legal advisor now working with the International Crisis Group, said Trump’s words could reasonably be read as a threat to commit genocide under both U.S. and international law.

Iran pushes back: “Deeply irresponsible”

Iran’s U.N. ambassador, Amir Saeid Iravani, did not hold back. Speaking at an emergency session of the United Nations Security Council, he called Trump’s threats “deeply irresponsible” and “profoundly alarming,” adding that such language had no place coming from a political leader.

The United Nations also weighed in. Secretary-General António Guterres was described by his spokesperson as “very troubled” by Trump’s statement. Spokesperson Stéphane Dujarric stated plainly that no military objective justifies the wholesale destruction of civilian infrastructure or the deliberate infliction of suffering on ordinary people.

U.S. lawmakers sound the alarm: “Comparable to genocide”

Back home in Washington, senior Democrats were equally alarmed. Senator Jack Reed, the top Democrat on the Senate Armed Services Committee and a former army officer himself, issued a blunt statement: “Threatening to eliminate a civilization is comparable to genocide. That is illegal, immoral, and should not be in the vocabulary of an American president.”

Reed went further, warning that Trump’s rhetoric puts the U.S. military in an impossible position. “They cannot carry out an illegal order,” he said, adding that Trump is “setting back our chances of a peaceful ceasefire” and expressing hope that the president’s words remain just that — words, not actions.