• PM Shehbaz seeks two-week extension to US deadline in last-ditch diplomatic push
• US threatens strikes on Iran’s critical infrastructure if Hormuz remains closed
• Iran refuses to comply without concessions; millions form human chains to protect power plants
• US-Israel strikes intensify across Iran; bridges, railways, oil facilities hit
• Iran retaliates with strikes on Gulf targets, including Saudi petrochemical complex
• Global concern rises over US rhetoric; UN, pope warn against escalation, civilian harm

DUBAI: US President Donald Trump warned that “a whole civilisation will die tonight” as Iran showed no sign of accepting his ultimatum to reopen the Strait of Hormuz, while Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif called for a two-week pause in hostilities to allow diplomacy to proceed.

Trump had given Iran until 8pm in Washington — 3:30am in Tehran and 5am in Pakistan — to end its blockade of Gulf oil or see the US destroy every bridge and power plant in Iran.

Amid the escalating crisis, PM Shehbaz said diplomatic efforts for a peaceful settlement were “progressing steadily, strongly and powerfully” and could yield “substantive results” soon.

He urged Trump to extend the deadline by two weeks and called on Iran to reopen the Strait of Hormuz for the same period 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 in a social media post.

A senior Iranian official told Reuters that Tehran was positively reviewing Pakistan’s request for a two-week ceasefire. The White House said Trump was aware of Pakistan’s proposal, saying a response would come.

Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan also held a phone call with Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar on Tuesday as part of diplomatic efforts aimed at ending the Iran war, Turkish foreign ministry sources told Reuters.

Meanwhile, speaking in Budapest, Vice President JD Vance said the United States has “tools in our toolkit that we so far haven’t decided to use” against Iran, without explaining further.

The White House later denied that Vance was alluding to nuclear weapons, while Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said in a statement to AFP that “only the President knows where things stand and what he will do”.

Iran said it would retaliate against US allies in the Gulf, whose desert cities would be uninhabitable without power or water.

Iranians formed human chains to protect power plants on Tuesday, as top officials said they were also prepared to sacrifice their lives.

After a campaign online and through SMS texts to sign up for the human chains nationwide, officials claimed that more than 14 million people had joined.

The state-run IRNA news agency showed people forming a human chain “to support power plants” in the southern city of Bushehr, which is home to Iran’s nuclear power plant.

As the clock ticked down on Trump’s deadline, strikes on Iran intensified, hitting a bridge outside the city of Qom, a rail bridge in central Iran that killed two people, an airport and a petrochemical plant.

US forces attacked targets on Kharg Island, home to Iran’s main oil export terminal.

Regional authorities also said a US-Israeli strike shut down a key highway in northern Iran connecting the city of Tabriz with Tehran.

The Mizan news agency additionally reported a strike on railway tracks in Karaj, outside Tehran.

Iran responded by declaring it would no longer hold back from hitting its Gulf neighbours’ infrastructure, and said it had carried out fresh strikes on a ship in the Gulf and a huge Saudi petrochemical complex.

Trump’s threats reach new level

“A whole civilisation will die tonight, never to be brought back again. I don’t want that to happen, but it probably will,” Trump wrote on Truth Social, in a statement directed at a nation that prides itself on being one of the world’s earliest centres of civilisation.

“However, now that we have Complete and Total Regime Change, where different, smarter, and less radicalised 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.”

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

The UN’s rights chief decried the “incendiary rhetoric” in the Middle East war on Tuesday, warning that deliberate attacks on civilians and civilian infrastructure was “a war crime”.

Pope Leo said that threats against the population of Iran are “unacceptable”. US lawmaker Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez called Trump’s threat to destroy Iran’s “civilisation” a threat of genocide that “merits removal from office”.

The US 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.

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

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.

Markets paralysed

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 Israeli air strikes. Footage showed Hebrew texts scattered in the debris.

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 multibillion-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.”

Meanwhile, 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.

University student Metanat, whose classmate was killed two weeks ago in an attack, told AFP that she felt “terrified and so should everyone else in the country”.

The 27-year-old, who declined to give her last name, said as far as Trump’s ultimatums were concerned, “some people think they are a joke”, but “death is not a joke”.

Published in Dawn, April 8th, 2026