US strikes Iran military targets as Trump escalates threat

TEHRAN, Apr 7 (AP): Iranian officials on Tuesday urged young people to form human chains to protect power plants, as US President Donald Trump warned that a "whole civilization will die tonight" if Tehran does not meet his latest deadline to agree to a deal that includes reopening the Strait of Hormuz.

Meanwhile, airstrikes hit two bridges and a train station in Iran, and the US struck military targets on the Iranian oil hub of Kharg Island. The attack marked the second time the island was hit by American forces.

Trump has extended previous deadlines but suggested the one set for 8 pm in Washington was final, and the rhetoric on both sides reached a fever pitch, leaving Iranians on edge.

Trump threatened to destroy all of Iran's power plants and bridges if Tehran does not allow traffic to fully resume in the strait, through which a fifth of the world's oil transits in peacetime. Iran's president said 14 million people, including himself, have volunteered to fight.

It was not clear if the latest airstrikes were linked to Trump's threat to attack bridges. At least two of the targets were connected to Iran's rail network, and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israeli warplanes struck bridges and railways in Iran.

Tehran fired on Israel and Saudi Arabia, prompting the temporary closure of a major bridge.

AP correspondent Charles de Ledesma reports Iran's leader, who is calling for human chains around power plants as President Trump's deadline nears, says millions of Iranians have answered calls to volunteer to fight should there be a ground invasion by the US.

While Iran cannot match the sophistication of US and Israeli weaponry or their dominance in the air, its chokehold on the strait is roiling the world economy and raising the pressure on Trump both at home and abroad to find a way out of the standoff.

Officials involved in diplomatic efforts said talks were ongoing, but Iran has rejected the latest American proposal, and it was unclear if a deal would come in time to head off Trump's threatened attacks. World leaders and experts warned that strikes as destructive as Trump threatened could constitute a war crime.

As the deadline approaches, rhetoric ramps up

"A whole civilization will die tonight, never to be brought back again," if a deal isn't reached, Trump said in a post Tuesday morning, while keeping open the possibility of an off-ramp, saying that "maybe something revolutionarily wonderful can happen."

In a statement, Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) says it has shown "considerable restraint" and "exercised care in selecting targets for retaliation" against the US and its regional partners.

"From this point forward, all such considerations will be set aside," it says in a statement shared on state-run media.

The IRGC also says that if the US military "crosses red lines, our response will go beyond the region" - adding that it will target the US and its partners' infrastructure and disrupt regional oil and gas supplies for years.

AFP adds: Overnight attacks on Saudi Arabia hit a petrochemical complex in a sprawling industrial area in the eastern city of Jubail, a witness who requested anonymity told AFP on Tuesday, hours after similar installations in Iran were struck.

"An attack caused a fire at the SABIC plants in Jubail. The sounds of explosions were very loud," the source said, referring to the Saudi Basic Industries Corporation.

Jubail in eastern Saudi Arabia is home to one of the world's largest industrial cities, where steel, gasoline, petrochemicals, lubricating oil and chemical fertilisers are produced.

The source later told AFP that workers in affected areas had been evacuated from their living quarters.