Trump’s deadline looms over Iran war as regime calls on civilians to shield power plants

Iranian officials urged youths to form human chains around power plants to protect them on Tuesday, as the latest deadline set by President Trump for Iran to reopen the Strait of Hormuz drew closer.

Mr. Trump has threatened to bomb all of Iran’s power plants and bridges if the regime does not meet his 8 p.m. Eastern deadline to fully reopen the Strait of Hormuz, the vital shipping lane through which a fifth of the world’s crude oil is typically carried, to all commercial vessels.

A government official issued the call via state media for “all young people, athletes, artists, students and university students and their professors” to form human chains around power plants ahead of the threatened strikes.

“Power plants that are our national assets and capital, regardless of any taste or political viewpoint, belong to the future of Iran and to the Iranian youth,” Alireza Rahimi, identified by Iranian state television as the secretary of the Supreme Council of Youth and Adolescents, said in a video address during a newscast.

Iranians have answered previous calls from the regime to form human chains around the country’s nuclear sites at times of heightened tensions with the West.

Iran’s President Masoud Pezeshkian said Tuesday that 14 million Iranians, including himself, “have declared their readiness to sacrifice their lives” in defense of their country if the war requires them to do so. 

Pezeshkian made the comment on X after the youth minister urged people to form human chains, but it did not appear to be a direct reference to that call. The figure the president gave was double what state media have previously said about the response to text messages and other media soliciting volunteers to join Iran’s war effort.

CBS/AP