Iran calls on young people to protect power plants with human chains
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Dubai: Airstrikes pounded Tehran on Tuesday as Iranian officials called on young people to form human chains to protect power plants, just hours before the expiry of US President Donald Trump’s latest deadline for Iran to reopen the Strait of Hormuz or face sweeping attacks on its infrastructure.
Trump, who has extended previous deadlines, indicated that the 8 p.m. Washington deadline would be final. His warnings marked a sharp escalation, with threats to destroy Iran’s power plants and bridges if traffic through the strait — a vital route for a fifth of global oil — is not fully restored.
Iran’s president said 14 million people, including himself, had volunteered to fight, underscoring the heightened tensions gripping the country. While Iran lacks the advanced military capabilities of the United States and Israel, its control over the strait has already disrupted the global economy, increasing pressure on Trump domestically and internationally to resolve the crisis.
Diplomatic efforts are ongoing, officials said, but Iran has rejected the latest US proposal, raising doubts over whether a deal can be reached in time to avert the threatened strikes. Global leaders and experts have warned that attacks of the scale described by Trump could amount to war crimes.
Meanwhile, a wave of strikes across Iran, including in residential areas of Tehran, has killed nearly three dozen people. Iran has retaliated with attacks on Israel and Saudi Arabia, prompting the temporary closure of a major bridge.
Reinforcing his deadline, Trump warned that “the entire country can be taken out in one night,” adding that “every bridge in Iran will be decimated” and power plants left “burning, exploding and never to be used again.”
In response, Iranian official Alireza Rahimi urged “young people, athletes, artists, students and professors” to form protective human chains around power plants, describing them as “national assets.” Similar actions have been taken in the past around nuclear facilities during periods of heightened tension.
President Masoud Pezeshkian, in a post on X, said he too was ready to sacrifice his life for Iran, echoing mass mobilisation calls circulated through state media and text campaigns. A Revolutionary Guard general also urged parents to send their children to man checkpoints, which have repeatedly been targeted in airstrikes.
The escalating rhetoric has drawn international concern. France’s Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot warned that attacks on civilian and energy infrastructure would violate international law and risk triggering a dangerous cycle of escalation with global economic consequences.
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres also cautioned that such strikes are prohibited under international law. Despite this, Trump told reporters he was “not at all” concerned about committing war crimes.
With PTI inputs
