As the countdown continued to US President Donald Trump’s ultimatum to Iran for talks, President Massoud Pezeshkian vowed that Iranians are ready to sacrifice their lives to defend the country.
He made these comments in a post on X. The Iranian President said that he too is ready to sacrifice for the country.
“So far, more than 14 million proud Iranians have expressed their readiness to sacrifice their lives in defense of Iran. I too have been, am and will be a sacrificer for Iran,” Pazeshkian wrote in a post on Twitter.
Earlier, Iran’s Deputy Sports Minister Alireza Rahimi called on the country’s athletes and artists to form a “human chain” around power plants, a symbolic and physical effort to prevent possible air strikes following several specific ultimatums by US President Donald Trump.
In a video message, he invited all youth, players, artists, students and teachers to gather near power plants at 2 pm (Iran local time) on Tuesday. “These are our wealth and property,” he said in the message.
The call to create human shields comes in response to President Trump’s recent “8:00 p.m. deadline” (Washington time, Tuesday night) for Iran to reopen the Strait of Hormuz.
Trump has warned that if Iran does not comply with the deadline, there will be a massive simultaneous bombing targeting all its power generation plants and bridges.
Trump said Monday that the goal would be to leave these facilities “burning, exploding, and never to be used again” within four hours.
During a press briefing at the White House, Trump said, “The entire country could be destroyed in a single night, and that night could be tomorrow night.”
Trump also gave Iran an ultimatum to reach a deal before 8:00 pm (Eastern Time) on Tuesday and warned that “there will be no bridges, no power plants” after that.
Trump said this is a “delicate period” and Washington has given Tehran the time it needs to reach a compromise to end the war.
Donald Trump said, “This is a critical period. They requested a seven-day extension; I gave them 10 days. They have until tomorrow. Now let’s see what happens. A lot of people are affected by this. We are giving them until 8 o’clock in the morning (Eastern Time). After that, they will have neither bridges, nor power plants. It will be like a Stone Age situation. “