Trump Warns Iran He Could Strike ‘Every Power Plant,’ in WSJ Interview today
Posted by Sia on April 5, 2026, 4:29 pm ADMIN
Trump Warns Iran He Could Strike ‘Every Power Plant,’ in WSJ Interview
‘If they don’t do something by Tuesday evening, they won’t have any power plants and they won’t have any bridges standing’
By Meridith McGraw - Updated April 5, 2026 1:44 pm ET
WASHINGTON—President Trump threatened to destroy all of Iran’s power plants if the country’s leaders don’t agree to reopen the Strait of Hormuz by Tuesday evening, ratcheting up pressure on Tehran.
“If they don’t come through, if they want to keep it closed, they’re going to lose every power plant and every other plant they have in the whole country,” Trump said in an eight-minute interview with The Wall Street Journal on Sunday.
Pressed on when he thinks the war will end, Trump said, “I will let you know pretty soon.”
“But we are in a position that’s very strong, and that country will take 20 years to rebuild, if they’re lucky, if they have a country,” he said. “And if they don’t do something by Tuesday evening, they won’t have any power plants and they won’t have any bridges standing.”
The comments came hours after U.S. forces in a daring early Sunday morning mission rescued an American aviator trapped in Iran for more than 24 hours. They also come as Iran appears determined to carry out a war of attrition and demonstrate its control over Persian Gulf oil shipments.
Asked if he is concerned that the people of Iran, a country of 93 million people, could suffer if civilian infrastructure is hit, Trump said, “No, they want us to do it,” arguing that Iranian people are “living in hell.”
In recent weeks, Tehran has been mobilizing its population in ways that seek to harness the spirit of its 1980s war with Iraq, including drives to recruit millions of Iranians.
In a social-media post on Sunday morning, Trump threatened to destroy Iran’s power plants and bridges on Tuesday if the Strait of Hormuz isn’t reopened. But the post offered few details about how expansive the attacks might be.
A screenshot of a Truth Social post by Donald J. Trump, threatening Iran if they don't open the strait. Under international law, the military is allowed to strike civilian power plants and other key infrastructure only if it contributes to a military operation and civilian harm is minimized.
The Journal previously reported that aides to Trump have said these types of narrowly focused strikes are allowable because they are meant to hamper Tehran’s ability to build missiles, drones and nuclear weapons. Widespread strikes on power plants and bridges, regardless of military value, raise legal and humanitarian questions.
In the interview, the president also shared new details about the dramatic rescue of two U.S. airmen whose F-15E was shot down over Iran. Trump said the Friday rescue of the first airman was kept quiet so a search could continue for the second pilot, who was wounded but climbed up to a mountain crevice where he was rescued.
The Central Intelligence Agency carried out a deception operation to help protect the U.S. airman, the Journal has reported, spreading word within Iran that American forces had already located him and were preparing to fly him out of the country.
“We didn’t play up the first one, because then they would have found out about the second one,” Trump said. “You know, normally this is not done. When airmen go down, you can’t get them in very tough countries.”
The two pilots were in the same plane but landed a long distance apart because of the speed at which the jet was flying when the airmen evacuated, Trump said.
“Even though they’re only separated by five or six seconds, five or six seconds when you’re going 1,000 miles an hour, so that’s many miles, right?” he said.
“They were out there looking for him, the soldiers were all over the place looking for him because they knew he was somewhere. A lot of great things happened.”
In the interview, Trump declined to answer whether the U.S. believed Iran used Chinese or Russian air defense capabilities to shoot down the American plane. “Maybe they did, maybe they didn’t,” he said.
The president’s self-imposed Tuesday deadline comes as Iran approaches Trump’s earlier 10-day deadline to make a deal and open the Strait of Hormuz—which was slated to end on Monday. On Sunday afternoon, Trump posted “Tuesday, 8:00 P.M. Eastern Time!"
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Sia: This suggests that trump is still alive and talking since he granted the 8 minute interview with the WSJ.
on April 5, 2026, 4:29 pm
