Apocalypse Now: Trump threatens to erase 5000-year civilisation

TOI correspondent from Washington: US President Donald Trump has threatened to erase Iranian civilisation if it did not re-open the Hormuz Straits by 8 p.m on Tuesday night (5.30 a.m IST Wednesday), potentially inviting the designation as a war criminal amid calls for replacing him constitutionally from some of his own MAGA supporters.

In a social media post that was almost universally seen as unhinged and evoked comparison with Hitler, Trump said “A whole civilisation will die tonight, never to be brought back again. I don’t want that to happen, but it probably will.” The extreme threat, the likes of which the modern world has never seen, came after he warned Iran that the US will destroy every bridge and every power plant in the country if it does not reopen the Hormuz Straits, calling its leader “crazy b*****ds” in a post on Easter Sunday.




Trump however held out a small ray of hope that he may not have to go to that extreme, claiming “now that we have Complete and Total Regime Change, where different, smarter, and less radicalized minds prevail, maybe something revolutionarily wonderful can happen, WHO KNOWS?” While he appeared to be referring to Iranian interlocutors that his aides were talking to through third party back channels, there were little signs the leadership in Teheran was bending to his diktat.

“We will find out tonight, one of the most important moments in the long and complex history of the World. 47 years of extortion, corruption, and death, will finally end. God Bless the Great People of Iran!” Trump concluded in his incendiary post that put the world on edge.

The US President’s threat to eviscerate legatees of the 5000-year old civilisation – whose forbears had writing, accounting, and administration when Trump’s ancestors had no written language or unified identity and were considered primitive – evoked revulsion among most Americans. While a few hardcore Trump supporters suggested that the threats were just pressure tactics to bend Teheran to his will, other analysts argued that the threat to erase a civilisation, no matter how much you try and spin, doesn't refer to a form of government; it refers to a people, to civilians, to culture, to heritage.

“Trump believes he is threatening Iran with destruction, but it is America that now stands in danger. If he attempts to eradicate Iranian civilization, the United States will no longer be viewed as a stabilizing force, but as an agent of chaos—effectively ending our status as the world’s greatest superpower. This would upend our economy and shatter the global order,” cautioned Joe Kent, former Director of the National Counterterrorism Center who quit last month protesting the Iran War.

The Trump threat also evoked comparison to Hitler, with concern in some quarters that the US President may also resort to using nuclear weapons. “He needs to be stopped. I know the comparison to Hitler is overused but it's rarely been more warranted: he's literally speaking about erasing a whole civilization,” warned Arnaud Bertrand, a geopolitical analyst, noting that “It's increasingly clear that it's not Iran that can't be trusted with nuclear weapons…”

Speculation about possible use of nukes by the US came after US vice-president JD Vance said during a trip to Europe that US forces have tools they "so far haven't decided to use" to enforce the Trump ultimatum. "Literally nothing @VP said here 'implies' this, you absolute buffoons,” the White House clapped back.

But commentators and analysts across the board, both from the left and right, were revolted by Trump's outbursts, some going as far as calling for a mutiny. “Genuinely one of the most proudly evil men of all time. Military needs to revolt. In a sane country he would be immediately removed," liberal podcaster Krystal Ball said. "To send a tweet with the F word on Easter morning promising the murder of civilians and then saying ‘praise be to Allah’ — you are mocking every other Christian and me,” raged Tucker Carlson, a conservative who has lately parted ways with Trump, calling him evil. "Desecrating Easter was the first step toward nuclear war. Christians need to understand where Trump is taking us," he said in a post on X.

Even MAGA wingnuts, including those on the lunatic fringe, were going into a meltdown over Trump’s tactics and his language of annihilation. “How do we 25th amendment his ass?” asked Alex Jones -- widely seen as a right wing crazy who is now suggesting that Trump is crazier -- referring to a constitutional provision relating to presidential succession due to disability.