Middle East Crisis Live: Trump Says He Is Not at All Worried About Possible War Crimes as His Deadline Nears

Shrai Popat has tracked growing dissent towards the US president among key Maga figures over his latest threats towards Iran

Donald Trump's threat to eradicate a “whole civilization†if Iran refuses a deal that includes reopening the strait of Hormuz has thrown the country's political split‑screen into even starker relief.

Republicans and several former officials have praised the administration's stance in the stalled negotiations with Tehran as overdue decisiveness. Democrats, by contrast, described the president's latest remarks – startling even by the standards of a leader who routinely escalates his own rhetoric – as grounds for removal.

But some of the most forceful backlash is coming from inside Trump's own coalition. A number of far‑right commentators who once formed the bedrock of his base have broken with him over Operation Epic Fury and his threats to strike civilian and energy infrastructure. Many accuse him of abandoning his campaign promise to keep the US out of foreign conflicts in the weeks since the US‑Israel war on Iran began.

Former Fox News anchor Tucker Carlson called the strategy “vile on every level†on Monday's episode of his online show, saying that “not even a month and a half into the conflict … we're going to use our military to kill the civilians of this countryâ€.

Marjorie Taylor Greene – previously one of Trump's most reliable allies on Capitol Hill – has joined Democrats in calling for his removal under the 25th amendment. Conspiracy theorist and right‑wing broadcaster Alex Jones also urged Trump's ouster. “You can have a good leader, and they just go crazy,†he said on social media. “That's the madness of a king.â€

Meanwhile Candace Owens, once a darling of the Maga movement, reiterated her condemnation of the bombing campaign, calling Trump “a genocidal lunatic†and urging Congress and the military to intervene.

France has urged the US not to go ahead with a threat to erase Iran's “whole civilisationâ€.

The French foreign minister Jean-Noel Barrot said on Tuesday that he hoped Donald Trump would not go ahead with his latest threats against Iran.

“One does not erase a civilisation … This ultimatum is not the first that President Trump has set since the war started,†Barrot told France 2 television.

“Obviously I hope he does not go ahead with his threats that would push the region but also the world in a new escalation that would be particularly dangerous,†he added

The US embassy in the Riyadh has advised US citizens to reconsider travel to the country amid the war, per a travel advisory from the Saudi authorities.

It also advised Americans to reconsider “participation in Hajj this year†– the annual Muslim pilgrimage to the holy city of Mecca – “due to the ongoing security situation and intermittent travel disruptionsâ€.

Kuwait's interior ministry has asked residents to stay home from midnight to 6am on Wednesday.

The “precautionary measure†spans the timing of Donald Trump's threats against Tehran.

It “aims to maintain safety, support security operations, and ensure stability,†the ministry said in a post on X. “Everyone is asked to follow instructions and cooperate with authorities.â€

Iran's representative to the UN has said that Tehran will “take immediate and proportionate†action if Donald Trump follows through on his threats to attack the country's “whole civilisationâ€.

Amir-Saeid Iravani said Trump's threats that a “whole civilization will die†if Iran does not make a deal “constitute incitement to war crimes and potentially genocideâ€.

During a UN Security Council session on the strait of Hormuz earlier, he urged the international community to call out Trump's rhetoric before it's too late.

Iran will not stand idle in the face of such egregious war crimes. It will exercise, without hesitation, its inherent right of self-defense and will take immediate and proportionate reciprocal measures.

As we've been reporting, Donald Trump is weighing whether to follow through with his threat to bomb Iran's critical infrastructure, including bridges, power plants, and electrical and desalinisation facilities – which could amount to a war crime if carried out.

To that end, the Pentagon has reportedly prepared options for him that include targets that are used for both military and civilian purposes, NBC News reports, citing two US officials.

Deliberately attacking civilian infrastructure indiscriminately would violate international law and could be prosecuted as a war crime.

Per NBC News's report: “Targeting infrastructure that is considered ‘dual use' could allow the administration to argue the US is hitting military targets and avoid the technical definition of a war crime.â€

As the world contemplates how seriously to take Donald Trump's latest threats towards Iran, the White House has reiterated his demand that Tehran reach a deal within the next few hours, saying that only the US president knows how he will respond if Tehran fails to comply.

“The Iranian regime has until 8pm Eastern Time [00:00 GMT] to meet the moment and make a deal with the United States,†White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt has told several outlets including Al Jazeera and the Wall Street Journal.

Only the president knows where things stand and what he will do.

In a widely condemned statement (which many agree could amount to war crimes if carried out), Trump earlier threatened that “a whole civilization will die tonight†if Iran – a nation of 90 million people – does not accept his demand to reopen the strait of Hormuz.

Russia and China earlier vetoed an already watered down draft resolution at the UN Security Council to reopen and protect the strait of Hormuz.

Eleven representatives voted in favour, while Russia and China voted against, and two (Pakistan and Colombia) abstained.

The draft proposal prepared by Bahrain two weeks ago and supported by the United States would have given a clear UN mandate to any state wishing to use force to unblock the strait.

But objections from several veto-holding permanent members – including France, Russia and China – forced the text to be watered down and the vote delayed multiple times.

French opposition appeared to be lifted by the addition of wording that meant any action would need to be “defensiveâ€.

After further amendments, the latest version of the text seen by AFP no longer mentioned authorisation to use force, even defensively.

It “strongly encourages states … to coordinate efforts, defensive in nature, commensurate to the circumstances, to contribute to ensuring the safety and security of navigation, including through the escort of merchant and commercial vessels,†rather than explicitly authorising force.

It also “demands,†that Iran “immediately cease all attacks against merchant and commercial vessels and any attempt to impede transit passage or freedom of navigation in the strait of Hormuzâ€. Additionally, it calls for the end to attacks on civilian water, oil, and gas infrastructure.

But Russia and China still vetoed the amended proposal. It's worth noting that China is one of the few countries that has been able to continue using the strait, while Russia could be poised to benefit if sanctions on oil are relaxed in response to its continued effective closure.

Bahrain's foreign minister Abdullatif bin Rashid Al Zayani, who chaired the meeting, said Gulf states “regret†the rejection of the measure.

Speaking on behalf of the oil-exporting Gulf countries, he said the failure to pass the resolution “sends the wrong signal to the worldâ€.

This signal that the threat to international waterways can pass without any decisive action by the international organisation responsible for the maintenance of international peace and security.

• US president Donald Trump has warned that a “whole civilization will die tonight†but said Iran still has time to capitulate ahead of a deadline set for 8pm in Washington. The American leader issued the stark threat Tuesday, about 12 hours ahead of his deadline for Iran to agree to a deal that includes reopening the strait of Hormuz or face punishing strikes.

• The UN rights chief decried Tuesday the “incendiary rhetoric†in the Middle East war, warning that deliberate attacks on civilians and civilian infrastructure was “a war crimeâ€. “Under international law, deliberately attacking civilians and civilian infrastructure is a war crime. Anyone responsible for international crimes must be held to account by a competent court,†Volker Turk said in a statement, without naming the United States, Israel nor Iran.

• The White House denied Tuesday that remarks by vice-president JD Vance about military operations in Iran had contained any suggestion of a US nuclear strike against the Islamic republic. After Vance said US forces have tools they “so far haven't decided to use†to enforce a dramatic ultimatum from president Donald Trump, the White House said on X: “Literally nothing @VP said here ‘implies' this, you absolute buffoons.â€

• The US has hit Kharg Island again ahead of Donald Trump's deadline, an AP source has reported. Earlier Iran's Mehr news agency said US-Israeli strikes had hit the key Iranian oil export terminal.

• Prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel struck on Tuesday railways and bridges in Iran “used by the Revolutionary Guardsâ€, after Iranian officials reported damage to at least two bridges and railway infrastructure. “We are crushing the terror regime in Iran… with even greater vigour and with increasing force,†Netanyahu said in a video released by his office.

• Lebanon's health ministry said Tuesday that the death toll in more than a month of war between Israel and the Iran-backed militant group Hezbollah had reached 1,530. The toll includes 102 women and 130 children, as well as 57 heath workers, a ministry statement said, adding that 4,812 people have been wounded.

• The Israeli military has urged all vessels in the maritime zone off the coast of southern Lebanon to immediately head north of the city of Tyre, warning that it would operate in the area. “Hezbollah's activities expose naval vessels in the maritime area between Tyre and Ras al-Naqoura to danger, which compels the IDF to take action against it in the maritime domain,†the military's Arabic-language spokesman Avichay Adraee posted on X.

• At least three people were killed and five others wounded on Tuesday when rockets fired from the direction of Kuwait hit a house in Khor al-Zubair near Basra, security and health officials told Reuters on Tuesday. Police said the death toll could rise as some family members remained under the debris.

• An oil slick from a stricken Iranian ship threatens to contaminate one of west Asia's most important wetlands, satellite image analysis suggests, one of a number of spills posing a threat to the livelihoods of coastal communities in the Gulf. The Shahid Bagheri, an Iranian drone carrier, began leaking heavy fuel oil in Iranian territorial waters near the strait of Hormuz about a month ago, after it was hit by a US warplane in the first few days of the US-Israel attack on Iran.

• Three gunmen engaged in a shootout with Turkish police outside the Israeli consulate in Istanbul. While their motive is still under investigation – Istanbul's governor told reporters that there have been no Israeli diplomatic staff at the consulate in Istanbul for two and a half years – Mustafa Ciftci, the Turkish minister of the interior, posted on X that one of the attackers had ties to “an organisation that exploits religionâ€. One attacker was killed and the other two were injured. Two policemen were also injured.

• The Israeli military said on Tuesday that Israeli forces struck a key petrochemical compound in Shiraz in southern Iran. The Guardian was not able to independently verify this claim. According to the IDF, this facility was one of the last remaining facilities that produced critical chemical components for explosives and materials for ballistic missiles.

• Israel and the US struck 17 civilian targets on Tuesday morning, the Iranian Red Crescent said, in attacks that the humanitarian NGO have decried as war crimes.

• Nearly 3,600 people have been killed in the US-Israeli strikes on Iran since attacks began, including at least 1,665 civilians, the Human Rights Activists news agency (HRANA) said. Of those numbers, at least 248 of those killed were children. At least 49 civilians were killed and 58 others were injured on Monday, according to HRANA, which recorded 573 attacks across 215 incidents in 20 provinces over that 24-hour period – the highest rate of attacks seen in the last ten days.

The Israeli military has urged all vessels in the maritime zone off the coast of southern Lebanon to immediately head north of the city of Tyre, warning that it would operate in the area.

“Hezbollah's activities expose naval vessels in the maritime area between Tyre and Ras al-Naqoura to danger, which compels the IDF to take action against it in the maritime domain,†the military's Arabic-language spokesman Avichay Adraee posted on X.

“To ensure your safety, all anchored or sailing naval vessels in the specified maritime area shown on the navigation map must immediately proceed north of the Tyre area,†he added.

Donald Trump says the US will bomb Iran's power plants and bridges if Tehran fails to meet his latest deadline to reopen the strait of Hormuz. The US president says he is “not at all†concerned that such attacks on civilian infrastructure could amount to war crimes and a “whole civilisation will die tonight†if Iran doesn't agree to a deal.

But will he follow through on the threat? And what could it mean for the war? In today's edition of The Latest podcast, Lucy Hough is joined by senior international correspondent Julian Borger.

The UN rights chief decried Tuesday the “incendiary rhetoric†in the Middle East war, warning that deliberate attacks on civilians and civilian infrastructure was “a war crimeâ€.

“Under international law, deliberately attacking civilians and civilian infrastructure is a war crime. Anyone responsible for international crimes must be held to account by a competent court,†Volker Turk said in a statement, without naming the United States, Israel nor Iran.

At least three people were killed and five others wounded on Tuesday when rockets fired from the direction of Kuwait hit a house in Khor al-Zubair near Basra, security and health officials told Reuters on Tuesday.

Police said the death toll could rise as some family members remained under the debris.

An oil slick from a stricken Iranian ship threatens to contaminate one of west Asia's most important wetlands, satellite image analysis suggests, one of a number of spills posing a threat to the livelihoods of coastal communities in the Gulf.

The Shahid Bagheri, an Iranian drone carrier, began leaking heavy fuel oil in Iranian territorial waters near the strait of Hormuz about a month ago, after it was hit by a US warplane in the first few days of the US-Israel attack on Iran.

With Iran still under heavy bombardment, no one has been able to begin cleaning up the spill and the oil has travelled slowly westwards towards the Hara biosphere reserve, the largest mangrove forest on the Gulf shoreline.

The Shahid Bagheri, described as “one of the most conceptually significant vessels†in Iran's navy, is a container ship modified to include a short runway for launching drones. Its fuel load was likely to have been significant: the IRGC said it had a range of 22,000 nautical miles and could go a year between refuelling.

It was bombed by US warplanes on 6 March, in an attack illustrated in a social media video published by the US military. Since then it has been grounded in shallow waters in the middle Khuran strait, a narrow, ecologically important channel between the Iranian mainland and the island of Qeshm.

Israel's emergency services said three people were lightly injured on Tuesday after over 20 alerts sounded throughout the day, warning of incoming missiles from Iran or rocket fire from Lebanon.

In the coastal town of Nahariya, less than 10 kilometres from Israel's northern border with Lebanon, the Magen David Adom emergency service said it treated a woman approximately 20 years old “in mild condition with a head injury from debris thrown by the blastâ€, following rocket fire.

Paramedics also treated a 46-year-old man in the south of the country who was “in mild condition with injuries to the upper limbs from interceptor debrisâ€, as well as a 36-year-old man in the north “with a shrapnel injury to his lower limbsâ€.

The three were evacuated to hospitals, Magen David Adom said.

The White House denied Tuesday that remarks by vice-president JD Vance about military operations in Iran had contained any suggestion of a US nuclear strike against the Islamic republic.

After Vance said US forces have tools they “so far haven't decided to use†to enforce a dramatic ultimatum from president Donald Trump, the White House said on X: “Literally nothing @VP said here ‘implies' this, you absolute buffoons.â€

The post was in response to one from an account associated with former vice president Kamala Harris that said Vance implied Trump “might use nuclear weapons.â€

Chuck Schumer, the top Senate Democrat, has called Donald Trump an “extremely sick person†in response to the president's recent post on Truth Social – in which he said “a whole civilization will tonight†if Iran fails to meet his 8pm ET deadline to reopen the strait of Hormuz.

“Each Republican who refuses to join us in voting against this wanton war of choice owns every consequence of whatever the hell this is,†Schumer added.

Other Democrats have slammed Trump's most recent comments, hours before he promises to follow through on his threat to target civilian infrastructure and power plants in Iran.

Chris Murphy, a Democratic senator who sits on the foreign relations committee, said that Trump's plan is to “murder thousands of innocent Iranians and hope for a civil war that somehow ends up with the strait of Hormuz reopeningâ€. Murphy also highlighted the global energy crisis that has spiralled since the war began and oil prices spiked.

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Lebanon's health ministry said Tuesday that the death toll in more than a month of war between Israel and the Iran-backed militant group Hezbollah had reached 1,530.

The toll includes 102 women and 130 children, as well as 57 heath workers, a ministry statement said, adding that 4,812 people have been wounded.

Prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel struck on Tuesday railways and bridges in Iran “used by the Revolutionary Guardsâ€, after Iranian officials reported damage to at least two bridges and railway infrastructure.

“We are crushing the terror regime in Iran… with even greater vigour and with increasing force,†Netanyahu said in a video released by his office.

“Yesterday, our pilots destroyed transport aircraft and dozens of helicopters at an Iranian Air Force base. Today they struck the railways and bridges used by the Revolutionary Guards.â€