Media representatives gather around the damaged building of the Shahid Beheshti University following a strike, in Tehran. AFP
"Remember when I gave Iran ten days to MAKE A DEAL or OPEN UP THE HORMUZ STRAIT," Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform.
"Time is running out -- 48 hours before all Hell will reign (sic) down on them," the president said Saturday, adding: "Glory be to GOD!"
Iran has insisted that it would continue to close the Strait of Hormuz, which carries 20 percent of the world's oil and gas, to all ships linked to countries that support the US-Israel war on the country.
It has allowed ships linked to countries that refused to support the US-Israeli war to pass through Hormuz, including China, Russia, India, Thailand, Pakistan, France, Japan, and Turkey.
Trump had initially threatened on 21 March to "obliterate" Iran's power plants, a war crime under international law, beginning with the country's biggest, "if Iran doesn't reopen the Strait of Hormuz, within 48 HOURS."
Two days later, however, he said "very good and productive conversations" were being held with Iranian authorities, and that he had postponed any strikes on power plants for five days.
He later again pushed the deadline back to expire at 8:00 pm on Monday.
Later on Saturday, Iran's central military command rejected Trump's threat to destroy the country's vital infrastructure if it does not accept a peace deal within 48 hours.
General Ali Abdollahi Aliabadi, in a statement from the Khatam al-Anbiya Central Headquarters, said Trump's threat was a "a helpless, nervous, unbalanced and stupid action".
And, echoing the religious language of Trump's social media post, he warned that "the simple meaning of this message is that the gates of hell will open for you."
Aliabadi said his country will target all infrastructure used by the US military in the region, as well as Israel’s infrastructure, if the American-Israeli aggression against Iran escalates.
Since 28 February, the US and Israeli airstrikes have destroyed or damaged swathes of civilian infrastructure in Iran, including tens of thousands of residential units, oil depots, steel, petrochemical, and pharma factories; roads and bridges; and schools and universities in Iran, killing nearly 4,000 and wounding thousands.
Meanwhile, Iranian retaliatory attacks on US military bases and energy and economic targets in the Arab Gulf countries have caused widespread damage and destruction in the region and left three dozen people dead.
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