Iranians voice shock and defiance in face of Trump's latest deadline

With President Donald Trump's deadline to unleash mass destruction on Iran just hours away Tuesday, Iranians faced the threats with a mix of indifference, defiance and bewilderment.

Trump has vowed to level power and desalination plants, oil installations and bridges if Iran does not reopen the Strait of Hormuz, a key oil shipping route, by 8 p.m. Eastern time.

"The first thing that came to my mind is that I think Trump is under a lot of pressure and that he has lost his mind," said Lili, who works in the arts scene in the Iranian capital, Tehran. She asked not to use her full name out of fear of repercussions for speaking to foreign media.

Trump renewed his threats against Iran's civilian infrastructure at a White House news conference Monday, in which he hailed the American forces' rescue of two U.S. airmen whose jet was shot down over Iran on Friday.

"The entire country can be taken out in one night, and that night might be tomorrow night," he warned.

Lili said she and her family had made no contingency plans at all, and they were not planning to flee Tehran. They were not stocking up on goods or bracing to hole up at home.

"We need to continue with our lives," she said, adding there was no apparent haven to flee to: Attacking infrastructure meant almost anywhere could become a target.

Legal experts have argued that striking civilian infrastructure could be considered a war crime under international law.

Iran, apparently as emboldened by its shooting down of U.S. aircraft as Trump appears to be by the daring rescue of the airmen, put forward its own proposals and demands Monday to end the war.

Trump called this a "significant step" but one that was "not good enough" to change his announced deadline.

Mohsen Borhani, a law professor at Tehran University, said that as he read through Trump's threats toward those the U.S. president had called the "crazy bastards" running Iran, his first thought was of the Founding Fathers. In particular, he thought of the writings of Thomas Jefferson "and the values that America was supposed to lead by," he said.

"I also thought about the global order established after World War II, centered around the United Nations and shaped under Roosevelt's leadership," he said, referring to former President Franklin D. Roosevelt. "And I wondered, how it is possible for a U.S. president to undermine and discredit all American values and 250 years of human legacy?"

Borhani, a well-known political commentator in Iran, said the Trump administration was still operating under a "false assumption" that enough military pressure could force Iran's authoritarian clerical rulers to surrender.

"Based on my understanding of Iranian society and governance," he said, "I can state clearly that even several nuclear bombs would not achieve such an outcome."

Lili, the Tehran resident, said that as someone who long opposed her government and sympathized with the nationwide demonstrations that sought to topple it just months ago, Trump's threats have shifted her feelings toward the United States and Israel.

Both countries' leaders have repeatedly voiced support for Iran's opposition and encouraged Iranians to use the war to rise against their leaders. But their warplanes are now bombing not just military sites, she said, but also critical industrial facilities, universities and schools.

"So now, we are supporting Iran and whatever government is running it," she said.

Other Iranians made direct appeals to Americans to stop their president, arguing that whatever Trump unleashed on Iran would ripple across the globe and potentially lead to blowback against U.S. citizens.

Pedram Soltani, a prominent Iranian businessperson, used his social media page to make such an appeal.

"Your president has now placed not only Iran, but also America and the entire world at a tremendous risk," he wrote on X.

The bombardment Trump has vowed would cause a "humanitarian catastrophe," he said. Should Iran retaliate against infrastructure in Persian Gulf countries, as is widely expected, he said the damage to oil and other essential industries would send prices skyrocketing.

"The United States will become one of the most hated countries in the world, seen as responsible for these disasters," he wrote. "That resentment will inevitably affect your own security and daily lives."