US President Donald Trump has set deadlines, made demands and issued threats over the course of the five-week joint US-Israeli war against Iran. But seldom have they been this explicit.
The new round of strikes against Iran will be devastating. They will begin at 20:00 Washington DC time on Tuesday (00:00 GMT on Wednesday). Within four hours, every bridge and power plant in the nation will be decimated.
Very little is off-limits, Trump said on Monday.
To avoid this fate, according to the president, Iran has to make a deal that's acceptable to me. A component of the agreement should include free traffic of oil through the Strait of Hormuz.
As the final hours tick down, there has been little indication that Iran is ready to agree to Trump's ultimatum. They've rejected a temporary ceasefire and issued their own list of demands, which a US official described as maximalist.
This places the US president in a delicate position. If there is no agreement, Trump could extend his deadline – for the fourth time in the past three weeks.
But backing away after such detailed threats could undercut his credibility as the war grinds on.
Even in this late hour, however, Trump continues to hold out hope of a breakthrough, believing that Iran is negotiating in good faith. With the stakes this high, the direction of US-Iran relations hangs by a thread.
