Donald Trump has given Iran until 8pm ET on Tuesday to reopen the Strait of Hormuz — threatening to flatten the country’s bridges and power plants if Tehran refuses to comply.

Speaking at the White House on Monday, the president said the consequences of non-compliance would be devastating.

“I mean complete demolition,” he said. “They are going to have no bridges, they are going to have no power plants.”

He described the scale of potential destruction as reducing Iran to the “stone ages.”

Trump insisted the US had already won the military campaign but set no date for the conflict to end — a war that is squeezing energy supplies and weighing on economies on both sides of the Atlantic. He then pivoted to the Nobel Peace Prize, a distinction he has long pursued without success.

“I don’t like seeing people killed. I’ve ended eight wars. Nobody’s ever done it,” he said.

A reporter asked whether Trump believed God sanctioned the war. He replied in two chilling words: “I do.”

“God doesn’t like what’s happening. I don’t like what’s happening. Everyone says I enjoy this. I don’t enjoy this. I don’t enjoy it,” he said.

Civilian warnings

Military analysts have raised alarms about the human cost of strikes on Iranian infrastructure, reports the US news site, TheGrio, via AOL. Castleberry-Hernandez said the attacks would threaten the “basic needs” of ordinary Iranians and “inflame issues involving energy, issues involving travel, as well as the economy itself.”

She warned the Iranian Revolutionary Guard would feel compelled to hit back against equivalent American targets.

“It’d be harder for them to do so as far as executing that, but they would want some sort of proportionate reaction, as far as now trying to target our critical infrastructure that will also create similar impacts,” she said.

Economists and analysts are sounding the alarm over the broader financial damage, states the report. There are fears an extended conflict would choke off oil flows and drive price shocks through supply chains across the western world. Should the war drag on for six months, analysts warn, a global recession becomes likely — with 13 million barrels of daily oil supply stripped from markets.

Strait of Hormuz

According to the report prices for aluminum and helium — both critical to semiconductor manufacturing — face upward pressure, with knock-on effects for the technology sector.

It is understood agriculture is another pressure point. Farmers across the US will reportedly feel the strain later in the year when they place orders for next season’s fertilizer.

The Monday ultimatum followed a post on Trump’s Truth Social platform the previous day in which he demanded Iran lift its blockade of the vital shipping lane. His message read: “Open the f–king strait, you crazy bastards, or you’ll be living in hell.”

With the deadline now set, Iran faces a stark choice by Tuesday evening.