{"id":44341,"date":"2026-04-08T01:52:57","date_gmt":"2026-04-08T01:52:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/foreignnewstoday.com\/?p=44341"},"modified":"2026-04-08T01:52:57","modified_gmt":"2026-04-08T01:52:57","slug":"iran-calls-on-young-people-to-form-human-chains-around-power-plants-as-trump-deadline-looms-iran","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/foreignnewstoday.com\/?p=44341","title":{"rendered":"Iran calls on young people to form human chains around power plants as Trump deadline looms | Iran"},"content":{"rendered":"


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Iranians officials called on young people to form human chains around the country\u2019s power plants and people in Tehran stocked up on basic provisions, as the clock ticked down on Donald Trump\u2019s deadline for Iran to open the strait of Hormuz or face massive strikes on civilian infrastructure.<\/p>\n

Iranian media showed people gathering outside electricity stations, waving Iranian flags and holding up banners, including at the country\u2019s largest power plant, near Tehran, and in Tabriz in the north-west. In Dezful in the south-west, people gathered on a bridge said to be 1,700 years old.<\/p>\n

Iran\u2019s president, Masoud Pezeshkian, said 14 million people had signed up in a voluntary drive to fight for their country and \u201cdeclared their readiness to sacrifice their lives in defence of Iran\u201d.<\/p>\n

The preparations came as the US president threatened<\/a> that \u201ca whole civilization will die tonight\u201d.<\/p>\n

The US and Israel carried out waves of preparatory strikes that appeared to knock off course the chances of a last-minute ceasefire deal before Trump\u2019s 8pm ET (1am BST) deadline for Iran to reopen the strait.<\/p>\n

Attacks on civilian infrastructure amount to war crimes<\/a>, legal experts say. Tuesday\u2019s airstrikes may have been aimed at pressuring Iran to cut a deal, but the impact appeared to harden resolve within the regime.<\/p>\n

Alireza Rahimi, identified by Iranian state television as the secretary of the Supreme Council of Youth and Adolescents, issued a video message in a newscast calling on young people to form human chains around power plants in the country.<\/p>\n

\u201cI invite all young people, athletes, artists, students and university students and their professors,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

He asked them to gather on \u201cTuesday at 2pm around the power plants that are our national assets and capital, regardless of any taste or political viewpoint, [that] belong to the future of Iran and to the Iranian youth\u201d.<\/p>\n

Iran has formed human-chain demonstrations, also known as human shields, in the past around its nuclear sites at times of heightened tensions with the west.<\/p>\n

A man in Tehran said his household had collected basic necessities and equipment to charge their mobile phones, in preparation to flee the capital if necessary.<\/p>\n

\u201cNo good can come out of this, since obviously the US and Israel don\u2019t give a damn about Iranian people,\u201d he said. \u201cThey are just following their own agenda.\u201d<\/p>\n

Though Trump said there was still time for a deal, Tuesday\u2019s bombardment further weakened those within the Iranian establishment pushing for a settlement, making the hardliners stronger, diplomats mediating the talks said. But, the indirect negotiations were continuing, largely by passing messages through Pakistan, they said.<\/p>\n

The intermediaries said they feared that Israel was bombing the chances of reaching an agreement, while dealing with hotheads in Tehran, and a totally unpredictable US president, made it tough to find the middle ground needed for a diplomatic solution.<\/p>\n

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Airstrikes on Iran hit the railways, the oil export terminal of Kharg Island, bridges and a petrochemicals complex. In response, Iran\u2019s Revolutionary Guards warned that \u201crestraint is over\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe will do something with the infrastructure of America and its partners that will deprive America and its allies of oil and gas in the region for years,\u201d the statement said.<\/p>\n

Iran is seeking an end to the war, not just a ceasefire deal, believing that the US and Israel could restart attacks after a few months. Tehran does not want to end up like Gaza or Lebanon, which Israel continues to bomb at will.<\/p>\n

Pakistan\u2019s military said that Iran\u2019s strike on Tuesday on an industrial complex in the eastern Saudi Arabian city of Jubail also damaged the talks, calling it \u201can unnecessary escalation which spoils sincere efforts to resolve the conflict through peaceful means\u201d. Riyadh has threatened to enter the war if attacks continue.<\/p>\n

The Associated Press contributed to the report<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n


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