No more Mr. nice guy: Trump's most explosive Iran threat yet

In a characteristically combative post published Sunday, US President Donald Trump issued his most explicit military threat yet against Iran, warning that the United States would "knock out every single Power Plant, and every single Bridge in Iran" if Tehran refuses to accept Washington's proposed deal.

Trump's incendiary message came after Iran fired on vessels in the Strait of Hormuz, including a French ship and a British freighter, what the American president called "a total violation of our ceasefire agreement." The incident underscored the extreme fragility of the truce and the depth of distrust between the two sides.

In a striking rhetorical twist, Trump dismissed Iran's decision to close the Strait as redundant — arguing that the US blockade had already shut it down. 

"That's strange, because our BLOCKADE has already closed it. They're helping us without knowing", he wrote, adding that Iran loses $500 million a day from the closure while "the United States loses nothing" — with tankers already redirecting to Texas, Louisiana and Alaska.

"No More Mr. Nice Guy"

The president's tone left no room for ambiguity. Calling on Iran to accept what he described as "a very fair and reasonable deal", Trump warned that failure to comply would trigger devastating military strikes. "It will be my Honor to do what has to be done, which should have been done to Iran by other Presidents for the last 47 years", he wrote, concluding with a declaration: "IT'S TIME FOR THE IRAN KILLING MACHINE TO END!"

Despite the bellicose rhetoric, Trump confirmed that US representatives would travel to Islamabad, Pakistan on Monday evening for a new round of negotiations, suggesting that diplomacy, however strained, has not yet been entirely abandoned.