Iran cuts direct dialogue with the US after Trump threatens that “an entire civilization will die tonight”

The fifth – and priori last and definitive – deadline announced by the president expires tonight, at 8:00 p.m. in Washington (2:00 in the morning, Spanish time). “It will be one of the most important moments in the long and complex history of the world,” he wrote.

In the same message, broadcast on his social network Truth, the president has also left room for some moderation. “Now that we have total and complete change of regime, in which different, more intelligent and less radicalized minds prevail, maybe something revolutionaryly wonderful could happen, who knows? We will find out tonight,” he continued.

In response to these threats, Iran has cut off direct diplomatic communication with the United States, according to Middle East officials cited by the Wall Street Journal. It would actually be a rather symbolic gesture “of disapproval and defiance.”

And, for the moment, the only confirmation of contacts are messages which Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi says he has been receiving from US special envoy Steve Witkoff, although he insists that they do not constitute “talks”as he declared to the Qatari network Al Jazeera.

The conversations continue, however, through intermediaries, according to the WSJ. In the last hours, Pakistan, which has been serving as a liaison between Tehran and Washington in an attempt to negotiate a cessation of hostilities between both parties, has confirmed that negotiations continue. A diplomatic effort, based on the exchange of proposals between Witkoff and Araqchi, in the Türkiye, Egypt and Saudi Arabia have also participated.

Iranian state media Theran Timeshas confirmed through X that “the diplomatic and indirect channels of dialogue with the US are not closed.”

The total darkness

In parallel, Trump has threatened to destroy all of Iran’s power plants and bridges if Tehran does not allow the full resumption of traffic in the strait, through which a fifth of the world’s oil transits in peacetime. In response, this Tuesday the Iranian Government called on young people to form human chains around these infrastructures.

And that’s not all. As he has warned the agency Reuters a senior Iranian source, who has asked to remain anonymous, if Washington attacks Iran’s power plants “the entire region and Saudi Arabia will fall into total darkness” for retaliatory attacks.

As the deadline approaches, the United States and Israel have intensified their attacks on Iran, especially Jark Island, the country’s main oil export center. At the same time, according to the same source Reutersthe parties continue to exchange messages through Pakistan, but Tehran has warned that it will be inflexible as long as Washington continues to demand its “surrender under pressure”.

“If the situation gets out of control, Iran’s allies will also close the Bab el-Mandeb Strait,” he added. This is another of lhe most strategic points of world trade. This maritime passage connects the Red Seato the north, with the golfo de Adento the south, in the Indian Ocean. It is, in other words, the main gateway between Europe and Asia through the Suez Canal.