Iranian officials on Tuesday urged their people to form human chains around power plants as the country faces a deadline set by President Trump to reopen the Strait of Hormuz or risk major strikes on civilian and energy infrastructure.
The regime called on "all young people, athletes, artists, students and university students and their professors" to protect power plants threatened by Trump, according to the Associated Press.
"Power plants that are our national assets and capital," Alireza Rahimi, identified by Iranian state television as the secretary of the Supreme Council of Youth and Adolescents, reportedly said in a video statement.
Trump has set the deadline at 8 p.m. EDT for Tehran to lift its blockade on shipping traffic through the vital strait, which carries about one-fifth of the world's oil supply, or "all Hell" will be unleashed on the country.
"We're giving them until tomorrow at 8 o'clock. And after that, they're going to have no bridges, no power plants," the president told reporters at a White House news conference on Monday, doubling down on earlier threats.
Iran "could be taken out in one night, and that night might be tomorrow night," he warned.
Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian said early Tuesday that more than 14 million people, including himself, have volunteered to join the war effort.
"More than 14 million proud Iranians have so far registered to sacrifice their lives to defend Iran," Pezeshkian wrote in a post on social platform X. "I too have been, am, and will remain devoted to giving my life for Iran."
Airstrikes continued to pound Tehran overnight, including in residential neighborhoods and a possible weapons depot in the mountains, according to the AP.
The Israeli military confirmed strikes against an Iranian petrochemical compound in Shiraz and a large ballistic missile array site in northwestern Iran.
Another strike hit the Khorramabad International Airport in western Iran, and an attack on an unidentified target in Alborz province killed 18 people, the news wire reported, citing Iranian state media. Nine people were reportedly killed in the city of Shahriar and six more in Pardis in other airstrikes.
Reuters reported Tuesday that Israel warned Iranians on social media, in Persian, to stay away from railways, writing: "Your presence on trains and near railway lines endangers your life," a possible foreshadowing of escalation to come.
Iran has remained defiant against U.S. demands, rejecting a 45-day ceasefire proposal as "unrealistic."
"Iran firmly refuses any negotiations conducted under the shadow of illegal sanctions, military threats, or coercion. #Diplomacy requires mutual respect, not pressure," the Iranian government said Monday in a post on X.
A senior Iranian source also told Reuters that Tehran has conveyed it will only engage in peace talks once the U.S. and Israel halt their attacks and provide assurances that another war will not occur.