Iran Urges Citizens to Form Human Chains Around Power Plants as Trump Threat Looms; Killing of Young Children in Bombing Sparks Unrest in Manipur; Assam Police Searches Home of Congress's Pawan Khera
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Snapshot of the day
April 7, 2026
Sidharth Bhatia
The Iranian regime has called on to “all young people, athletes, artists, students and university students and their professors” to form human chains around the country’s power plants as the United States President Donald Trump threatens to wipe out “a whole civilization” in Iran if the country’s regime doesn’t make a deal to reopen the Strait of Hormuz by 8 p.m. Eastern deadline, adding that he did not “want that to happen, but it probably will” and potentially face a wave of strikes on critical infrastructure in the coming hours. While the human chains formed, the strangulation grid tightened. US and Israeli strikes on Iran escalated even ahead of Trump’s deadline, with Iranian media saying a railway bridge and power lines were hit and the US launching fresh attacks on the oil export hub of Kharg Island that handles 90% of Iranian crude exports.
Trump said in a post on X, “However, now that we have Complete and Total Regime Change, where different, smarter, and less radicalized minds prevail, maybe something revolutionarily wonderful can happen, WHO KNOWS? We will find out tonight, one of the most important moments in the long and complex history of the World.” It is worth noting that Trump has repeatedly set and extended deadlines throughout the war. As The New York Times reports, diplomats around the world are now questioning whether he will once again seek an off-ramp or follow through on his threats this time.
Iranian media says talks and indirect negotiations with the US have been halted following Trump’s threats – with Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps warning that it will deprive the US and its allies of oil and gas if Washington crosses Tehran’s “red lines” for years. “The Revolutionary Guards once again declare that if the American terrorist army crosses the red lines, our response will go beyond the region,” the statement says. “America’s regional partners should also know that until today, we have exercised great restraint for the sake of good neighborliness and have had some reservations in choosing targets for retaliation, but all these reservations have since been removed,” it says.
He has said it innumerable times now and doesn’t look like he will stop claiming that he stopped the India-Pakistan clashes of last year, but Trump while bringing it up on Monday added that Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif had credited him with saving “from 30 to 50 million lives”. Earlier the president had cited Sharif as mentioning 25 million lives, and before that the figure was ten million.
In a Gandhian way of resistance,
