25 March, Kathmandu. With Donald Trump giving Iran the option to open the Strait of Hormuz or face massive attacks on civilian infrastructure, Iranian officials have called on young people to form human chains around the country’s energy hubs.

Iranian media showed people gathering outside power plants in Tabriz, the country’s largest power plant in the northwest, including the country’s biggest power plant near Tehran, waving Iranian flags and carrying banners. At Dezful in the south-west, people gathered on a bridge believed to be 1,700 years old.

According to the news agency AP, Iranian President Masoud Pezhekian said that 14 million people had registered as volunteers to fight for their country and “declared their readiness to sacrifice their lives for the defense of Iran.”

These preparations were made as the US President threatened that ‘an entire civilization will end tonight’. Trump made the threat before an 8 p.m. deadline for Iran to reopen the Strait of Hormuz. However, shortly before the deadline given by the US, Trump announced a 2-week ceasefire.

Both sides agreed to a two-week cease-fire and diplomatic talks at the last minute, despite Iranian citizens showing symbolic resistance by surrounding energy centers across the country in fear of a possible major US attack.

Trump announced through his social network ‘Truth Social’ that the ceasefire was implemented on the condition that Iran open the Strait of Hormuz completely, immediately and safely.

Although Trump has criticized the deployment of youths around Iran’s infrastructure as ‘absolutely illegal’, talks between the two countries have progressed under the mediation of Pakistan.

Iran has submitted a 10-point peace proposal, including demands for safe waterways, post-war reconstruction and the lifting of international sanctions. Trump called the proposal “a practical basis for negotiations.”

Human cockroach display

People formed separate human chains around major energy centers (power plants) and bridges in different parts of the country. In the initial photos and videos released, dozens of citizens, youth, athletes and locals have joined hands to form a human chain at key locations such as Bushehr (Nuclear Center), Shahid Moffateh Power Plant in Hamdan, Bisotun Power Plant in Kermanshah, Power Transmission Stations in Semnan, Lordegan and White Bridge in Ahvaz.

According to The Guardian, legal experts say attacks on civilian infrastructure are considered war crimes. Tuesday’s airstrikes may have been intended to pressure Iran into a deal, but their effect appeared to have hardened the Iranian regime’s resolve.

Alireza Rahimi, identified by Iranian state television as the secretary of the Supreme Council of Youth and Adolescence, issued a video message in a news broadcast calling on young people to form human chains around the country’s energy centers.

He said, ‘I invite all the youth, athletes, artists, students and university students and their professors.’

He urged them to ‘gather at 2pm on Tuesday around the energy centers that are our national assets and capital, linked to the future of Iran and Iranian youth, regardless of interest or political viewpoint’.

Iran has demonstrated in the past by erecting human chains around its nuclear facilities as tensions with the West escalated.

A man in Tehran said his family had stocked up on basic consumer goods and mobile phone charging equipment in preparation for fleeing the capital if necessary.

“There will be no good results from this, because clearly the US and Israel do not care about the Iranian people,” he said. ‘They are just pursuing their own agenda.’

Although Trump has said there is still time for a deal, diplomats involved in the mediation said Tuesday’s bombing further weakened advocates of the deal and strengthened hardliners within the Iranian regime. However, they said, indirect talks are continuing mainly through the exchange of messages through Pakistan.

And there was a truce…

According to the BBC, it was a long night for the Iranians. After Donald Trump’s threat, many people thought that the US would bomb power plants, roads and bridges.

Everyone was waiting for that deadline, which was due to expire around 3:00 a.m. on Wednesday, Tehran time. A ceasefire was announced in Tehran around 1:00 p.m., but many people were still awake.

Reactions to the recent ceasefire have been mixed.

For the past few days, people have been buying food, food and candles, as well as stockpiling water, fearing a power outage. They are somewhat relieved that power plants will no longer be attacked.

On the other hand, many people who were opposed to the government thought that the war, no matter how much damage and horror it caused, would eventually lead to a change in power. But that didn’t happen.

Now they have to deal with a power that has been wounded by this war and whose economy is also in ruins.

The regime there is now more angry than ever and will probably not be the least bit lenient with its opponents.

(with assistance from agencies)