Iran calls on young people to form human chains around power plants as Trump deadline looms

President Masoud Pezeshkian says 14m people ‘declared their readiness to sacrifice their lives’ for defence of Iran

• Middle East crisis – live updates

Iranians officials called on young people to form human chains around the country’s power plants and people in Tehran stocked up on basic provisions, as the clock ticked down on Donald Trump’s deadline to open the strait of Hormuz or face massive strikes on civilian infrastructure.

Iranian media showed people gathering outside electricity stations, waving Iranian flags and holding up banners, including at the country’s largest power plant, near Tehran, and in Tabriz in the north-west. In Dezful in the south-west, people gathered on a bridge said to be 1,700 years old.