What the US military could do if Iran fails to meet Trump's ultimatum

What the US military could do if Iran fails to meet Trump's ultimatum 33 minutes agoShareSaveAdd as preferred on GoogleDaniel BushWashington, DCWatch: What Trump's threats could mean for the war in IranThe clock is ticking on President Donald Trump's threat to wipe out much of Iran's civilian infrastructure if the country doesn't strike a deal by Tuesday evening in the US.But Trump has backed himself into a corner with threats that the US military can't feasibly carry out in a one fell swoop, military experts and analysts told the BBC. And they warn that a new round of attacks, no matter how large, is unlikely to force the Iranian regime to quickly agree to a ceasefire.Trump vowed on Monday to destroy "every bridge" and power station in Iran in just four hours if a deal isn't reached by EST 20:00 (02:00 GMT). He escalated even further on Tuesday morning, warning that "a whole civilization will die" if Iran doesn't agree to a deal by his deadline.Taken together, the warnings amounted to an unprecedented threat from a US president. Critics said targeting civilian infrastructure would constitute a war crime, a concern Trump dismissed at a press conference on Monday.Setting that issue aside, former US defence officials and other analysts said the US simply can't destroy every bridge in a country the size of Iran in just a few hours, as Trump threatened to do.Iran is approximately one-third the size of the continental US. The US knows the exact location of Iran's main nuclear facilities and other key infrastructure, but likely cannot identify thousands of other targets across the country and destroy them in such a short time span, experts said."To meet this threat literally would be an absolute herculean task. And would it have the desired strategic effect?" said a former senior US defence official who asked not to be named. "Trump is almost struggling to come up with a new level or thre...