On April 6, in a televised address, President Donald Trump threatened to destroy Iran in the evening of April 7 if the Strait of Hormuz is not fully opened. This threat echoes previous statements, raising them one level higher.
Remains of Shajareh Tayyebeh Elementary School in Minab, Iran after it was bombed by the U.S. on Feb. 28, 2026.
On April 1, Trump warned Iran, “We’re going to bring them back to the Stone Age, where they belong.” (nbcnews.com, April 1) Secretary of War Peter Hegseth echoed the president on his X account saying, “Bomb them back to the Stone Age.” (Al Jazeera, April 2)
The phrase “Bomb them back to the Stone Age” is primarily associated with U.S. Air Force General Curtis LeMay in reference to his threat against North Vietnam in his 1965 book “Mission with LeMay” where he wrote, “We’re going to bomb them back into the Stone Age.”
Iran’s reactions to this threat have varied from outrage to contempt to humor.
Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baqaei said that the U.S. officials’ attempts to justify aggression against the Islamic Republic are “reminiscent of Hitler’s thoughts.”
Baquei went on to say: “Along with claiming nonexistent achievements and progress and victory in the attack on Iran, he said the U.S. will reach all of its military objectives in the war in ‘the next two to three weeks’ and send Iran ‘back to the Stone Ages, where they belong.’ … Trump made such false claims while, according to many U.S. political experts and analysts, Trump had nothing new to say about this unjustified war. By repeating his claims and threats over the past four weeks, he has shown that he had failed to achieve his goals in this aggression despite claiming victory.” (Islamic Republic News Agency, April 3)
Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian has joined other Iranian officials in calling Trump’s “Stone Age” threat an admission of intent to commit a massive war crime.
A Tweet was posted on the X account of the Iranian Embassy Bulgaria: “The U.S. spent 50 years building a massive circle of bases just to send Iran back to the Stone Age. After 36 days of failed attempts, they are now asking for an agreement.” (April 5)
Iranian General Abdulrahim Mousavi, who was martyred in February, is quoted as having said, “Hollywood illusions have contaminated your thinking so much that with a tiny 250-year history, you are threatening a civilization that is more than 6,000 years old.” (IRNA, April 3)
The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps stated plainly, “We also inform the noble and history-making nation of Islamic Iran that the situation in the Strait of Hormuz is firmly and dominantly under the control of the IRGC Navy, and this strait will not be opened to the enemies of this nation through the ridiculous displays of the American president.” (Resistance News Network Mirror, April 5)
War crime threats can’t hide losses
The “Stone Age” threat has been used before, as mentioned with Vietnam, but also Iraq, and in the past it has been attempted with the carpet bombings of Laos, Cambodia, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea and earlier during World War II with Japan. The threat has often failed. The Vietnamese people defeated U.S. imperialism despite LeMay’s threat. The DPRK has existed as a socialist country since its founding in 1948.
The U.S. is, in fact, losing the war with Iran and has moved rapidly downhill economically with the Iranian takeover of the Strait of Hormuz and the de-dollarization of currency in the strait with the establishment of the Chinese yuan there as the main currency.
Inside the U.S., the price of gasoline at the pump is now over $4 a gallon. Inflation ravages workers’ standard of living, and the stock market continues to fluctuate wildly.
Iran has been retaliating by bombing military bases, defense systems and munitions factories, not only in Israel but everywhere in West Asia where the U.S. has bullied its way into establishing a presence — Qatar, United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, etc.
The U.S. is running out of its vast supply of anti-aircraft and anti-missile rockets while Trump demands $1.5 trillion more for the Pentagon. Iran shows no sign of slowing down its asymmetric warfare, and it has been joined by the Ansarallah movement leading Yemen, Hezbollah in Lebanon and resistance fighters in Iraq and Palestine.
The White House threat to bomb Iran “back to the Stone Age” is in the U.S. imperialist tradition and reflects Trump’s racist attitude that Iran is inferior. He’s getting an awakening that he’s trying hard to ignore, or at least not to speak about.
