Colorado delegation reacts after Trump warns a ‘whole civilization will die tonight’ as Iran deadline nears

DENVER — President Donald Trump’s threat early Tuesday morning that a “whole civilization will die tonight” if Iran failed to meet his latest deadline to reach a deal that includes reopening the Strait of Hormuz drew consternation from Colorado's Democratic congressional delegation as state Republicans remained largely silent on potential strikes which experts say would constitute a war crime.

The president’s latest threat, which was once again extended for another two weeks if Iran agreed to a ceasefire and the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz, came after a profanity-laden rant on Easter Sunday in which Trump threatened to strike Iranian infrastructure as he mocked the Islamic faith, and followed a prime time speech last week in which he said he would bomb Iran “back to the Stone Ages.”

But Trump’s threat on Tuesday did not seem to account for potential harm to civilians, prompting Democrats in Congress, some United Nations officials and scholars in military law to say such strikes would violate international law.

• Watch the latest coverage on Trump's deadline for Iran from Scripps News in the video player below:

“These are not the words of a sane person. Calling for the elimination of a civilization is a war crime,” said Rep. Jason Crow, a Democrat who represents Colorado’s 6th Congressional District.

Crow, who was among several members of Congress investigated by the Trump administration earlier this year after appearing in a video urging service members to resist “illegal orders,” renewed his call for the military to disobey any orders to launch attacks against Iran. “Every American of good conscience must repudiate this,” he said in a social media post Tuesday.

In a separate statement from his office, Crow urged Speaker Mike Johnson to call Congress back to Washington immediately “so we can vote to end Trump’s war with Iran and prevent war crimes.”

Rep. Diana DeGette, Colorado’s longest serving member of Congress, followed with a statement of her own not long after, calling Trump’s threats “war crimes against the entirety of Iranian civilization.”

“25th Amendment proceedings must begin immediately, but if the Cabinet is too cowardly, the House should begin the impeachment process now,” DeGette said in a post on X Tuesday morning.

Sen. John Hickenlooper said Trump's threats “to completely wipe out” a country of 93 million people was “a war crime. Plain and simple.”

“President Trump’s putting our service members and all those innocent lives at risk,” Hickenlooper said in a video post on X, while urging everyone in the U.S., regardless of political affiliation, to speak up against “these crazy threats from President Trump.”

Rep. Joe Neguse, who represents Colorado’s 2nd Congressional District, said in a social media post the president’s “unhinged and dangerous threats should shock the conscience of every American,” as he called on the U.S. House of Representatives to convene immediately and vote to end “this reckless war.”

Denver7 reached out to the remaining members of the state’s congressional delegation to get their reaction following Trump’s controversial threats.

In a statement, Rep. Brittany Petersen, who represents Colorado’s 7th Congressional District, described Trump as “unhinged and unwell” as she called his threats of intentionally targeting civilian infrastructure “a warm crime.”

“It’s unimaginable that the President of the United States is also threatening to destroy an entire civilization. It is utterly shocking and terrifying,” Petterson wrote, as she joined several of her fellow Democrats in the Colorado congressional delegation in calling for proceedings to invoke the 25th Amendment to remove Trump from office. “We must stop him NOW,” she said.

Sen. Michael Bennet, a member of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, said Trump was “threatening war crimes to fix a crisis he created” by launching a war without a clear strategy or honest justification.

“It’s true that Iran’s regime is dangerous, which is why I’ve supported harsh measures against them for years. But this war cannot go on,” Bennet said. “Our country deserves better than this.”

Colorado Republicans remain largely mum on Trump’s threats

Rep. Jeff Hurd, who represents Colorado’s Western Slope, was so far the only Colorado Republican to speak up following the president’s threats earlier Tuesday.

In a statement obtained by Denver7, Hurd spoke about the Iran regime and its status as a state sponsor of terrorism as he argued the U.S. must remain vigilant to defend the country’s interests against a nuclear-armed Iran.

“At the same time, actions of this magnitude carry real consequences. The use of American power demands clarity of purpose, discipline, and a defined objective. Congress must also be informed and engaged consistent with its responsibilities under Article I of the Constitution,” Hurd said, adding his focus remains on the safety of U.S. service members, the security of the country’s allies, and ensuring “any action taken advances long-term stability.”

Republican Reps. Lauren Boebert, Jeff Crank and Gabe Evans have not yet answered Denver7's requests for comment on the president's threats.

Trump has extended deadlines before

Since the war began, Trump has repeatedly imposed deadlines linked to threats, only to extend them. But the president insisted this one is final and will expire at 8 p.m. in Washington (6 p.m. Mountain Time) without a major diplomatic breakthrough.

He has also offered contradictory statements about what might actually happen.

The Associated Press reports that Trump has made reopening the strait — through which a fifth of the world’s oil transits in peacetime — part of avoiding wider attacks and suggested that the waterway is not as vital to U.S. oil interests as it is to other countries. He has also said he would be willing to deploy ground troops to seize Iranian oil, while maintaining that major combat operations in that country could soon conclude.

That means the next moves by the U.S. are largely a mystery, even as rhetoric on both sides has reached a fever pitch.

Meanwhile, Iran’s president said 14 million people, including himself, have volunteered to fight. That's despite Trump saying that U.S. forces could wipe out all bridges in Iran in a matter of hours and reduce all power plants to smoking rubble in roughly the same time frame. He also suggested the entire country could be wiped off the map.

Tehran’s representative at the U.N., Amir-Saeid Iravani, said the threats “constitute incitement to war crimes and potentially genocide” and that Iran would "take immediate and proportionate reciprocal measures” if Trump launches devastating strikes.

Trump keeps an off-ramp open

Included in Trump’s dire warning for Iran, the president also seemed to keep open the possibility of an off-ramp, saying that “maybe something revolutionarily wonderful can happen.”

Earlier, Iranian official Alireza Rahimi issued a video message calling on “all young people, athletes, artists, students and university students and their professors” to form human chains around power plants.

Iranians have formed human chains in the past around nuclear sites at times of heightened tensions with the West. State media posted videos online that showed hundreds of flag-waving people massed at two bridges and at a power plant hundreds of kilometers from Tehran, though it was not clear how widespread the practice was.

Iran’s Revolutionary Guard warned that Iran would “deprive the U.S. and its allies of the region’s oil and gas for years” and expand its attacks across the Gulf region if Trump carries out his threat.

French Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot said that attacks targeting civilian and energy infrastructure could constitute a war crime. Such cases are notoriously difficult to prosecute. Trump has said he’s “not at all” concerned about committing war crimes.

Volker Türk, the U.N. high commissioner for human rights, said he deplored the rhetoric being used over the last two weeks “by all parties, including the latest threats to annihilate a whole civilization and to target civilian infrastructure.”

Chokehold on the Strait of Hormuz

Iran effectively blocked shipping through the strait after Israel and the U.S. attacked in February. That, and Iran’s attacks on the energy infrastructure of its Gulf Arab neighbors, have sent oil prices skyrocketing, raising the price of gasoline, food and other basics far beyond the Middle East.

Tehran has rejected a 45-day ceasefire proposal, saying it wants a permanent end to the war. But as Trump's deadline neared, an official said indirect communications between the United States and Iran remained underway. The official spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss ongoing diplomacy.

Pakistan's prime minister urged Trump to extend his deadline for Iran by two weeks, to allow diplomacy to advance. In a post on X, Shehbaz Sharif also asked Iran to open up the strait for two weeks.

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