Standing on the edge of the Red Sea, the Egyptian army approaching, the Bible records that many of the Israelites wanted to turn back.
According to rabbinic sources, one leader of the tribes, Nachshon ben Aminadav, stepped forward, throwing himself into the water, at which point the sea miraculously split. This is the miracle Jews will celebrate tonight on the seventh night of Passover.
While rabbinic sources place the historical event at midnight, this year’s point of no return will occur at 3:00 AM in Israel, when Donald Trump’s ultimatum to open the Strait of Hormuz—or incur his wrath—expires.
Unlike the enterprising Ben Aminadav, preparations have been made for this sea-splitting event. Yesterday, Israel targeted Iran’s largest petrochemical facility in Asaluyeh. Combined with last week’s hit on a second major facility, the IDF has taken out plants responsible for roughly 85 percent of Iran’s petrochemical exports. Today, an Israeli source indicated that railway infrastructure in Iran will be targeted next.
Trump has hinted at the consequences in store: “We have a plan… where every bridge in Iran will be decimated by 12 o’clock tomorrow night, where every power plant will be out of business, burning, exploding and never to be used again.”
To top off the biblical scale of this punishment, the ultimatum expires at 8 PM EST. The devastation of Iran’s infrastructure will seemingly occur over a period of just four hours.
Last night, the regime rejected the 45-day interim ceasefire proposal put forward by Pakistan, demanding instead a permanent end to the war.
The New York Times published Iran’s counterproposal: a permanent end to the war — not a temporary ceasefire — with a guarantee that Iran will not be attacked again by the U.S. or its allies; cessation of Israeli attacks on Hezbollah in Lebanon; a halt to fighting against all Iranian-backed forces in the region; the lifting of all U.S. sanctions on Iran; and the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz under new rules of safe passage.
That’s not all. Iran is also demanding that each vessel transiting the strait pay a toll of approximately $2 million, with revenues shared with Oman and used in part to fund reconstruction of war-damaged infrastructure.
Despite what can only be described as an impressive amount of Iranian chutzpah, I doubt Trump will agree.
According to an Israeli source, there is division within the regime’s leadership: civilian leaders have been pushing for acceptance of the ceasefire, but are being rebuffed by hardliners in the IRGC. Unless the civilians prevail tonight, there will be no ceasefire.
A few hours remain.
We are in for an eventful night.
