‘Unhinged madman’: US politicians react to Trump’s expletive-laden threat to Iran

 

‘Unhinged madman’: US politicians react to Trump’s expletive-laden threat to Iran

 

Marjorie Taylor Greene and Bernie Sanders among those responding with alarm to Trump writing ‘open the fuckin’ strait, you crazy bastards’

 

Lucy Campbell

Sun 5 Apr 2026 18.01 BST

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/apr/05/trump-iran-threats-politician-reactions

 

Some US politicians have reacted with alarm and questioned the US president’s mental state after Donald Trump issued an abusive, expletive-laden threat to Iran in which he called on the regime to “open the fuckin’ strait [of Hormuz], you crazy bastards”, as he threatened to further attack the country’s energy and transport infrastructure.

 

The US president wrote on his Truth Social platform: “Tuesday will be Power Plant Day, and Bridge Day, all wrapped up in one, in Iran. There will be nothing like it!!! Open the Fuckin’ Strait, you crazy bastards, or you’ll be living in Hell - JUST WATCH! Praise be to Allah. President DONALD J. TRUMP.”

 

It comes as the Trump administration hurtles towards another self-imposed deadline – this time, Tuesday evening – for Iran to reopen the strait of Hormuz. One of the world’s most critical shipping lanes for oil and gas, the strait has been effectively shut since the US and Israel launched war on Iran at the end of February, causing oil prices around the world to skyrocket to record highs.

 

Trump has threatened Tehran with several deadlines in a bid to reopen the key maritime corridor, and has fixated his frustration on European and Nato allies who have rejected the legality of the US-Israeli war on Iran and refused to intervene in the strait of Hormuz crisis – prompting Trump to threaten to withdraw the US from Nato.

 

Mehdi Tabatabaei, deputy for communications at the Iranian president’s office, said on Sunday that Iran would only open the strait after receiving compensation for war damages, paid via a “new legal regime” based on transit fees.

 

He added that Trump, with his threats to attack Iran’s civil infrastructure over the strait’s closure, had “resorted to obscenities and nonsense out of sheer desperation and anger”.

 

Marjorie Taylor Greene, a former staunch ally turned Trump critic, said everyone in the Trump administration who claims to be a Christian needs to “beg forgiveness from God” and intervene in the president’s “madness”.

 

In a lengthy post on X, the former Republican congresswoman wrote: “I know all of you and him and he has gone insane, and all of you are complicit. I’m not defending Iran but let’s be honest about all of this.”

 

She went on: “The Strait is closed because the US and Israel started the unprovoked war against Iran based on the same nuclear lies they’ve been telling for decades, that any moment Iran would develop a nuclear weapon.

 

“You know who has nuclear weapons? Israel. They are more than capable of defending themselves without the US having to fight their wars, kill innocent people and children, and pay for it. Trump threatening to bomb power plants and bridges hurts the Iranian people, the very people Trump claimed he was freeing.”

 

After years of loyalty, Greene broke from Trump last year as she criticized his strikes on Iran last June as backtracking on his campaign promise to put “America first” and avoid expensive foreign wars.

 

“This NOT what we promised the American people when they overwhelmingly voted in 2024, I know, I was there more than most,” Greene wrote on Sunday. “This is not making America great again, this is evil.”

 

Meanwhile, Senate minority leader Chuck Schumer said Trump’s rant resembled that of “an unhinged madman”. He wrote on X: “Happy Easter, America. As you head off to church and celebrate with friends and family, the President of the United States is ranting like an unhinged madman on social media.

 

“He’s threatening possible war crimes and alienating allies. This is who he is, but this is not who we are. Our country deserves so much better.”

 

Bernie Sanders, an independent US senator, called it “dangerous and mentally unbalanced”. He said on X: “One month after starting the war in Iran, this is the statement of the President of the United States on Easter Sunday. These are the ravings of a dangerous and mentally unbalanced individual. Congress has got to act NOW. End this war.”

 

Senator Chris Murphy also called it completely unhinged. He wrote on X: “If I were in Trump’s Cabinet, I would spend Easter calling constitutional lawyers about the 25th Amendment. This is completely, utterly unhinged. He’s already killed thousands. He’s going to kill thousands more.”

 

Invoking the 25th amendment would declare the president unfit for office, allowing the vice-president to become president – though it seems the chances of that happening appear to be slim.

 

Ro Khanna, a Democratic representative, also said that while Trump is “cursing out and threatening war crimes”, he is “failing” US troops in Iran who remain under fire even though the president has claimed to have destroyed Iran’s military capabilities. He told NBC’s Meet the Press: “We need to end this war now. We need an immediate ceasefire. Iran, Israel and the United States need to stop bombing and have a negotiated settlement.”

 

Tim Kaine, a Democratic senator who serves on the armed services committee, urged Trump to “please dial back the rhetoric”. Also speaking on NBC’s Meet the Press, Kaine said Trump’s language was “embarrassing and juvenile” and raised the risk for US service members.

 

Indeed, Trump’s threats follow an intense 48-hour rescue operation for two US pilots inside Iran. Trump said in an earlier Sunday post that the second pilot rescued was “seriously wounded” and is a “highly respected Colonel”.

 

“The rescue was an Easter Miracle,” Trump added in a text message to Meet the Press on Sunday before heading to his Washington DC golf club. “Such a rescue has never happened before in so violent an enemy territory.”

 

But despite Trump’s claims that the rescue was a triumph for the US, the two-day drama is a stark reminder that, five weeks into this war, Iran is not defeated and can still fight back and inflict costs on the US.

 

Jake Auchincloss, a Democratic representative and US Marine Corps veteran, told Fox News Sunday: “Iran recognizes that, in fact, their control over the strait is even more strategically vital to them than the development of a nuclear weapon.”

 

“Strategically, this war has been a failure,” he added.

 

Trump’s Easter Sunday threat follows a US military strike on the largest bridge in Iran last Thursday that killed at least eight people and injured 95. The B1 bridge between Tehran and Karaj appeared to be hit twice and Trump shared video of the aftermath.

 

The war has killed more than 3,500 people across the region, including more than 1,200 people in Lebanon who have been killed in Israel’s bombardment and partial occupation, and displaced more than 4 million people across Iran and Lebanon.