Mohamed ElBaradei, the Nobel Peace Prize laureate and former director-general of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), has directly called U.S. President Donald Trump a "madman" and urged the international community to intervene as Trump escalates military pressure against Iran.
According to AFP and other outlets on Saturday (local time), ElBaradei shared a social media post by Trump on Friday and appealed to Gulf states: "Take every measure you can before this madman turns this region into a fireball." He then addressed the United Nations, the European Union, French President Emmanuel Macron, and the foreign ministries of China and Russia, asking, "Is there truly no way to stop this madness?"
ElBaradei served as IAEA chief from 1997 to 2009 and led negotiations related to Iran's nuclear program. In 2005, he jointly received the Nobel Peace Prize alongside the IAEA for contributions to the peaceful use of nuclear energy.
His remarks came immediately after Trump issued what amounted to an ultimatum to Iran. On the same day, Trump wrote on his social media platform Truth Social: "Remember when I gave Iran ten days to make a deal or open the Strait of Hormuz." He added, "Time is running out. They have 48 hours before the gates of hell open on them."
The statement was interpreted as reiterating his deadline for a deal with Iran by Sunday. Trump initially set a deadline of March 27 and warned he would bomb Iran's power plants if no agreement was reached, but later extended the deadline by ten days to April 6.
In a subsequent post, Trump released footage purporting to show airstrikes on Tehran, claiming that "this massive strike on Tehran eliminated much of the leadership of Iran's military, particularly those commanding the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps." The footage reportedly showed explosions occurring across an urban area at night.
Earlier, on March 30, Trump had warned that if no deal was reached, he would "blow up all of Iran's power plants, oil fields, Kharg Island, and desalination facilities, reducing everything to rubble." In a nationally televised address on April 1, he said, "Over the next two to three weeks, we will deliver extremely powerful strikes against Iran," adding, "We will bomb them back to the Stone Age."
A Trump speech that was all threat and no substance?