Iranians begin forming human chains around power plants ahead of Trump’s deadline, social media videos show

Members of security forces watch over the crowd during a funeral procession held for IRGC Navy Chief Alireza Tangsiri, alongside other senior naval commanders and their families who were killed in US-Israeli strikes in late March, on April 1, 2026 in Tehran, Iran. (Credit: Majid Saeedi—Getty Images)

As President Donald Trump’s 8 p.m. ET deadline for Iran to reopen the Strait of Hormuz approached Tuesday, Iran’s government asked its citizens to do something for its country: Go stand in front of the power plants.

Alireza Rahimi, identified by Iranian state television as the secretary of the Supreme Council of Youth and Adolescents, appeared in a video statement Tuesday urging “all young people, athletes, artists, students, and university students and their professors” to form human chains around the country’s critical power infrastructure. Participants were asked to gather at 2 p.m. local time in front of power generation stations across the country. The campaign was officially branded “Human Chain of Iranian Youth for a Bright Tomorrow.”