Rashida Tlaib

This story has been updated with significant new developments.

Two Democratic members of Michigan's congressional delegation said Republican President Donald Trump's threat to wipe out "a whole civilization" in Iran made clear he is unfit to be chief executive and must be removed immediately.

U.S. Reps. Rashida Tlaib and Shri Thanedar, both of Detroit, made their calls for removing the president on social media platform X on Tuesday, April 7, ahead of Trump's deadline of 8 p.m. Eastern time for Iran to agree to reopen the Strait of Hormuz or face widespread attacks on civilian infrastructure, including bridges and power plants.

Trump, about an hour and a half before the deadline, said he would postpone "the bombing and attack" for two weeks based on ongoing negotiations through Pakistani officials with Iran as long as there is an agreement to the "complete, immediate and safe" reopening of transit through the Strait of Hormuz.

On Trump's Truth Social site, he said early Tuesday morning that talks had broken off. "A whole civilization will die tonight, never to be brought back again," he wrote at that time. "I don’t want that to happen, but it probably will."

Democratic leaders and even some Republicans, including U.S. Sen. Ron Johnson of Wisconsin, called for the president to rein in his threats.

Johnson said it would be a "huge mistake" if the president hits civilian targets in his war with Iran.

Meanwhile, a growing number of Democrats, including Tlaib and Thanedar, called for other officials to invoke the 25th Amendment, by which the president can be deemed unable to discharge his duties for any reason and removed, to be replaced by the vice president. There was no evidence, however, that members of Trump's Cabinet or Republicans leaders in control of both chambers of Congress were entertaining such a move.

"After bombing a school and massacring young girls, the war criminal in the White House is threatening genocide," wrote Tlaib on X. "It's time to invoke the 25th Amendment. This maniac should be removed from office."

Thanedar also wrote on X for the president to be removed, saying, "Trump just threatened to slaughter 100 million people. It's clear he's unfit to be president, the 25th amendment must be invoked. If (Vice President JD) Vance, (Secretary of State Marco) Rubio & the others continue to be spineless cowards, Congress must do everything possible to stop Trump & this war."

Thanedar also shared with the Free Press a letter addressed to Vice President JD Vance and members of the president's Cabinet calling Trump "a threat to our country and to our world" and saying he must be removed from office. As for his threat to eradicate Iranian civilization, Thanedar wrote, "These are not the words of a sane person, nor one who is fit to serve as president."

As of mid-afternoon on April 7, the Wall Street Journal was reporting that dozens of Democratic members of Congress were calling for Trump's removal over the threat and widening concerns that by targeting civilian infrastructure he could potentially violate international law regarding behavior in wartime.

While she didn't call for the 25th Amendment to be invoked, U.S. Sen. Elissa Slotkin, D-Michigan, who is a former intelligence officer and former acting assistant Defense Department secretary, said what Trump is threatening to do is a "clear violation" of wartime standards.

"The President of the United States is taking his threats against the Iranian people to new extremes. Targeting civilians en masse would be a clear violation of the law of armed conflict as laid out in the Geneva Conventions, as well as the Pentagon's Law of War Manual," Slotkin said on X. "This kind of focus on civilians is exactly what we accuse our adversaries of doing and what our military trains to avoid. It’s built into the rigorous drilling and routines that our military are trained on from their first weeks. If they are today or have been asked to do things that violate the law and their training, it puts them in very real legal jeopardy."

"I know that our service members up and down the chain of command know their duty and the law to refuse illegal orders," she added, noting a video she and other Democrats put out last November to remind personnel of their duty and right to refuse to follow orders that violate the law. "Even as the Commander-in-Chief tells the world otherwise. It’s moments like these that are why we made the video to service members last year. And I hope and believe our troops — especially those in command — will have the moral clarity to push back if they are given clearly illegal orders."

At the time of the video's release, Trump denounced it as potentially treasonous and even dangled the idea of the death penalty for the members of Congress who suggested it.

Another Democrat, U.S. Rep. Debbie Dingell of Ann Arbor, called for Congress, which is not in session, to return to the nation's capital. "Republican leaders must have Congress return to Washington immediately to end the president’s illegal war and end his executive overreach," she wrote on X. "He is putting American lives, our national security, and the global economy at risk."

U.S. Rep. Hillary Scholten, D-Grand Rapids, also put out a statement denouncing the president's remarks.

“The president of the United States is now calling for an entire civilization to be killed and risking a potentially catastrophic world conflict,” she said. “The American people did not vote for this. Going to war requires the consent of the people, through their representatives, and the brave servicemen and women putting their lives on the line deserve more respect. I’m calling on my Republican colleagues to stand with Democrats and support a war powers resolution to end this reckless war of choice.”

Contact Todd Spangler: [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter@tsspangler.