Trump has repeatedly delayed deadlines for Iran, but suggests Tuesday’s is final
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump withdrew a proposal Deadline for Iran to make a deal or open the door Strait of Hormuz From Monday to Tuesday, he is the latest in a string of deadline delays and has threatened that “Hell will reign over them” if there is no deal.
Trump’s previous deadline was March 23, but that deadline changed several times in the following weeks as Trump alternated between heated threats, announcing delays and declaring negotiations were going well, sometimes with the same statement.
Iran has rejected the latest ceasefire proposal, Iran’s state-run IRNA news agency reported on Monday. Shortly thereafter, Trump issued an ominous warning if Iran did not capitulate, suggesting: Deadline is Tuesday at 20:00. It was the end.
“They won’t have bridges. They won’t have power plants. They won’t have anything,” he said.
His spokesman said UN Secretary-General António Guterres had warned the US that attacks on civilian infrastructure are prohibited under international law. Speaking to reporters, Trump said he was “not at all concerned” about war crimes being committed through such attacks.
Here are some of Trump’s deadlines, threats, and what happened next.
Ultimatum to reopen the Strait of Hormuz
On March 21, Trump stated on Truth Social that if Iran “DOES NOT FULLY OPEN THE Strait of Hormuz WITHOUT THREAT WITHIN EXACTLY 48 HOURS from this point, the United States will strike and destroy various POWER PLANTS.”
Iran had until the evening of March 23.
Then, 12 hours before the deadline, Trump took to Truth Social to share the good news: Both countries have had productive talks toward ending the conflict.
“I HAVE INSTRUCTED THE MINISTRY OF WAR TO POSTPONE ANY MILITARY ATTACK AGAINST IRAN’S POWER POWER PLANTS AND ENERGY INFRASTRUCTURE FOR A PERIOD OF FIVE DAYS,” he wrote, adding that this depended on the success of the discussions.
This caused the deadline to be postponed to the end of that week.
A threat targeting desalination plants
Ahead of the March 26 deadline, Trump doubled down on his threats on Truth Social: “They better get serious soon, before it’s too late, because when this happens, there is NO GOING BACK and it won’t be pretty!”
However, later the same day, he extended the deadline for another 10 days to April 6 at 8 p.m., and told Truth Social that negotiations were “going very well.”
On March 30, Trump issued a mixed statement: While he celebrated the progress made in negotiations with Iran, he also “expanded his threat to bomb if a deal is not reached soon,” adding that “it probably will.”
“We will end our lovely ‘stay’ in Iran by blowing up and completely destroying all Power Generation Facilities, Oil Wells and Kharg Island (and probably all desalination plants!),” he wrote.
It’s unclear what “reached soon” means for Trump, but no deal has been struck as the deadline looms.
A profanity-filled threat to attack power plants and bridges
“Remember I gave Iran ten days to MAKE A DEAL or OPEN THE STRAIT OF HORUZ,” Trump said in a post on Truth Social on Saturday. “Time is running out – 48 hours until Hell comes upon them.”
As the deadline approached, his threats doubled down until Sunday, when Trump once again delayed the deadline with an expletive-filled post.
“Tuesday will be Power Plant Day and Bridge Day in Iran, all rolled into one. It won’t happen! Open the Bosphorus, you crazy bastards, or you’ll be living in Hell,” Trump said on Truth Social, and then made another post stating 8pm as the deadline.
Trump later said on Monday that Tuesday’s deadline would be final, saying he had given Iran enough additional time.
“The whole country could be taken out in one night, and that night could be tomorrow night,” Trump said. “Due to the strength of our army, we have a plan in which all bridges in Iran will be destroyed by 12 o’clock tomorrow night.”
What will happen next in diplomacy with Iran?
Mojtaba Ferdousi Pour, head of Iran’s diplomatic mission in Cairo, said Iran no longer trusts the Trump administration after the United States bombed the Islamic Republic twice in previous rounds of negotiations.
“We accept the end of the war only with the guarantee that we will not be attacked again,” he told The Associated Press.
A regional official who participated in the talks said the efforts had not failed. “We’re still talking to both sides,” said Trump, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss closed-door diplomacy.
Israeli television channel Channel 13’s evening news program showed a large digital clock counting down the hours and minutes until Tuesday’s deadline.
