Trump pushes deadline for Iran strikes to April 6, says talks ‘going very well’

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WASHINGTON - US President Donald Trump has pushed back his deadline for strikes on Iran’s energy assets, saying talks on ending the war were “going very well” as Israel announced fresh strikes on Tehran early on March 27.

As the conflict that has roiled energy markets nears its second month, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said G-7 nations should help push for the reopening of the crucial Strait of Hormuz, in remarks before arriving in France on March 27 for a meeting of the bloc’s foreign ministers.

On March 21, Mr Trump had initially given Iran 48 hours to open the strategic strait to oil tankers, threatening to destroy its power plants, but he has now extended the deadline twice.

“As per Iranian Government request, please let this statement serve to represent that I am pausing the period of Energy Plant destruction by 10 Days to Monday, April 6, 2026, at 8 P.M., Eastern Time,” he posted on the Truth Social platform on March 26.

Around a fifth of global crude oil and liquefied natural gas passes through the Strait of Hormuz in peacetime.

Mr Trump had earlier denied that he was desperate for a deal to end the war, despite the Islamic republic’s cool response to an American peace plan. “Talks are ongoing and, despite erroneous statements to the contrary by the Fake News Media, and others, they are going very well,” he added in his post.

Mr Trump’s envoy Steve Witkoff told a Cabinet meeting earlier of “strong signs” that Tehran was ready to negotiate, confirming publicly for the first time that Washington had passed a 15-point “action list” to Tehran through Pakistani officials.

“We will see where things lead, and if we can convince Iran that this is the inflection point with no good alternatives for them, other than more death and destruction,” Mr Witkoff said.

At the meeting, Mr Trump said Iran had allowed 10 oil tankers passage through the Strait of Hormuz to show it was serious about talks.

The Iranian news agency Tasnim said Tehran had replied to Washington’s 15 points and was “awaiting the other side’s response”.

Energy crunch

The Tasnim report, citing an unnamed official, said Tehran’s reply called for war reparations and respect for Iran’s “sovereignty” over the Strait of Hormuz.

Tehran also called for an end to US and Israeli attacks on Iran as well as on groups in the region aligned with it, the report said – a reference to Lebanon’s Hezbollah, among others.

Early on March 27, Israel’s military said it carried out “a wide-scale wave of strikes targeting infrastructure of the Iranian terror regime in the heart of Tehran”.

In Lebanon, state media reported an air strike on Beirut’s southern suburbs, as AFP correspondents heard several explosions from the Hezbollah stronghold.

Iran’s Revolutionary Guards meanwhile claimed a series of missile and drone attacks on March 26, targeting sites in Israel as well as military facilities in the Gulf used by US forces.

The war began on Feb 28 with US-Israeli air strikes on Iran, and Tehran has responded with retaliatory attacks and a de facto closure of the Strait of Hormuz, sending oil prices soaring and roiling financial markets.

As countries grapple with the energy crunch caused by the war, a Japanese official told AFP on March 27 that the government plans to temporarily lift restrictions on coal-fired power plants.

Vietnam meanwhile temporarily waived an environmental tax on fuel to cut soaring petrol prices, the trade ministry said.

The World Bank, in its first statement on the crisis, said it was “ready to respond at scale”.

“The longer this lasts, and the more damage there is to critical infrastructure, the more challenging this will be,” it said.

‘They want to make a deal’

In a televised Cabinet meeting at the White House on March 26, Mr Trump veered between repeated threats to “obliterate” Iran and claims it was already on the verge of capitulating.

“They want to make a deal. The reason they want to make a deal is they have been just beat...,” he said.

Mr Trump also said the US might take control of Iran’s oil, comparing it with the deal Washington made with Venezuela after toppling then president Nicolas Maduro.

His tough talk came as Israeli opposition leader Yair Lapid warned his country’s government for the first time that the war was taking too high a toll.

The military “is stretched to the limit and beyond”, Mr Lapid said, echoing a warning delivered a day earlier by military chief Lieutenant-General Eyal Zamir, according to leaked remarks from a security Cabinet meeting.

“The government is sending the army into a multi-front war without a strategy, without the necessary means, and with far too few soldiers,” Mr Lapid said.

In a televised briefing, military spokesman Effie Defrin said “more combat soldiers are needed” to establish a “defensive” buffer zone in Lebanon.

Israel said this week that its military would take control of south Lebanon up to the Litani River, around 30km from the border.

Lebanon – drawn into the war on March 2 when Hezbollah fired rockets at Israel – said it would complain to the United Nations Security Council over Israeli attacks as a threat to its “sovereignty”.

Hezbollah on March 27 said its fighters had launched rockets at northern Israel, where air raid sirens sent residents to shelters. AFP