March 26, 2026, 8:18 p.mMar 26, 2026, 10:06 p.m
US President Donald Trump has again extended his ultimatum to Iran to open the Strait of Hormuz. There will be no attacks on Iranian power plants until April 6th at 8:00 p.m. (US Eastern Time, April 7th 2:00 a.m. German time), Trump announced, referring to “very good” conversations on the Truth Social platform.
Trump writes:
“At the request of the Government of Iran, I would like to make this statement to announce that I am extending the deadline for the destruction of the energy facilities by 10 days until Monday, April 6, 2026 at 8 p.m. Eastern Time. Conversations are ongoing and going very well, despite false claims to the contrary from the fake news media and others.”
The current suspension was actually supposed to expire on Friday. The article appeared shortly after the US stock market closed.
“We have plenty of time”
Before his latest announcement, Trump had not ruled out postponing the deadline. “I don’t know yet,” he said in Washington when asked whether the deadline had been postponed.
Trump said his son-in-law Jared Kushner, special envoy Steve Witkoff and Vice President JD Vance would brief him on progress in negotiations. It depends on whether the ultimatum remains. “We have plenty of time,” said Trump.
Trump had given Iran an ultimatum and threatened to destroy power plants.Image: keystone
Iran rejects Trump’s ultimatum
According to Parliament Speaker Mohammed Bagher Ghalibaf, Iran will not bow to any ultimatum from US President Donald Trump. “No one can give Iran and the Iranians an ultimatum,” he said on Platform X. The children of Iran would continue the fight until final victory and break this vicious circle of war, ceasefire and war again.
Trump had threatened Iran to destroy power plants and energy facilities if Tehran did not open the Strait of Hormuz completely and “without threats” to shipping traffic. He had originally set an ultimatum that would have expired on Tuesday night German time. On Monday he announced that he would refrain from such attacks for another five days due to “very good and productive discussions about a complete and final settlement of our hostilities”.
Iran had threatened that in return it would attack other countries’ energy facilities in the Gulf region. In addition, the leadership in Tehran insists on having sole control over the passage that is central to global energy trade. (hkl/sda/dpa)