New Delhi: US President Donald Trump Thursday extended his self-imposed deadline for strikes on Iranian energy infrastructure by 10 days, saying that he’d made the decision on Tehran’s “request” and that talks between the two countries were progressing “very well”.
The statement came even as Iran has publicly rejected Washington’s diplomatic proposal and dismissed American outreach as a unilateral exercise.
In a Truth Social post, Trump announced a pause on planned attacks on Iranian energy facilities until 8pm on 6 April 2026 (EST).
“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. Talks are ongoing and, despite erroneous statements to the contrary by the Fake News Media, and others, they are going very well,” he said.
The announcement came a day after Iran, in a statement on state-run Press TV, insisted that any end to the West Asian conflict would come only on its own terms—with full reparation and a complete cessation of hostilities. Tehran also questioned if the US was “negotiating with itself”.
Earlier in the week, Trump had said the two sides had “major points of agreement” and indicated he expected to speak soon with a “respected leader” in Iran, though not the country’s Supreme Leader, Mojtaba Khamenei.
“We have major points of agreement and we both want to make a deal,” he had told reporters, adding that Iran had made the first move. “I didn’t call—they called,” the US President had said.
Trump also claimed Iran had agreed not to resume uranium enrichment, an assertion Iranian officials have not confirmed.
Thursday’s statement followed an earlier self-declared five-day pause in military action, during which Trump signalled openness to talks while continuing to warn of overwhelming force. He said the US had been prepared to destroy major Iranian power plants. “One shot—it’s gone. Why would they want that?”
He also suggested Israel would back any emerging agreement: “I think Israel will be very happy with what we have,” he said.
The New York Times reported that US forwarded a 15-point framework to Iran through intermediaries, including the Trump administration’s Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff and the President’s son-in-law Jared Kushner.
Iran’s foreign ministry said Trump’s comments on the so-called talks were aimed at stabilising oil prices and buying time for potential military escalation.
The diplomatic back-and-forth came after a sharp escalation over the weekend, when Trump threatened to bomb Iranian energy facilities within 48 hours unless Tehran fully reopened the Strait of Hormuz, the critical Gulf waterway through which one-fifth of the world’s oil is shipped.
Iran remained defiant, warning that it would “irreversibly destroy” essential infrastructure across the region if American strikes went ahead.