Trump extends Iran deadline to Tuesday

US President Donald Trump on Sunday extended by 24 hours his ultimatum to Iran to reopen the Strait of Hormuz, setting a new deadline of Tuesday 8:00 p.m. Eastern Time (0000 GMT Wednesday) before he would order devastating strikes on Iranian infrastructure.

“Tuesday, 8:00 P.M. Eastern Time!” Trump posted on his Truth Social platform, offering no further explanation.

The extension gives Tehran one additional day to negotiate a resolution to the standoff over the Strait of Hormuz — a critical artery for global oil and gas trade that Iran has effectively blocked since the United States and Israel launched a bombing campaign on February 28.

Speaking to The Wall Street Journal, Trump warned of catastrophic consequences if no deal was reached.

“That country will take 20 years to rebuild, if they’re lucky, if they have a country,” he said.

“And if they don’t do something by Tuesday evening, they won’t have any power plants and they won’t have any bridges standing.”

The president struck a slightly more optimistic tone in a Fox News interview, saying he believed there was a “good chance” of reaching an agreement by Monday.

“I think there is a good chance tomorrow — they are negotiating now,” he said, while adding: “If they don’t make a deal and fast, I’m considering blowing everything up and taking over the oil.”

Trump also claimed that Iranian negotiators had been granted “immunity from death” and had already conceded that Tehran would not pursue nuclear weapons development.

“The big thing is they’re not going to have a nuclear weapon. They’re not even negotiating that point, it’s so easy,” he told Fox News.

“That’s already been conceded. Most of the points are conceded.”

In a separate interview with ABC News, Trump said the conflict should be resolved in “days, not weeks,” but cautioned that without a deal, “very little” would be off-limits in terms of US military action.

Trump further claimed that the United States had attempted to channel weapons to anti-government protesters in Iran through Kurdish intermediaries, following demonstrations that erupted in December over the cost of living and later escalated into broader anti-government unrest before being suppressed.

“We sent guns to the protesters, a lot of them,” he said. “And I think the Kurds took the guns.”

However, the deputy prime minister of autonomous Iraqi Kurdistan, Qubad Talabani, pushed back on that claim in a recent interview with AFP, stating that Washington had made no such effort through the region.

“We have not seen any attempts by the United States, any branch of the United States, to arm Iranian opposition groups in Kurdistan,” Talabani said.