President Donald Trump’s public push for a short-term ceasefire with Iran reached a turning point late Tuesday, when he said he would suspend a threatened attack against Tehran hours after setting a final deadline for 8 p.m. ET. Less than two hours before that time, Trump said he would hold back action he had threatened, according to his posts on Truth Social described in a report by The Associated Press.
In the same set of remarks, Trump said he would withhold “the bombing and attack of Iran” for two weeks, with the condition that Iran reopen the Strait of Hormuz. Iranian officials responded that they had accepted a two-week ceasefire and that passage through the strait would be allowed for that period as well.
The two-week arrangement landed after weeks in which Trump repeatedly delayed deadlines and escalated threats in posts that sometimes mixed upbeat language about negotiations with sharp ultimatums. The AP report traced the pattern from an initial ultimatum tied to maritime access to threats that expanded to energy and civilian infrastructure.
The AP report said Trump first demanded on March 21 that Iran fully reopen the strait within 48 hours or face U.S. strikes that he described in a Truth Social post as “hit and obliterate” Iranian power plants. That initial deadline was March 23 evening, after which Trump posted what the report characterized as “good news” about progress: about 12 hours before a coming deadline, Trump said he had directed the Pentagon to postpone strikes on Iranian power plants and energy infrastructure for five days to allow more time for talks.
As the reporting detailed, Trump later issued a new warning that Iran should “get serious soon” and threatened that “there is NO TURNING BACK” and that “it won’t be pretty!” before expanding the deadline further. The AP report said Trump extended the deadline by 10 more days to April 6 at 8 p.m. Eastern and told Truth Social that negotiations were “going very well,” even as a deal did not materialize ahead of the later deadline.
The AP report also described Trump’s shifting threats as he tried to tie negotiation timelines to specific targets. On March 30, the report said Trump issued a mixed statement that celebrated progress while also expanding his threatened bombing if a deal was not “shortly reached,” including language about “Electric Generating Plants, Oil Wells and Kharg Island” and possibly “all desalinization plants.”
With Tuesday’s deadline looming, the threats in Trump’s posts broadened further, including explicit language aimed at Iran’s infrastructure such as bridges and power plants. In one Saturday post highlighted by AP, Trump said, “Remember when I gave Iran ten days to MAKE A DEAL or OPEN UP THE HORMUZ STRAIT,” adding “Time is running out - 48 hours before all Hell will reign down on them.” The AP report said Sunday brought what it described as an expletive-filled post in which Trump wrote that “Tuesday will be Power Plant Day, and Bridge Day, all wrapped up in one, in Iran,” and set 8 p.m. as the deadline.
The AP report also said Trump suggested Monday that Tuesday’s deadline would be final, and quoted his warning that “The entire country can be taken out in one night,” adding that “the power of our military” would allow “every bridge in Iran” to be “decimated by 12 o’clock tomorrow night.” By Tuesday morning, according to AP, Trump posted that “a whole civilization will die tonight” and then added “I don’t want that to happen, but it probably will.”
The episode unfolded alongside international legal and diplomatic concerns. The AP report said U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres previously warned the U.S. that attacks on civilian infrastructure are banned under international law, and said Trump responded that he was “not at all” concerned about committing war crimes with such attacks.
After Trump stepped back from the threatened action, the AP report said he posted that Iran had proposed a “workable” 10-point peace plan that could help end the war that the U.S. and Israel launched on Feb. 28. Iran’s Supreme National Security Council said it accepted a two-week ceasefire and would negotiate with the U.S. starting Friday, while adding that the step “does not signify the termination of the war.”
Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi told reporters in remarks described by AP that passage through the Strait of Hormuz would be allowed for the next two weeks under Iranian military management, although AP said it was not immediately clear whether that would loosen Iran’s control of the waterway. In his final Tuesday posting, Trump said on Truth Social that “Almost all of the various points of past contention have been agreed to between the United States and Iran,” and said the two-week period would allow an agreement to be “finalized and consummated.”