Trump agrees to two-week ceasefire if Iran reopens Strait of Hormuz
U.S. President Donald Trump said Tuesday evening that he would delay by another two weeks his threatened attacks on Iran’s civilian infrastructure like power plants and bridges.
“Subject to the Islamic Republic of Iran agreeing to the COMPLETE, IMMEDIATE, and SAFE OPENING of the Strait of Hormuz, I agree to suspend the bombing and attack of Iran for a period of two weeks,” Trump said in a statement posted to Truth Social at 6:32 p.m. “This will be a double sided CEASEFIRE!”
Trump had been escalating his threats against Iran, saying U.S. forces would bomb several critical targets if the country does not reopen the Strait of Hormuz by 8 p.m. ET on Tuesday.
The threats prompted Iranian officials to urge young people to form human chains around the country’s power plants, part of an effort to thwart U.S. attacks after Trump warned that a “whole civilization will die tonight” if Iran does not meet his administration’s latest deadline.
“We received a 10 point proposal from Iran, and believe it is a workable basis on which to negotiate. Almost all of the various points of past contention have been agreed to between the United States and Iran, but a two week period will allow the Agreement to be finalized and consummated,” Trump said in his statement.
???? President Donald J. Trump makes a statement on Iran: pic.twitter.com/9mqTayL0Q3
— The White House (@WhiteHouse) April 7, 2026
The U.S. president has previously threatened to ramp up attacks on the regime if it failed to reopen the critical trade corridor, but ultimately relented.
However, he had suggested the Tuesday deadline was final and earlier in the day, the U.S. military struck targets on Kharg Island, a critical oil depot in the strait, as well as two Iranian bridges and a train station, according to The Associated Press.
Late on Tuesday afternoon, Trump reportedly told a Fox News reporter that he was engaged in “heated negotiations” over the Iran war. Hours before the final deadline, Trump was reportedly speaking with Pakistani officials on their proposal for a two-week extension. In his statement, Trump said that he had been negotiating with Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and Field Marshal Asim Munir.
Meanwhile, Iranian deputy minister of youth and sports Alireza Rahimi recorded a video calling on “all the youth, athletes, artists, university students and professors” to encircle the power plants in an effort to deter airstrikes.
Iran has deployed the use of human shields in the past, including during the Iran-Iraq war in the 1980s, when then-Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini used civilians to clear landmines or fight alongside Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) forces.
Iran’s current willingness to use young people and civilians to defend against attacks comes as the U.S. and Iran exchange intensifying threats, with both sides digging into their positions.
“A whole civilization will die tonight, never to be brought back again,” Trump said on social media platform Truth Social on Tuesday. “I don’t want that to happen, but it probably will.”
At the same time, the IRGC said it would “deprive America and its allies of oil and gas in the region for years,” according to a text message sent to Iranian mobile subscribers.
“America’s regional partners should also know that until today we have shown great restraint for the sake of good neighborliness, but since then all these considerations have been lifted,” the revolutionary guard said, according to The Wall Street Journal.
On X, Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian said that 14 million Iranians have already “registered to sacrifice their lives to defend Iran.”
Iranian military forces have kept a chokehold on the Strait of Hormuz since U.S. air strikes began in late February.
Roughly 20 per cent of the world’s oil supply is shipped through the critical waterway, and so its closure prompted a sharp spike in oil prices. The shutdown has also crimped supplies of other critical products like fertilizers and petrochemicals. Higher oil prices have in turn amplified pressure on Trump to bring the Iran war to an end and restabilize prices.
Trump’s threats are the latest in a string of promises to intensify attacks or order strikes on civilian infrastructure over Iran’s unwillingness to reopen the strait. So far, Trump has mostly relented on attacking such targets, and has extended his deadlines for Iran twice in the last few weeks.
The first was on March 21, when Trump gave Iran 48 hours to start letting shipments pass through the Strait of Hormuz. If it failed to do so, he said on Truth Social, the U.S. would “obliterate their power plants, starting with the biggest one first!” Two days later, Trump said in a Truth Social post that “productive” negotiations with Iran were underway, and delayed the attack for five days.
On March 26, Trump set a new 10-day deadline, ending April 6 at 8 p.m. ET, saying the U.S. would hold off on its “energy plant destruction.”
By April 1, Trump had said that Iran had requested a ceasefire — a claim that Iranian officials denied. The U.S. president again amplified his threats, saying on Truth Social “we are blasting Iran into oblivion or, like they say, back to the Stone Ages!!!”
He would later extend the deadline by an extra day — from April 6 to April 7 at 8 p.m. ET — in a series of posts in early April. His rhetoric toward Iran was its most hysterical on April 5, when Trump said the new deadline would be “Plant Day and Bridge Day, all wrapped up in one, in Iran.”
“There will be nothing like it!!! Open the F–kin’ Strait, you crazy bastards, or you’ll be living in Hell. JUST WATCH. Praise be to Allah.”