Trump had earlier denied that he was desperate for a deal to end the war
\n WASHINGTON
\nUS President Donald Trump has pushed back his deadline for strikes on Iran\u2019s energy assets, saying talks on ending the war were \u201cgoing very well\u201d as Israel announced fresh strikes on Tehran early Friday.
\nAs the conflict that has roiled energy markets nears its second month, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said G7 nations should help push for the reopening of the crucial Strait of Hormuz, in remarks before arriving in France on Friday for a meeting of the bloc\u2019s foreign ministers.
\nLast Saturday, Trump had initially given Iran 48 hours to open the strategic strait to oil tankers, threatening to destroy its power plants, but he has now extended the deadline twice.
\n\u201cAs per Iranian Government request… I am pausing the period of Energy Plant destruction by 10 Days to Monday, April 6, 2026, at 8 P.M., Eastern Time,\u201d he posted on Thursday.
\nAround a fifth of global crude oil and liquefied natural gas passes through the Strait of Hormuz in peacetime.
\nTrump had earlier denied that he was desperate for a deal to end the war, despite the Islamic republic\u2019s cool response to an American peace plan.
\n\u201cTalks are ongoing and, despite erroneous statements to the contrary by the Fake News Media, and others, they are going very well,\u201d Trump posted on his Truth Social platform.
\nThe president\u2019s envoy Steve Witkoff told a cabinet meeting earlier of \u201cstrong signs\u201d that Tehran was ready to negotiate, confirming publicly for the first time that Washington had passed a 15-point \u201caction list\u201d to Tehran through Pakistani officials.
\n\u201cWe will see where things lead, and if we can convince Iran that this is the inflection point with no good alternatives for them, other than more death and destruction,\u201d Witkoff said.
\nAt the meeting, Trump said Iran had allowed 10 oil tankers passage through the Strait of Hormuz to show it was serious about talks.
\nThe Iranian news agency Tasnim said Tehran had replied to Washington\u2019s 15 points and was \u201cawaiting the other side\u2019s response.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Trump had earlier denied that he was desperate for a deal to end the war WASHINGTON US President Donald Trump has pushed back his deadline for strikes on Iran\u2019s energy assets, saying talks on ending the war were \u201cgoing very well\u201d as Israel announced fresh strikes on Tehran early Friday. As the conflict that has […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":538667,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-538640","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world"},"yoast_head":"\n