Trump has repeatedly delayed deadlines for Iran, but suggests Tuesday’s is final

WASHINGTON (AP) : President Donald Trump has pushed back a deadline for Iran to cut a deal or open the Strait of Hormuz from Monday to Tuesday, the latest of several deadline delays, and threatened that without a deal “Hell will reign down on them.”

Trump’s previous deadline was for March 23, but that shifted several times over the ensuing weeks as Trump oscillated between heated threats, announced deadline delays and proclamations that the negotiations were going well, sometimes in the same statement.

Iran rejected the latest ceasefire proposal, the country’s state-run IRNA news agency reported Monday.

Shortly after, Trump gave an ominous warning to Iran if it didn’t capitulate, and suggested Tuesday’s 8 p.m. deadline was final.

“They’ll have no bridges.

They’ll have no power plants.

They’ll have no anything,” he said.

U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres warned the U.S. that attacks on civilian infrastructure is banned under international law, according to his spokesperson.

Trump, speaking with reporters, said he’s “not at all” concerned about committing war crimes with such attacks.

Here are some of Trump’s deadlines and threats, and what happened next.

An ultimatum about reopening the Strait of Hormuz On March 21, Trump posted on Truth Social that if Iran doesn’t “FULLY OPEN, WITHOUT THREAT, the Strait of Hormuz, within 48 HOURS from this exact point in time, the United States of America will hit and obliterate their various POWER PLANTS.”

Iran had until the evening of March 23.

Then 12 hours before the deadline, Trump took to Truth Social to share the good news: that both countries had productive conversations toward concluding the conflict.

“I HAVE INSTRUCTED THE DEPARTMENT OF WAR TO POSTPONE ANY AND ALL MILITARY STRIKES AGAINST IRANIAN POWER PLANTS AND ENERGY INFRASTRUCTURE FOR A FIVE DAY PERIOD,” he wrote, adding that was subject to the success of the discussions.

That pushed the deadline out to the end of that week.

Trump doubled down on his threats on Truth Social: “They better get serious soon, before it is too late, because once that happens, there is NO TURNING BACK, and it won’t be pretty!”

But later that day, he extended the deadline for another 10 days, to April 6 at 8 p.m., and said on Truth Social that negotiations were “going very well.”

On March 30, Trump put out a mixed statement: celebrating progress in the talks with Iran while also expanding his threatened bombing if a deal wasn’t “shortly reached,” adding that “it probably will be.”