President Donald Trump said Thursday that he is postponing planned attacks on Iran’s energy infrastructure for an additional 10 days while negotiations continue, establishing a new cutoff date of April 6.

“As per Iranian Government request, please let this statement serve to represent that I am pausing the period of Energy Plant destruction by 10 Days to Monday, April 6, 2026, at 8 P.M., Eastern Time,” Trump wrote in a post on Truth Social.

The president indicated that diplomatic efforts remain underway, asserting that progress is being made even as critics dispute that characterization.

“talks are ongoing” and claimed they are progressing positively “despite erroneous statements to the contrary by the Fake News Media, and others.”

Trump on Iran:

I gave them a 10-day period. They asked for 7, and I said I am gonna give you 10 because they gave me ships.pic.twitter.com/o7oVDYRyrM

— Clash Report (@clashreport) March 26, 2026

In a later interview with Fox News, Trump explained that Iranian officials had asked through intermediaries for more time before any escalation, prompting him to extend the timeline from an initial seven days to 10.

“They asked for seven, and I gave them 10,” he said, adding that talks were ongoing and “going fairly well.”

Trump cautioned that if Iran does not satisfy U.S. demands, additional targets could be struck, including power-generation facilities.

He also said during the interview that U.S. operations have significantly degraded Iran’s military capacity, including its missile arsenal and key systems.

The president earlier addressed the situation during a cabinet meeting, where he described the ongoing campaign, known as Operation Epic Fury, as highly effective.

“Over the past three weeks, we’ve been hitting Iran’s military capabilities at a level that few people have ever seen before. It’s a display of force and precision and skill like nothing the world has really witnessed.”

“We’re crushing their missile and drone stockpiles, destroying their defense industrial base, we’ve wiped out their navy completely, their air force completely. We’ve wiped out a large percentage of their missiles and missile launchers. Without the launchers, the missiles don’t do any good. We’ve wiped out probably close to 90 percent of the launchers [and] probably, more than 90 percent of the missiles themselves,” he added. “We’ve also destroyed a lot of the factories where they manufactured the drones and the missiles.”

Trump further said that Iran is eager to reach an agreement and suggested that its leadership is under pressure.

Iran is “begging to make a deal, not me. They’re begging to make a deal. And anyone who saw what was happening over there would understand why they want to make a deal.”

He accused Iranian officials of being dishonest in public statements denying negotiations and said an agreement should have been reached earlier.

The president reiterated those points during remarks in Washington on Wednesday night, claiming that Iranian leaders are reluctant to openly acknowledge their interest in a deal.

“I’ve never seen anything like we’re doing in the Middle East with Iran. And they are negotiating, by the way, and they want to make a deal so badly, but they’re afraid to say it, because they figure they’ll be killed by their own people. They’re also afraid they’ll be killed by us,” the President stated.

He also made a pointed remark about the desirability of leadership in Iran, suggesting that even those in power are reluctant to hold such positions.

“There’s never been a head of a country that wanted that job less than being the head of Iran. We listen to some of the things they say, we hear them very clearly. They say, ‘I don’t want it, we’d like to make you the next supreme leader. No thank you, I don’t want it.’”

{Matzav.com}