Murray Wood: Signs of spring appearing in Saskatchewan
Murray Wood says signs of spring were all over the place on the weekend, even though the forecast remains wintery for th...
TEHRAN, Iran (AP) — U.S. President Donald Trump said late Tuesday he’s pulling back on his threats to attack Iranian bridges, power plants and other civilian targets, subject to Iran agreeing to a two-week ceasefire and reopening of the Strait of Hormuz.
Trump also said Iran has proposed a “workable” 10-point peace plan that could help end the war the U.S. and Israel launched on Feb. 28.
Read more:
- Iranians in Sask. concerned about Trump rhetoric, family amid war
- Trump brushes off war crime concerns as he repeats threats to Iran
- Trump issues fiery new threat against Iran as U.S. describes dramatic pilot rescue
In a post on his social media site, Trump said Iran could agree “to the COMPLETE, IMMEDIATE, and SAFE OPENING of the Strait of Hormuz” and said that he’d then “suspend the bombing and attack of Iran for a period of two weeks.”
In a quickly evolving situation after Trump’s announcement, Iran’s foreign minister says passage through the Strait of Hormuz would be allowed for the next two weeks under Iranian military management, according to AP.
Trump had previously threatened Tuesday that a “whole civilization will die tonight” if Iran fails to meet his latest deadline to strike a deal that includes reopening the strait through which a fifth of the world’s oil is transported during peacetime. But since the war began, Trump has repeatedly backed off of deadlines just before they expire.
The president said in his social media post that Iran has presented “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.
Bystanders watch from a distance as rescue teams and first responders work at the site of a strike that, according to a security official at the scene, destroyed half of the Khorasaniha Synagogue and nearby residential buildings in Tehran, Iran, Tuesday, April 7, 2026. (AP Photo/Francisco Seco)
Earlier Trump threats raised alarms
Trump’s expansive threat Tuesday did not seem to account for potential harm to civilians, prompting Democrats in Congress, some United Nations officials and scholars in military law to say such strikes would violate international law.
Tehran’s representative at the U.N., Amir-Saeid Iravani, said the threats “constitute incitement to war crimes and potentially genocide” and that Iran would “take immediate and proportionate reciprocal measures” if Trump launches devastating strikes.
The U.S. and Israel have battered Iran with attacks targeting its military capabilities, leadership and nuclear program. Iran has responded with a stream of strikes on Israel and Gulf Arab neighbours, causing regional chaos and outsized economic and political shock.
Late Tuesday, Pakistan’s prime minister urged Trump to extend his deadline by two weeks to allow diplomacy to advance.
In a post on X, Shehbaz Sharif, whose country has been leading negotiations, also asked Iran to open up the Strait of Hormuz for two weeks.
Before the deadline, airstrikes hit two bridges and a train station, and the U.S. hit military infrastructure on Kharg Island, a key hub for Iranian oil production.
The Damavand power station is seen from a nearby road on the outskirts of Tehran, Iran, Tuesday, April 7, 2026. (AP Photo/Francisco Seco)
Trump has extended deadlines before
Since the war began, Trump has repeatedly imposed deadlines linked to threats, only to extend them. Tehran previously rejected a 45-day ceasefire proposal by Egyptian, Pakistani and Turkish mediators, saying it wants a permanent end to the war.
Iran’s president said 14 million people, including himself, have volunteered to fight. That’s despite Trump saying that U.S. forces could wipe out all bridges in Iran in a matter of hours and reduce all power plants to smoking rubble in roughly the same time frame.
It was not clear if airstrikes against Iran on Tuesday were linked to Trump’s threats to widen the civilian target list. At least two of the targets were connected to Iran’s rail network, and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israeli warplanes struck bridges and railways in Iran.
While Iran cannot match the sophistication of U.S. and Israeli weaponry or their dominance in the air, its chokehold on the strait since the war began in late February is roiling the world economy and raising the pressure on Trump both at home and abroad to find a way out of the standoff.
Read more:
