2026-04-08
https://metro.co.uk/2026/04/07/several-large-explosions-heard-kharg-island-hours-trump-deadline-27883811/
HaiPress
Donald Trump has reeled back on his threat to wipe out Iran after a breakthrough in talks.
In a post on his social media site on Tuesday evening,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.’
Since the war began in February,Trump has set a series of deadlines threatening escalation of the conflict,only to back off just before they expire.
Trump claims Iran has proposed a ‘workable’ 10-point peace plan that could help end war.
It came after men,women and children were pictured forming human chains around nuclear plants and bridges Trump vowed to obliterate.
Earlier,Trump posted ‘A whole civilisation will die tonight,never to be brought back again. I don’t want that to happen,but it probably will,’ he wrote.
Sort:
Newest first
Oldest first
April 8,2026 8:52 am
Sarah Hooper
Thanks for joining us for a rather chaotic day of news.
Be sure to read more about the agreed ceasefire,the 10-point peace plan,and what it all means.
April 8,2026 5:21 am
Barney Davis
Trump’s second term has largely been defined by his eagerness to make intimidating threats and then to retreat if a backlash ensues — a phenomenon his critics have derided as Trump Always Chickens Out,or TACO.
The president backed off many of the sweeping Liberation Day tariffs he first announced in April 2025 after they caused the financial markets to go haywire.
He also largely dropped threats to impose high levies on many imported products from China,Mexico,the European Union and Canada — among other trade partners.
Perhaps the most spectacular example came during a January meeting of the World Economic Forum in Davos,where Trump insisted that he wanted the U.S. to get Greenland ‘including right,title and ownership’ only to switch course and abandon his threat to impose widespread tariffs on Europe to press his case.
April 8,2026 3:23 am
Barney Davis
In his social media post,Trump said he came to the decision to delay an expansion of US strikes ‘based on conversations’ with Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and Gen. Asim Munir,Pakistan’s powerful army chief.
Sharif,in a post on X earlier Tuesday,urged Trump to extend his deadline by two weeks to allow diplomacy to advance. Pakistan has been leading negotiations.
Sharif used the same post to ask Iran to open the Hormuz Strait for two weeks.
April 8,2026 2:26 am
Barney Davis
Iran’s Supreme National Security Council has said it had accepted a two-week ceasefire in the war.
Its statement said it would negotiate with the United States in Islamabad beginning Friday.
‘It is emphasised that this does not signify the termination of the war,’ the statement said.
‘Our hands remain upon the trigger,and should the slightest error be committed by the enemy,it shall be met with full force.’
April 8,2026 12:18 am
Barney Davis
The president says that includes an array of bridges,power plants and other civilian targets — subject to Iran being ready for a two week ceasefire and to reopen Strait of Hormuz.
In a post on his social media site on Tuesday evening,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.’
The president added 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 in the post.
April 7,2026 8:49 pm
Brooke Davies
The Ministry of Defence has reportedly removed staff from Iraq with more deployments cancelled as Trump threatens to ‘end civilisation’ in the country.
A military source told The I: ‘It’s just the risk factor on two fronts.
‘One,there is a risk to life,and secondly,[there is a] big strategic diplomatic risk of having guys who are pretty much embedded in the American system who can get targeted.
‘Getting Brits killed in this war would change the calculus.’
April 7,2026 8:19 pm
Brooke Davies
Health authorities in the southern port city of Bushehr,home to Iran's only nuclear power plant,have distributed 180,000 iodine tablets among residents as part of a crisis preparedness plan,a local official said.The deputy for health at Bushehr University of Medical Sciences… pic.twitter.com/AaWnuH6Hke
— Iran International English (@IranIntl_En) April 7,2026
Iodine tablets have been handed out to 180,000 residents living in Bushehr as Trump threatens to bomb the nuclear power plant.
The tablets are intended to use to help fight against radiation poisoning up to four hours after exposure.
April 7,2026 8:15 pm
Brooke Davies
Nigel Farage,the leader of Reform and long-time ally of the US President,admitted Trump’s threats were ‘over the top’.
He told the Press Association he was ‘upset [and] angry’ at Trump,adding: ‘I am quite shocked just to hear that. That is over the top in every single way.
‘Yes of course he wants to threaten – to get them to the negotiating table. But those words are… they’re way too far.’
April 7,2026 8:13 pm
Brooke Davies