Trump appears to extend Iran deadline in cryptic post

U.S. President Donald Trump on Sunday appeared to extend by 24 hours his deadline for Iran to make a deal to reopen the Strait of Hormuz or face devastating infrastructure attacks.

"Tuesday, 8:00 P.M. Eastern Time!" he simply said on his Truth Social platform.

The new deadline, 0000 GMT Wednesday, would mean another day for Tehran to attempt to placate the mercurial U.S. leader or risk him following through on a threat to destroy the country's power plants and bridges.

Iran has effectively blocked the Strait of Hormuz shipping lane, a vital route for the world's oil and gas, since the start of the U.S.-Israeli bombing campaign on February 28.

Trump, who has held no public events since an address to the nation on Wednesday, seemed to confirm the new timing in an interview with The Wall Street Journal.

"We are in a position that's very strong, and that country will take 20 years to rebuild, if they're lucky, if they have a country," he told the Journal Sunday.

"And if they don't do something by Tuesday evening, they won't have any power plants and they won't have any bridges standing."

The U.S. president did a string of short interviews with media outlets after he announced the dramatic rescue of a U.S. airman -- and issued an expletive-laden ultimatum to the Islamic republic to free up the strategic waterway or risk a fierce US attack.

He told Fox News he believes there is a "good chance" of making a deal with Iran on Monday.

"I think there is a good chance tomorrow, they are negotiating now," the president said.

"If they don't make a deal and fast, I'm considering blowing everything up and taking over the oil," he added.

In the same interview, Trump said he had given Iranian negotiators "immunity from death" -- and said they had conceded that Tehran would not move ahead with the development of nuclear weapons.

"The big thing is they're not going to have a nuclear weapon. They're not even negotiating that point, it's so easy," he said.

"That's already been conceded. Most of the points are conceded."

In an interview with ABC News, Trump said the conflict should end in "days, not weeks," but warned that without some kind of agreement with Tehran, there was "very little" that would be considered off-limits in terms of U.S. action.

- Kurds -

Trump told Fox News that the United States had tried to send weapons to Iranian protesters opposing the cleric-run government by way of Kurdish intermediaries.

Demonstrations erupted in December in Iran over the high cost of living -- a product of punishing sanctions on Tehran. Those rallies ultimately escalated into anti-government protests that were squashed with deadly force.

"We sent guns to the protesters, a lot of them," Trump said. "And I think the Kurds took the guns."

Late last month, a top official in Iraqi Kurdistan said in an interview with AFP that Washington had not armed Iranian Kurdish opposition groups exiled in the autonomous region.

"We have not seen any attempts by the United States, any branch of the United States, to arm Iranian opposition groups in Kurdistan," said the deputy prime minister of autonomous Iraqi Kurdistan, Qubad Talabani.