PiCK

Trump Pushes Iran Strike Deadline Back Another Day, to April 7 at 8 p.m.

Korea Economic Daily

Summary

President Donald Trump said he had delayed the timing of a full-scale attack on Iran by another 24 hours, to 8 p.m. on April 7.
Trump told Fox News he was confident a result from negotiations with Iran would emerge on April 6.
Trump said that if no action was taken by Tuesday afternoon, Iran’s power plants and bridges would all collapse, signaling maximum pressure.

Forecast Trend Report by Period

Pressures Iran via social media

Tells Fox News he expects a negotiating outcome on April 6

President Donald Trump pushed back by another day the timing of a threatened “full-scale attack” on Iran.

In a Truth Social post, Trump wrote without explanation: “Tuesday, 8 p.m. Eastern Time!”

The post was interpreted as delaying by 24 hours a deadline he had signaled a day earlier for a major strike on Iran, from 8 p.m. on April 6, South Korea time, to 8 p.m. on April 7, South Korea time. Trump had first threatened on March 21 to bomb Iranian power plants. At the time, he said he would attack within 48 hours unless Iran reopened the Strait of Hormuz.

He later said on March 23 that negotiations with Iran were under way and postponed the attack. On March 26, he pushed the timing back by 10 days to 8 p.m. on April 6. The latest move marks the fourth change to the deadline.

Trump also gave interviews that day to Fox News, Axios and The Wall Street Journal. In a call with Fox News, he said he was confident a negotiating outcome would emerge on April 6. In an interview with Axios, he said there had been concern that a message from the stranded crew of an F-15 fighter jet shot down by Iran may in fact have been an Iranian ploy to lure the US military into a trap.

In an interview with the Journal published after the Truth Social post, Trump said that if no action was taken by Tuesday afternoon, “that country’s power plants and bridges will all collapse.”

Attacks on power plants, which can inflict heavy civilian harm, were used in the Gulf War in the early 1990s but drew broad international criticism. Since then, when the US has sought to cut electricity supplies, it has generally avoided directly striking power plants and instead has carried out limited attacks on transmission facilities. A large-scale bombing campaign against Iranian infrastructure that cuts off electricity and water would invite allegations of war crimes and carry substantial political costs. Even so, Trump appears to be brandishing an extreme option as part of his maximum-pressure campaign against Iran.

Lee Sang-eun, Washington correspondent, selee@hankyung.com