President Donald Trump announced Monday morning that the United States would postpone threatened strikes against Iranian power plants and energy infrastructure for five days, saying American and Iranian representatives had held "VERY GOOD AND PRODUCTIVE CONVERSATIONS" toward a "complete and total resolution" of hostilities in the Middle East. The announcement came hours before a self-imposed deadline that had rattled oil markets and alarmed European allies for days.
The reversal was dramatic. Just over the weekend, Trump had threatened to "obliterate" Iran's power grid unless Tehran reopened the Strait of Hormuz within 48 hours — a deadline set to expire Monday evening Washington time. By Monday morning, the tone had shifted entirely. Trump posted on Truth Social that his son-in-law Jared Kushner and special envoy Steve Witkoff had met Sunday evening with what he described as "a top person" in Iran, and that there were now "major points of agreement," including that Tehran would "never" be allowed to develop a nuclear weapon.
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