Trump’s timeline for attacking Iran’s critical infrastructure keeps shifting
President Donald Trump conducts a news conference in the White House briefing room about the war in Iran on Monday, April 6, 2026. (Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images)
(WASHINGTON) — President Donald Trump has set several deadlines for launching massive attacks on critical Iranian infrastructure if Tehran doesn’t make a peace deal includes reopening the vital Strait of Hormuz since U.S.-Israeli military operations against Iran began in February.
Here is a timeline of Trump’s deadlines so far:
March 2
Two days after the U.S. and Israel began attacking Iran, Trump told reporters at the White House, “We projected four to five weeks, but we have capability to go far longer than that.”
March 21
Trump gave a 48-hour ultimatum in a social media post calling on Iran to open the Strait of Hormuz, which is a trading route off the country’s southern coast that facilitates the transport of a huge amount of the world’s petroleum supply.
“the United States of America will hit and obliterate their various POWER PLANTS, STARTING WITH THE BIGGEST ONE FIRST!” he wrote.
March 23
Trump posted another message on social media, in all caps, announcing a five-day extension “SUBJECT TO THE SUCCESS OF THE ONGOING MEETINGS AND DISCUSSIONS.”
March 26
Trump said in a social media post that he was “pausing the period of Energy Plant destruction by 10 Days to Monday, April 6, 2026, at 8 P.M. Eastern Time.”
“Talks are ongoing and, despite erroneous statements to the contrary by the Fake News Media, and others, they are going very well,” he wrote.
The president later said he was inclined to provide a 10-day extension because Iran had allowed some oil-carrying ships to safely pass through the Strait of Hormuz.
Iranian officials did not comment publicly on the president’s threat. The next day, an Iranian missile struck Prince Sultan Air Base in Saudi Arabia.
April 4
The president went on social media around 10 a.m., claiming “time was running out.”
“48 hours before all Hell will reign down on them,” he wrote.
April 5
Trump made several statements to the press and on social media on Easter Sunday that the U.S. was setting a deadline of Tuesday, April 7 at 8 p.m. ET, which would be Wednesday, April 8, at 3:30 a.m. in Tehran.
He also posted profanity laden statement on the holiest day in the Christian calendar on social media, demanding that Iran open the strait or “Tuesday will be Power Plant Day, and Bridge Day, all wrapped up in one, in Iran.”
Trump told ABC News’ Rachel Scott that, if there was no deal in the next 48 hours, “We’re blowing up the whole country.”
April 6
The president held a news conference where he repeatedly made his threats against Iran’s leadership if they don’t come to an agreement with the U.S.
“The entire country can be taken out in one night, and that night might be tomorrow night,” he said.
April 7
The president made another threat on social media, indicating he could attack Iran in the night.
“A whole civilization will die tonight, never be brought back again. I don’t want it to happen, but it probably will,” he wrote.
In this Nov. 17, 2025, file photo, President Donald Trump, is shown with Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, at a meeting in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, D.C. Win McNamee/Getty Images, FILE
(WASHINGTON) — The Trump administration announced Tuesday it will end Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for Somalis in March, effectively forcing as many as 2,400 people out of the U.S., despite the president’s remarks last month that Somalia was “barely a country.”
Somali migrants with TPS will be required to leave the country by March 17, Department of Homeland Security Kristi Noem announced Tuesday. That is, unless a court pauses the TPS revocation.
“Temporary means temporary,” Noem wrote in a statement to ABC News. “Country conditions in Somalia have improved to the point that it no longer meets the law’s requirement for Temporary Protected Status. Further, allowing Somali nationals to remain temporarily in the United States is contrary to our national interests. We are putting Americans first.”
The move comes after President Donald Trump has recently criticized Somali immigrants, describing them as “garbage” and saying he doesn’t want them in the United States during a Cabinet meeting last month.
“We always take people from Somalia, places that are a disaster, right? Filthy, dirty, disgusting, ridden with crime. The only thing they’re good at is going after ships,” Trump said as he addressed supporters in Pennsylvania last month.
DHS made a reference to Tuesday’s announcement in an X post that had a black and white photo of Trump in the Oval Office that referenced the 2013 movie “Captain Phillips,” which dramatized the 2009 merchant boat hostage situation by Somali pirates.
“I am the captain now,” DHS wrote in the post.
TPS is given to nationals of select countries who are unable to return home safely due to conditions such as famine, war and environmental disasters. Immigrants who have TPS designation can not be removed by DHS and are given an Eligible for an Employment Authorization Document that allows them to legally work in the U.S.
Somalia has been under a TPS designation since 1991, when civil war broke out and displaced hundreds of thousands of civilians. It has been renewed several times over the last 34 years as the conflict has grown.
The State Department currently has a travel advisory — in effect since May of last year — warning people not to travel to Somalia due to “crime, terrorism, civil unrest, health, kidnapping, piracy” and other issues.
Noem did not go into further detail about her description of improved conditions in Somalia, which appear to contradict the State Department’s advisory.
As of Tuesday, there are 2,471 Somali nationals currently in the U.S. under TPS, with 1,383 in the country with pending TPS applications, a source with knowledge of the data told ABC News.
As of 2024 there are nearly 260,000 Americans of Somali descent living in the U.S, according to the census. Of that population, more than 115,000 are foreign-born and more than 93,000 — or more than 80% — of the foreign-born population are naturalized U.S. citizens, according to the census data.
Trump has repeatedly bashed the American Somali community, particularly the ones living in Minnesota, which has the largest share of Somali nationals in the country, according to the census.
Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz has slammed Trump for his comments targeting Somalis.
“We’ve got little children going to school today, who their president called them ‘garbage,'” Walz said at an event last month.
Trump has repeated his criticisms against the Somali community following reports of fraud in the state, allegedly perpetrated by Somali immigrants against Minnesota’s social services system.
The allegations are being investigated; Minnesota officials have disputed the allegations.
The Trump administration has revoked and refused to renew TPS protections for several countries since he took office last year — including for Venezuelan nationals.
However, those decisions have been fought in court cases that have argued that DHS has made its moves in part by racial animus, citing the president and Noem’s rhetoric.
ABC News’ Armando Garcia contributed to this report.
U.S. President Donald Trump attends an event to announce a rollback of the 2009 Endangerment Finding in the Roosevelt Room at the White House on February 12, 2026 in Washington, DC. The Trump administration will repeal the 2009 central scientific finding that allows the EPA to regulate climate-warming emissions. (Photo by Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)
(WASHINGTON) — As the U.S. considers waging a military offensive against Iran, President Donald Trump gathered with dozens of world leaders and heads of state for the inaugural meeting of his Board of Peace, a peacekeeping body focused on rebuilding efforts in Gaza that will oversee an international stabilization force.
But Iran was still top of mind for the president, as he gave a 10-day timeline on Thursday to decide whether to continue diplomatic talks with Iranian officials or to order a military strike.
“We may have to take it a step further, or we may not. Maybe we’re going to make a deal,” Trump told the Board of Peace members. “You’re going to be finding out over the next probably 10 days, but this meeting today is proof with determined leadership, nothing is impossible.”
Asked by ABC News’ Karen Travis what the goal of a military strike would be, Trump refused to answer, “but we’re either going to get a deal or it’s going to be unfortunate for them,” he said.
Asked whether he had a deadline for Iran, Trump repeated his earlier timeline of 10 days.
“I would think that will be enough time— 10, 15 days, pretty much, maximum,” Trump said.
The president has been weighing his options on launching an additional round of military action against Iran for weeks since the regime’s brutal crackdown on protesters in January in which thousands of Iranians were estimated to have been killed.
A second American aircraft carrier — the USS Gerald R. Ford — is heading toward the Middle East, accompanied by destroyers and aircraft being redeployed from missions in the Caribbean region, a U.S. official told ABC News. The Ford is expected to join the USS Abraham Lincoln in the region, the latter having arrived there late last month.
Key Iranian nuclear personnel and facilities were targeted by Israeli and American forces during an intense 12-day conflict in June. But the strikes failed to resolve long-standing U.S. and Israeli grievances related to Tehran’s nuclear program, its ballistic missile arsenal and its support for regional proxy groups.
Iran is expected to submit a written proposal aimed at resolving ongoing tensions with the U.S. following high-stakes indirect talks between Iranian and U.S. officials in Geneva on Tuesday, a senior U.S. official confirmed to ABC News on Wednesday.
It’s unclear when the written proposal will be submitted to the U.S.
Iran agreed to make a written proposal on how to address U.S. concerns during the Geneva talks, the senior U.S. official said. U.S. officials are currently waiting on that proposal from the Iranians, according to the official.
On Tuesday, a White House official said Iran would provide detailed proposals to address “some of the open gaps in our positions” in the next two weeks.
U.S. national security advisers met in the Situation Room on Wednesday to discuss Iran, the official confirmed.
Additionally, Secretary of State Marco Rubio is scheduled to meet with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on the weekend of Feb. 28 to discuss Iran, the U.S. official confirmed.
During his remarks Thursday, Trump said that “now is the time for Iran to join us on a path” to peace in the region. Trump later said explicitly that Iran “must make a deal” and said if it doesn’t, “bad things will happen.”
“And now is the time for Iran to join us on a path that will complete what we’re doing. And if they join us, that’ll be great. If they don’t join us, that’ll be great too. But it will be a very different path. They cannot continue to threaten the stability of the entire region, and they must make a deal. Or if that doesn’t happen, I maybe can understand. If it doesn’t happen, it doesn’t happen. But, bad things will happen if it doesn’t,” Trump said.
Trump hosted the meeting with world leaders who pledged upwards of $7 billion that would go towards the rebuilding and reconstruction in Gaza.
The countries pledging are Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan, UAE, Morocco, Bahrain, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Uzbekistan and Kuwait, Trump said.
While that amount is significant, an operational damage and needs assessment conducted last year by the United Nations, the European Union and the World Bank, estimated rebuilding Gaza could cost upwards of $70 billion and take years.
Despite that current shortfall, the president was optimistic about the future that the Board of Peace can help build in Gaza.
“But we work together to ensure the brighter future for the people of Gaza, the Middle East and the entire world. I think that the Board of Peace, because it’s mostly leaders and unbelievably respected people, but mostly leaders of Middle Eastern countries, countries from all over the world, and they’ve been very generous with money also. And the United States, which I’ll say in a moment, is also very generous with money, because there’s nothing more important than peace, and there’s nothing less expensive than peace. You know, when you go to wars, it costs you 100 times what it costs to make peace,” Trump said.
Several European allies declined to join the board over concerns the peacekeeping body would rival the United Nations. The Vatican has also declined to join the board.
The United Nations Security Council gave the Board of Peace a mandate as part of its approval of the Trump administration’s 20-point plan for peace in Gaza.
Trump, who again criticized the U.N. during his remarks, said that the U.S. is going “to be working with the United Nations very close.”
“Someday I won’t be here. The United Nations will be, I think, is going to be much stronger,” he said. “The Board of Peace is going to almost be looking over the United Nations, and making sure it runs properly.”
Five countries have already committed troops to an international force that is supposed to deploy to Gaza, the commander of the force said Thursday.
Indonesia, Morocco, Kazakhstan, Kosovo and Albania pledged to send thousands of troops for a Gaza stabilization force, according to Maj. Gen. Jasper Jeffers, the commander of the international security force.
Egypt and Jordan have committed to train police.
“With these first steps, we help bring the security that Gaza needs for a future of prosperity and enduring peace,” Jeffers said.
Jeffers did not provide details on how many troops each country would commit or how soon the force would deploy into Gaza, but he said the ISF would ultimately total 20,000 troops working alongside 12,000 Palestinian police.
Trump also said the U.S. would contribute $10 billion to the Board of Peace, though he didn’t detail what the money would go towards.
“And I want to let you know that the United States is going to make a contribution of $10 billion to the Board of Peace. Thank you. And we’ve had great support for that number. And that number is a very small number. When you look at, that compared to the cost of war, that’s — that’s two weeks of fighting. It’s a very small number. It sounds like a lot, but it’s a very small number. So, we’re committed to $10 billion,” Trump said.
U.S. first lady Melania Trump enters the East Room with a humanoid robot during the Fostering the Future Together Global Coalition Summit at the White House. (Heather Diehl/Getty Images)
(WASHINGTON) — First lady Melania Trump was joined by a special guest at the White House on Wednesday: a walking, talking humanoid robot.
Named “Figure 03,” the shiny black and white robot strolled side by side with Mrs. Trump into the East Room for the second day of her international technology summit, where she is hosting spouses of leaders from 45 nations and representatives from 28 tech companies.
The robot, developed by the company Figure, welcomed guests in multiple languages and offered a wave.
“I’m Figure 03, a humanoid built in the United States of America,” it said. “I am grateful to be part of this historic movement to empower children with technology and education.”
The robot then turned and walked back down a White House corridor out of the room.
“It’s fair to state, you are my first American-made humanoid guest in the White House,” the first lady quipped after its exit.
The first lady launched her “Fostering the Future Together” initiative in September at the United Nations General Assembly.
She and other first spouses, like France’s first lady Brigitte Macron, spoke on Wednesday about the importance of balancing the use of tech with safety and the need for initiatives to equip young people with practical skills.
“Our mission to empower children through technology and education is achievable. I encourage each of you to take a proactive step after this inaugural summit. Pledge to host a regional meeting. Collaborate with the private sector. Unlock access to tech for those who require assistance, draft groundbreaking legislation to protect our children,” Mrs. Trump said. “Collaborate with another member nation. Form a committee and be a catalyst for discovery.”
“Indeed, our world is transforming, and through the use of AI, we can now access centuries worth of human humanities knowledge base. The future of AI is personified. It will be formed in the shape of humans,” she added.
The first lady kicked off the inaugural meeting of first spouses and dignitaries on Tuesday with remarks delivered at the State Department. A working session followed focused on the topics of artificial intelligence, education technology, digital literacy and skills, and safety and protection online.
Olena Zelenska, the first lady of Ukraine, and Sara Netanyahu, wife of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, are among the first spouses present.
Zelenska said she was joining Mrs. Trump’s initiative as a reliable partner, and spoke about Ukraine’s investment in digital infrastructure, education technologies and AI-enabled learning.
“For us, this is the matter of principle. No child, no adult, should lose access to education regardless of their circumstances. That is why we’re building a comprehensive digital education ecosystem,” Zelenska said.
