U.S. President Donald Trump on Sunday (April 5, 2026) 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. Mr. Trump has issued such deadlines before but extended them when mediators have claimed progress toward ending the war, which has killed thousands, shaken global markets and spiked fuel prices in just over five weeks.
Iran’s Culture Minister Sayed Reza Salihi-Amiri has dismissed President Donald Trump’s latest threats, calling the U.S. leader an “unstable, delusional figure.” “It seems Trump has become a phenomenon that neither Iranians nor Americans are able to fully analyse,” said Mr. Salihi-Amiri. He said the Strait of Hormuz is “open to the world but closed to Iran’s enemies.”
Iran struck infrastructure targets in neighbouring Gulf countries, challenging the U.S. account of the rescue mission and threatened to restrict another heavily used waterway in the region, the Bab el-Mandeb Strait. Iran also shot down another U.S. military plane, demonstrating both the perils of the bombing campaign and the ability of Iran’s military to hit back.
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