We noted President Trump’s “Tuesay will be Power Plant Day” threat to Iran on social media yesterday morning. He later reiterated his threat in an interview with the Wall Street Journal — “Trump Warns Iran He Could Strike ‘Every Power Plant,’ in WSJ Interview.”
The Journal subhead quotes Trump: “If they don’t do something by Tuesday evening, they won’t have any power plants and they won’t have any bridges standing.” I think we beat the Journal to the headline story yesterday morning by picking up Trump’s wild Truth Social post on social media, but the Journal added:
Monday marks the end of a 10-day deadline Trump gave Iran last month to make a deal and open the Strait of Hormuz. The deadlines themselves have been a moving target. In the interview, Trump moved it to Tuesday, and on Sunday afternoon, without elaboration, Trump posted “Tuesday, 8:00 P.M. Eastern Time!”
Trump actually announced the new deadline yesterday morning via Truth Social.
The Journal’s Politics newsletter this morning includes a quote that should have been in its story:
In the WSJ interview, Trump also claimed that a recent decision to blow up a bridge inside Iran was a way to stop them from what he calls a “tap along,” which essentially means delaying.
This is what he told [Journal reporter Meredith] McGraw:“We were nice to them when we did the one bridge, you know, they were negotiating with us. We were close to a deal, and they said, ‘well, we’ll meet next week.’ I said, ‘next week? You’re not going to meet. You’re going to meet tonight.’ ‘No, no, we will meet next week.’ I said, ‘really? The negotiations off,’ that’s a tap along, right? The negotiations off. And I said, ‘What should I do to you?’ And we blew up the bridge, and they called and they said ‘that wasn’t very nice.’ I said, ‘that’s the way it is. That’s the way it is.’ We’re dealing with a different kind of people here, so that’s the story.”
Trump prizes unpredictability in his foreign policy moves. He likes to keep his enemy guessing. He doesn’t like to be boxed in. I nevertheless took Trump’s unfiltered Stone Age threat on social media at face value yesterday. His intended audience is the “crazy bastards” in Iran. He certainly wants them to take it at face value. In case you missed it, this was the president’s message in his own words, with a dollop of mockery thrown in for good measure.
This is a Truth Social post by the president. Something about suggests it wasn't drafted by a staffer and approved by a committee. pic.twitter.com/iVXMMjiafw
— Mike (@Doranimated) April 5, 2026
We haven’t heard much about negotiations with Iran over the past week. Trump’s threat should probably be placed in this context. According to the Axiotic Barak Ravid: “The U.S., Iran and a group of regional mediators are discussing the terms for a potential 45-day ceasefire that could lead to a permanent end to the war, according to four U.S., Israeli and regional sources with knowledge of the talks.” Perhaps the threat is an element in the art of the deal. However, according to Ravid, “The sources said the chances for reaching a partial deal over the next 48 hours are slim.” The AP has just published another version of this story here. The New York Post has published the Reuters version here.
President Trump is to hold a news conference this afternoon at 1:00 p.m. (Eastern) “with the Military.” The news conference is to address the successful rescue operation this past weekend. One way or another, however, the press conference should give us more to chew on as Trump’s latest deadline approaches.
Due to popular demand from the press, President Trump’s news conference tomorrow will now take place in the White House Briefing Room. 1PM ET. pic.twitter.com/A7DfXbZAxQ
— Karoline Leavitt (@PressSec) April 5, 2026
