President Donald Trump has announced an indefinite ceasefire with Iran until peace negotiations are concluded, hours after he said he “expected to be “bombing” the country and insisting he would not extend a hard deadline for them to reach a deal.
The US leader has been mocked for adopting a “TACO” stance on several issues, an acronym that stands for Trump Always Chickens Out, in reference to his habit to back down on strong threats of force.
Pointing to a “seriously fractured leadership” in Iran, Trump said he is ready to cease hostilities until Tehran puts forward a “unified proposal” for negotiations.
Trump’s constant u-turns have often been interpreted by analysts as a means of confusing his opponent, but has prompted criticism from allies including French president Emmanuel Macron, who said earlier this month that “you don’t have to speak every day”.
Below we look at all the times Trump threatened to bomb Iran and then didn’t.
21 March – Trump issues 48-hour deadline, then extends it
As Iran’s control of the Strait of Hormuz tightened three weeks into the war, Mr Trump issued a 48-hour deadline for the country to “fully open, without threat” the vital shipping route.
He said he would “obliterate” Iran’s energy infrastructure if his time limit were not met on 22 March. He subsequently extended this timeline to 28 March, subject to negotiations with Iran.
“I have instructed the Department of War to postpone any and all military strikes against Iranian power plants and energy infrastructure for a five day period, subject to the success of the ongoing meetings and discussions,” he wrote.
This was later extended again to 6 April. Iran warned it would attack regional energy infrastructure in response to any attacks.
31 March – Make a deal or US will ‘obliterate’ energy plants
Mr Trump threatened again to “obliterate” all of Iran’s energy infrastructure and blow up Kharg Island, a key oil export hub, if a deal was not reached soon.
“If the Hormuz Strait is not immediately ‘Open for Business,’ we will conclude our lovely ‘stay’ in Iran by blowing up and completely obliterating all of their Electric Generating Plants, Oil Wells and Kharg Island (and possibly all desalinisation plants!), which we have purposefully not yet ‘touched’,” he wrote in another outburst on Truth Social on 31 March.
The statement sparked alarm, but was ultimately not followed through.
1 April – ‘We will bomb Iran into the Stone Age’
A month into the war, Mr Trump appeared increasingly frustrated and amped up aggressive rhetoric towards Iran, making several threats to bomb the country back to the “Stone Age”.
On 2 April, in a 20-minute address at the White House, Mr Trump warned that the US is prepared to escalate its military campaign against Iran over the next two to three weeks, threatening to “hit them extremely hard” and “bring them back to the Stone Age”, while simultaneously playing down the impact of any disruption in the Strait of Hormuz on US energy needs.
There were no immediate strikes on Iran’s infrastructure following the threats.
5 April – ‘Open the F***in Strait, you crazy b*****ds’
In an Easter Sunday statement to Americans, Trump warned that Iranians would be “living in Hell” if Hormuz were not opened with immediate effect.
The US president wrote in a post on Truth Social that Tuesday would be “Power Plant Day” and “Bridge Day” for American forces selecting targets in the region, adding: “Open the F***in’ Strait, you crazy b*****ds, or you’ll be living in Hell.” He concluded: “Praise be to Allah”.
7 April – ‘An entire civilisation will die tonight’
In an extraordinary rant at the height of the conflict, Mr Trump threatened to wipe the millennia-old Iranian civilisation off the map.
“A whole civilisation will die tonight, never to be brought back again,” he wrote in the unprecedented post on Truth Social on 7 April.
“I don’t want that to happen, but it probably will. However, now that we have Complete and Total Regime Change, where different, smarter, and less radicalised minds prevail, maybe something revolutionarily (sic) wonderful can happen, WHO KNOWS?”
The threat sparked a global outcry with several leaders condemning the statement.
Hours later, a 14-day ceasefire brokered by Pakistan was announced.
21 April – ‘I expect to be bombing’
Before the latest extension of the ceasefire, Trump had indicated that he would not back down.
“I expect to be bombing because I think that’s a better attitude to go in with,” he said on Tuesday. “But we’re ready to go. I mean, the military is raring to go.”
He told Bloomberg that the ceasefire would end on Wednesday evening and that it is “highly unlikely that I’d extend it” if there is no agreement to end the war by the deadline.
Asked by CNBC if he would consider extending the ceasefire if negotiations progress this week, he responded: “I don’t want to do that. We don’t have that much time.” He explained that by the time negotiators get to Pakistan, the ceasefire would have expired.
Hours later, he announced that the agreement had been extended indefinitely.
“We have been asked to hold our Attack on the Country of Iran until such time as their leaders and representatives can come up with a unified proposal,” Trump said.
