Donald Trump has extended by 10 days a pause on threatened strikes against Iran’s energy facilities, saying the move came at Tehran’s request as talks to end the war were “going very well.”
The US president had given Tehran a deadline of Friday to enter negotiations to end the war or face the “total destruction” of its energy facilities.
But in a post on Truth Social, Mr Trump said the deadline would now be extended until 6 April, giving both sides more time to negotiate. “Talks are ongoing and, despite erroneous statements to the contrary by the Fake News Media, and others, they are going very well,” Mr Trump posted.
Tehran has denied any direct talks are happening.
Meanwhile, The Wall Street Journal reported that the Pentagon was considering sending another 10,000 troops to the Middle East. The potential deployment would probably include infantry and armored vehicles, according to the WSJ. Thousands of US troops have reportedly already been dispatched to the region.
The Trump administration is reportedly considering capturing Iran’s main oil hub, Kharg Island, to pressure the country to open the Strait of Hormuz, a waterway that carries about a fifth of the world’s oil.
Iran fires missiles at UAE and Kuwait
Kuwait this morning said it shot down Iranian drones in an attack targeting the small, oil-rich nation.
The United Arab Emirates sounded a missile alert over Dubai around the same time, though there was no sound of an interception heard in the city-state as rain blanketed it.
Alisha Rahaman Sarkar27 March 2026 04:24
Trump says peace talks with Iran ‘going very well’
Donald Trump’s envoy Steve Witkoff told a cabinet meeting earlier there were “strong signs” that Tehran was ready to negotiate, confirming publicly for the first time that Washington had passed a 15-point “action list” to Tehran through Pakistani officials.
“We will see where things lead, and if we can convince Iran that this is the inflection point with no good alternatives for them, other than more death and destruction,” Mr Witkoff said.
The US president yesterday pushed back his deadline for strikes on Iran’s energy assets to 6 April, saying the move came following a request from Tehran and that talks on ending the war were “going very well”.
“As per Iranian Government request… I am pausing the period of Energy Plant destruction by 10 Days to Monday, April 6, 2026, at 8 P.M., Eastern Time,” he posted.
Alisha Rahaman Sarkar27 March 2026 04:21
Iran sends letter to UN over reported death threats against Araghchi
Iran has sent a letter to the UN over claims that the country’s foreign minister and parliament speaker had been “targets for assassination”.
The letter, dated Thursday and signed by ambassador Amir Saeid Iravani, focused on media reports that foreign minister Abbas Araghchi and speaker Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf both had been spared for the time being by Israel and the US as negotiations to reach a ceasefire in the war go on.
“The reports indicate the existence of an operational framework contemplating the assassination of the highest-ranking political officials of the Islamic Republic of Iran,” the letter read.
It added that “the conditional nature of the purported ‘suspension’ further underscores that the threat remains real, deliberate and ongoing”.The letter called any such programme “state-sponsored terrorism”.
Alisha Rahaman Sarkar27 March 2026 04:20
CENTCOM shares photos of military equipment in ‘Operation Epic Fury’
US Central Command has shared photos of equipment used in its military campaign against Iran, which it has dubbed “Operation Epic Fury”.
Rachel Dobkin27 March 2026 04:00
US senator thinks Trump is leaning toward putting boots on the ground in Iran
US Senator Richard Blumenthal has said he thinks President Donald Trump is leaning toward putting boots on the ground in Iran.
“I would say the dynamic is toward troops on the ground because the President of United States never sends armed forces to a region without some plan to use them”, the Connecticut Democrat told CNN.
The Pentagon is considering sending another 10,000 troops to the Middle East, The Wall Street Journal has reported, on top of the thousands of service members that have reportedly already been dispatched to the region.
Rachel Dobkin27 March 2026 03:45
Oil prices fall to $107 per barrel in early trade
Oil prices fell in early trade this morning after US president Donald Trump said talks with Iran to end the war were going “very well” and announced he would pause attacks on the country’s energy plants for 10 days.
Brent futures fell 90 cents, or 0.8%, to $107.11 per barrel, while US West Texas Intermediate futures lost 83 cents, or 0.88 per cent, to $93.65 per barrel.
The fall also comes after Mr Trump said Iran allowed 10 oil tankers to pass through the Strait of Hormuz this week as a “present” to the US.
Alisha Rahaman Sarkar27 March 2026 03:38
Rubio calls Iraqi Kurdish leader
US secretary of state Marco Rubio spoke with Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) prime minister Masrour Barzani, the state department said, adding he expressed “gratitude” to KRG for enabling oil from Iraq, including from Iraq’s Kurdistan, to reach global markets.
The Iran war has raised oil prices and shaken global markets.
The state department said Mr Rubio “offered his condolences to the families of the Peshmerga killed in an Iranian missile attack on 24 March and wished a speedy recovery to those injured.”
At least six Kurdish Peshmerga fighters were killed and 30 wounded in a rocket attack on their base north of Erbil in Iraqi Kurdistan, a Peshmerga statement said on Tuesday.
Alisha Rahaman Sarkar27 March 2026 03:36
Former US congressman and Army veteran reacts to Trump droning on about pens amid Iran war
Patrick Murphy, a former democratic US congressman and Army veteran, has reacted to President Donald Trump droning on about pens during a Cabinet meeting Thursday as the country is at war against Iran.
“It’s infuriating for those of us who wear the cloth of our country…are you really going to spend five minutes talking about a damn pen?” Murphy told CNN.
Watch Trump’s ramblings about pens here:
Trump spends two minutes ranting about pens while attacking Fed chair Jerome Powell
Donald Trump spent two minutes ranting about pens whilst attacking Federal Reserve chair Jerome Powell. Speaking during a cabinet meeting on Thursday (26 March), the US president criticised the Federal Reserve’s renovation project, which Trump claimed had ballooned to over $3 billion. He said that he believes he could have done the whole project for $25 million. He then launched into an analogy involving pens, where he picked up an “inexpensive” pen which “writes well”. Mr Trump then explained that when he arrived at the White House, he was given many expensive “gorgeous” pens to use. However, he said that the fancier pens did not write well. ”I’m signing and there’s no ink in the pen and it costs a thousand dollars.” He later further explained his comparison, stating: “I just saw the pen sitting there and thought this was an example of how $25 million spent by me at the Federal Reserve building would be a better job than $4 billion that they’re spending.”
Rachel Dobkin27 March 2026 03:30
MAGA figure says ground invasion of Iran will make US ‘poorer and less safe’
Matt Gaetz, former Florida congressman turned One America News Network host, said Thursday a ground invasion of Iran will make the US “poorer and less safe”.
“A ground invasion of Iran will make our country poorer and less safe. It will mean higher gas prices, higher food prices. And I’m not sure we would end up killing more terrorists than we would create”, Gaetz said on the first day of the Conservative Political Action Conference.
Oil prices have surged since the US and Israel began striking Iran more than three weeks ago. Iran has effectively closed off the Strait of Hormuz, a waterway that carries about a fifth of the world’s oil.
Rachel Dobkin27 March 2026 03:15
US senator on Iran war: ‘It’s time to come home’
Senator John Kennedy, a Louisiana Republican, believes the US should end the war in Iran, telling reporters, “It’s time to come home”, per CBS News.
When asked how soon he’d like to see the US exit the war, Kennedy said, “I can’t answer that because I don’t know to what extent we’ve accomplished our mission”.
In an update Wednesday, Admiral Brad Cooper, the leader of U.S. Central Command, said American forces have hit more than 10,000 military targets since the war began more than three weeks ago.
Rachel Dobkin27 March 2026 03:00
