Trump Pauses Threat to Hit Energy Sites
By experts and staff
- Published
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Top of the Agenda
Trump walked back a threat to target Iranian power plants today. On Saturday, he warned the United States would “obliterate” such targets if Iran did not fully open the Strait of Hormuz by Monday evening. A senior Iranian official vowed to respond by targeting plants supplying Israel and U.S. bases in the region. By this morning, Trump wrote on social media that following conversations with Tehran about a full resolution of hostilities, U.S. attacks on Iranian energy infrastructure would be postponed for five days. Iran’s foreign ministry shortly afterward denied that bilateral talks were occurring. Meanwhile, Israeli airstrikes knocked out electricity in large parts of Tehran today.
Reported talks. Axios reported Saturday that the Trump administration had begun initial conversations about peace talks with Iran, but that U.S. officials still expected two to three more weeks of fighting. An unnamed U.S. official listed six demands, including a five-year halt to Iran’s missile program, an end to financing for regional proxies, and zero uranium enrichment. Iran’s foreign minister said Saturday that normalizing trade through the Strait of Hormuz would require the United States and Israel to stop their military offensive and vow not to restart it in the future.
Weekend strikes. Hostilities continued across the region over the weekend. Iranian strikes Saturday near an Israeli nuclear facility wounded one hundred and eighty people, according to Israel’s health ministry. An Iranian missile attack on Tel Aviv wounded at least seven people, according to emergency services. Yesterday, Israel attacked a key bridge connecting southern Lebanon to the rest of the country, escalating a military campaign that has already killed more than one thousand people in Lebanon, according to health authorities. Though an ongoing internet blackout in Iran makes it more difficult to determine casualties there, the U.S.-based Human Rights Activists News Agency estimated yesterday that more than three thousand people have been killed in Iran since the start of the war.
“President Trump’s threat to hit Iran power stations should not happen. In addition to likely being a war crime and leading to Iranian retaliation across the region, it would hurt the Iranian people, who have suffered enough. Incomparably better to back off and start a serious dialogue.”
—CFR President Emeritus Richard Haass on X
Across the Globe
Efforts to contain oil prices. Washington lifted sanctions Friday on Iranian crude oil shipments loaded between March 20 and April 19. As the energy price spike continues to ripple worldwide, Canada announced new financial aid for farmers struggling with the high cost of fertilizer. Slovenia temporarily capped consumer gasoline purchases.
Ukraine-U.S. talks. U.S. and Ukrainian envoys concluded two days of talks in Florida yesterday. No Russian delegation participated and the Kremlin said Thursday there was a “situational pause” in negotiations. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy told the BBC that the Iran war could slow the momentum for Ukrainian peace negotiations. After the talks, he said additional Russia-Ukraine prisoner swaps were possible.
Cuba-U.S. tensions. Cuba is preparing for potential “military aggression” by the United States, though it hopes that can be avoided, the country’s deputy foreign minister told NBC News Saturday. The United States has restricted oil shipments to Cuba as it pushes for policy changes such as economic liberalization. On Saturday, the island experienced another nationwide blackout, its third within one month.
Slovenia’s tight election. Slovenia’s ruling center-left party edged ahead of its main right-wing rival in parliamentary elections Sunday by less than half a percentage point, according to near-complete election results. No party earned more than 29 percent of votes. Prime Minister Robert Golob acknowledged that “tough negotiations lie ahead” for his party to form a ruling coalition.
ICE at U.S. airports. Trump announced yesterday he would deploy ICE agents to U.S. airports starting today as the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) shutdown enters its sixth week. Democrats have blocked DHS funding over demands for new accountability policies and their efforts to separately fund airport security workers in the interim have been blocked by Republicans.
Strike on Sudan hospital. At least sixty-four people, including thirteen children, were killed in a Friday night strike on a hospital in the western city of Al Daein, the head of the World Health Organization wrote in a social media post. He called for an end to the country’s civil war. The Rapid Support Forces paramilitary group blamed the hospital attack on Sudan’s army, which denied responsibility.
White House AI framework. The White House released a document on Friday outlining its vision for congressional regulations of artificial intelligence (AI). Trump ordered his administration in December to take action against states creating their own AI laws, including by suing them and prohibiting some federal funding. Trump’s proposed national framework calls for steps including limiting the extent to which AI developers can be held liable for AI’s harms and protecting consumers from excessive energy bill spikes.
Protests against Syria’s alcohol curbs. Syrians demonstrated in Damascus yesterday against a government ban on the sale of alcohol in much of the city, claiming the measure encroaches on personal freedoms. Authorities slightly walked back to the ban yesterday, saying that alcohol sales would be allowed in hotels and other designated sites.