TRUMP: ‘WE ARE SPEAKING’: Just minutes after his 98-minute long televised Cabinet meeting, in which President Donald Trump boasted the Iran War was “extremely, really a lot ahead of schedule,” Trump posted on Truth Social “As per Iranian Government request, please let this statement serve to represent that I am pausing the period of Energy Plant destruction by 10 Days to Monday, April 6, 2026, at 8 P.M.”
The post came just 11 minutes after the markets closed with the S&P 500 posting another steep loss, down 1.7%, while oil prices spiked, with the benchmark Brent crude up 1.9% at $109 a barrel. Trump immediately called in to Fox News to tamp down suggestions by what he called the “fake news” media that the war was heading into a dangerous escalatory phase. And Trump acknowledged that Iran would likely deny everything he said during his Cabinet session. “Now, they may say, oh, we’re not speaking,” he told The Five’s Kayleigh McEnany. “But we are speaking, and it’s going fairly well.”
As Trump predicted, Iran flatly denied it had asked for a pause in Trump’s threat against power plants, a request that Trump said came to him indirectly. “They said to me, very nicely, through my people, could we have more time?”
Then Trump proceeded to relate what he portrayed as a conversation with someone in Iran. “If they don’t do what they have to do, I will knock out their power plants,” Trump said he told the mystery person. “And he said, ‘Does that include nuclear?’ Because they have nuclear, plenty of money. They have a lot of money, and they built nuclear, and they built regular power plants, but they’re massive and very expensive, billions of dollars.”
“And so I gave them a 10-day period. They asked for seven. You’re going to say, ’Oh, Trump’s a terrible negotiator. They asked for seven.’ And I said, ‘I’m going to give you 10, because they gave me ships.’ We talked about the eight ships.”
TRUMP SAYS IRANIAN POWER PLANTS WON’T BE TARGETED FOR 10 DAYS AS PEACE TALKS PERSIST
TRUMP: ‘EIGHT BIG BOATS OF OIL’: Trump revealed what he called on Tuesday a “very big present worth a tremendous amount of money … a very significant prize.”
Turned out it was a promise to allow Pakistani-flagged oil tankers to safely transit the Strait of Hormuz under Iran’s new inspection regime, which applies to “non-hostile” countries that pay a hefty toll in Chinese Yuan to avoid U.S. sanctions. Pakistan has emerged as a key mediator in the attempt to arrange face-to-face talks.
“They said, ‘To show you the fact that we’re real and solid and we’re there, we’re going to let you have eight boats of oil’ — eight boats — eight big boats of oil,” Trump said, and sure enough, then saw a report on Fox News that “eight boats” were “going right up the middle of the Hormuz Strait.”
“Eight big tankers are going, loaded up with oil, right through. And I said, ‘Well, I guess they were right, and they were real. I guess we’re dealing with the right people.’”
Pakistan was on Iran’s original list of countries that were permitted to use the strait, along with India, China, and Turkey. Iran is now exporting more oil than before the war began, and selling it at a premium price of about $120 a barrel.
TRUMP SAYS IRAN LET EIGHT OIL TANKERS THROUGH STRAIT OF HORMUZ
NEGOTIATING POSSIBLE NEGOTIATION: According to a report by Axios’s well-sourced Middle East reporter Barak Ravid, there are backchannel discussions, but not yet about ending the war, but more about whether the two sides even have anything to talk about.
“A source with knowledge of the mediation efforts said despite public statements rejecting the U.S. proposal, Iranian officials have made it clear they are interested in negotiations,” Ravid writes in his latest Axios report. “At the same time, the Iranians officials still haven’t given a final response to the proposal to hold a high-level meeting with the U.S. in the coming days.”
“What I do know is that even today, the Pakistani, Egyptian, and Turkish mediators were still trying to get a clear idea from the Iranians, whether they’re willing or not, to have a high-level meeting with the United States, with a U.S. delegation headed by Vice President Vance, and for the Iranians to send there, the Speaker of Parliament, Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf,” Ravid said on CNN last night.
“The U.S. sent a proposal. The mediators sent the proposal to the Iranians. The Iranian Foreign Minister, Abbas Araghchi, sent this proposal to his top leadership. It’s unclear if it’s the Supreme Leader, Mojtaba Khamenei, or somebody else, with another request to have that meeting. The Iranians came back and said, We don’t like the U.S. proposal, but we do like the idea of having a negotiation,” Ravid said. “And they’re waiting to hear back if there’s a green light to do such a meeting. At the moment, there is not.”
Speaking to reporters before leaving for a G7 foreign affairs ministerial in France, Secretary of State Marco Rubio described what’s happening now as an “exchange of messages.”
“There are intermediary countries that are passing messages, and progress has been made. Some concrete progress has been made, as you’ve seen and has been documented already,” Rubio said. “There’s a growing amount of energy that’s been flowing through the strait – not as much as should be flowing, but some of it has picked up.”
“So again, there’s been some progress, Rubio said. “But that’s an ongoing and fluid process and not one we’re going to negotiate or talk about in the media.”
THE WAR ACCORDING TO PETE HEGSETH
Good Friday morning and welcome to Jamie McIntyre’s Daily on Defense, written and compiled by Washington Examiner National Security Senior Writer Jamie McIntyre (@jamiejmcintyre) and edited by Christopher Tremoglie. Email here with tips, suggestions, calendar items, and anything else. Sign up or read current and back issues at DailyonDefense.com. If signing up doesn’t work, shoot us an email and we’ll add you to our list. And be sure to follow me on Threads and/or on X @jamiejmcintyre.
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HAPPENING TODAY: OVER TO THE HOUSE: The House is expected to take up a measure today that would finally approve funds for the Department of Homeland Security, including the Transportation Security Administration and FEMA, but not ICE or other immigration enforcement.
The bill — which met Democrats’ demands to split funding for other agencies from the contentious debate over ICE tactics — passed the Senate unanimously, without a roll-call vote, after a session that extended into the early morning hours and ended after 2 a.m.
The standoff over DGS funding lasted 40 days, and President Trump’s announcement that he would sign an executive order to pay TSA agents with funds from his “Big Beautiful Bill” was the apparent ice-breaker.
“Senate Democrats were clear: no blank check for a lawless ICE and Border Patrol,” Minority Leader Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY) said after the vote.
“We can get at least a lot of the government opened up again, and then we’ll go from there,” said Majority Leader Sen. John Thune (R-SD). “Obviously, we’ll still have some work ahead of us.”
Passage in the House will require a bipartisan vote as Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) is working with a slim majority. There is also a question whether Trump — who threatened to block any new legislation unless and until the SAVE America Act passed — will sign the bill if it makes it out of the House.
SENATE SENDS DHS BILL TO THE HOUSE WITHOUT ICE FUNDING
WHAT WILL GROUND TROOPS DO? Most military analysts see President Trump’s on-again, off-again threats to bomb Iran’s energy infrastructure — which would be a war crime under international law — as posturing to buy time to get U.S. forces in place for some operation to take control of the Strait of Hormuz by force, if diplomacy fails.
“The United States doesn’t particularly want to escalate against Iran, because what I think would happen is that Iran would attack the energy infrastructure and the water infrastructure of its neighbors if we go after Iran’s energy infrastructure,” said Richard Haass, of Council on Foreign Relations. “Everybody would lose if that were to happen.”
“I think the president wants to give more time for negotiations to work. I think it’s almost that simple,” Haass said on CNN.
Speculation suggests the U.S. might seize small islands in the Strait as 10,000 troops converge on the region.
U.S. Central Commander Adm. Brad Cooper yesterday called on every Iranian serving in the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Navy to surrender in a post on X. Adm. Alireza Tangsiri, who led the IRGC Navy for eight years, was killed by an Israeli strike overnight Thursday.
“Tangsiri commanded the IRGC-N for eight years, during which time the IRGC harassed thousands of innocent merchant mariners, attacked hundreds of vessels with one-way attack drones and missiles, and killed countless innocent civilians,” Cooper said. “We call on every Iranian serving in the IRGC-N to immediately abandon their posts and return home to avoid further risk of unnecessary injury or death.”
THE RUNDOWN:
Washington Examiner: Senate sends DHS bill to the House without ICE funding
Washington Examiner: Trump says Iranian power plants won’t be targeted for 10 days as peace talks persist
Washington Examiner: Trump considering sending 10,000 more troops to Middle East: Report
Washington Examiner: CENTCOM calls on Iranian navy personnel to abandon posts ‘to avoid further risk’ after commander killed
Washington Examiner: Trump says Iran let eight oil tankers through Strait of Hormuz
Washington Examiner: Drone hits Turkish oil tanker near Istanbul’s Bosphorus Strait
Washington Examiner: Trump says CIA told him new Iranian Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei is gay
Washington Examiner: Persians at CPAC push for Reza Pahlavi as Tehran’s next leader amid Iran war
Washington Examiner: US pushing Ukraine to give up Donbas for security guarantees in negotiations, Zelensky says
Washington Examiner: Siblings charged in connection with explosive device found outside CENTCOM headquarters as brother flees to China
Washington Examiner: Hezbollah hits Israeli tank with FPV drone for first time in tactic popularized in Ukraine
Washington Examiner: Judge blocks Pentagon’s punitive measures against ‘supply chain risk’ Anthropic
Washington Examiner: Fox News poll gives Trump highest disapproval rating across both his terms
Washington Examiner: The war according to Pete Hegseth
Washington Examiner: Opinion: Trump’s dangerous off-ramp from Iran
Washington Examiner: Opinion: So far, China is winning the Iran war
AP: Why Pakistan has emerged as a mediator between US and Iran
AP: Israel launches strikes on Tehran after Trump delays Strait of Hormuz deadline again
Wall Street Journal: The U.S. Military Assets Damaged or Lost in the Iran War
AP: The war in Iran sparks a global fertilizer shortage and threatens food prices
Wall Street Journal: US and Israel Have Pounded—but Not Eliminated—Iran’s Missile Threat
New York Times: Europeans Worry Russia Is Preparing to Deliver Drones to Iran
Washington Post: Images appear to show land mines scattered by U.S. forces
Air & Space Forces Magazine: More B-1s Arrive in UK, as Bomber Force for Iran Ops Nears Two Dozen
The War Zone: Navy F/A-18’s Close Call with an Iranian SAM Highlights Remaining Risks to Epic Fury Aviators
The War Zone: Veteran KC-135 Base Commander’s View Of Epic Fury’s Strain on The Tanker Force
ABC News: 2 Charged in Connection with Alleged Explosive Device at MacDill Air Force Base: FBI
Air & Space Forces Magazine: Pentagon Splits Combined US Forces Japan Forces and 5th Air Force into Two Commands
Defense One: National Defense Strategy ‘Falls Short’ on Nuclear, Space Threat: SASC Chair
Breaking Defense: SDA Hopes to Bring Satellite Laser Links into Use Within next 6 Months
Air & Space Forces Magazine: STARCOM Opens New Headquarters Building in Florida
Air & Space Forces Magazine: Air Force Seeks Suppliers to Deliver on Nuclear Micro-Reactor Goals
Air & Space Forces Magazine: Space Force Seeks Proposals for Physical Test and Training Range
THE CALENDAR:
FRIDAY | MARCH 27
8:30 a.m. 11493 Sunset Hills Rd., Reston, Virginia — Government Executive Media Group forum: “Securing the Supply Chain and Managing Modern Cyber Threats,” with Defense CIO Kirsten Davies https://events.washingtontechnology.com/cmmc-supply-chain/register
