Trump’s Iran deadline ticks closer. Where do things stand now?
Consider This from NPR
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4.2 • 6.2K Ratings
🗓️ 7 April 2026
⏱️ 9 minutes
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Summary
“A whole civilization will die tonight, never to be brought back again,” the president wrote on his social media platform.
“I don’t want that to happen, but it probably will.”
The U.S. and Iran are holding indirect talks on ways to pause, or end, the war. But there’s no real sign of progress.
As Trump’s latest deadline for a deal with Iran ticks closer, where do things stand now?
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | President Trump is now threatening to destroy the nation of Iran if a deal to reopen the |
| 0:04.9 | Strait of Hormuz is not reached by 8 p.m. Eastern time tonight. Just after 8 a.m. this morning, |
| 0:10.9 | he wrote on social media, quote, a whole civilization will die tonight, never to be brought back again. |
| 0:17.8 | I don't want that to happen, he continued, but it probably will. Previously, |
| 0:22.2 | the president has threatened to destroy every bridge, every power plant, every water treatment |
| 0:27.4 | facility in Iran if there's no agreement. We will find out tonight, he wrote, one of the most |
| 0:33.3 | important moments in the long and complex history of the world. Having threatened to annihilate |
| 0:38.6 | their entire civilization, he then ended his message, God bless the great people of Iran. |
| 0:45.9 | Consider this. The president of the United States issued Iran an ultimatum. What happens now? |
| 0:56.5 | From NPR, I'm Juana Summers. |
| 1:06.5 | It's consider this from NPR. |
| 1:09.0 | President Trump has set an 8 p.m. deadline for launching a massive escalation in the Iran war. The U.S. and Iran are holding indirect talks on ways to pause or in the war, but there's no real sign of progress. Trump held out some hope. Who knows, he mused on truth social in all caps. But if not, it's worth reiterating the president's |
| 1:28.5 | language from earlier in that post. A whole civilization will die, he wrote. We're going to |
| 1:34.5 | discuss all of this with NPR National Security correspondent Greg Myrie and NPR's White House correspondent |
| 1:40.0 | Deepa Chivaram. Deepa, let's start with you. We've known about President Trump's deadline. And then today, |
| 1:46.3 | there was this very ominous social media post. What's the latest from the White House? |
| 1:51.0 | Yeah, the president really set the table there with that very stark warning, referencing his 8 p.m. |
| 1:55.6 | Eastern deadline for striking a deal. And he was, you know, threatening dramatic consequences here. As you mentioned, |
| 2:02.2 | he said a, quote, whole civilization will die tonight, never to be brought back again. Later on in his |
| 2:08.8 | post, he said that he didn't want that to happen, but it, quote, probably will and said that |
| 2:13.6 | maybe something in terms of a deal could happen between now and that 8 p.m. |
| 2:18.2 | deadline here at the White House Trump's day so far seems to be on the quieter side. He hasn't |
... |
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