Race to Secure Iran Cease-Fire Intensifies as Trump Ultimatum Ticks Down

By Chris Summers

Efforts to revive cease-fire negotiations between the United States and Iran intensified on April 6 as regional mediators raced to secure a breakthrough ahead of U.S. President Donald Trump’s ultimatum deadline on reopening the Strait of Hormuz to all vessels.

Iran shut the waterway after the United States launched Operation Epic Fury on Feb. 28, but later said it would permit ships that had no links to the United States, Israel, or any U.S. allies to pass through.

Trump told Axios on April 5 that the United States is “in deep negotiations” with Iran and he was hopeful a deal could be reached before his deadline—which he has pushed back—expires at 8 p.m. ET on April 7.

“There is a good chance, but if they don’t make a deal, I am blowing up everything over there,” Trump told Axios.

Iran’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesman, Esmaeil Baqaei, said on April 6 that Tehran rejected Trump’s deadline for a cease-fire, according to Tasnim, an Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps-affiliated news agency.

Baqaei said during a weekly press conference that the experience of cease-fires showed they often strengthened forces in preparation for further aggression.

He said negotiating under the threat of ultimatums was inappropriate.

Senior officials in Jerusalem told Epoch Magazine Israel that Turkey, Egypt, and Pakistan are actively working to bring both sides back to the negotiating table in a last-ditch attempt to halt the fighting and end the war.

The officials described the situation as a “race against time,” with diplomatic channels operating at full speed as the deadline approaches.

Iran has refused to reopen the Strait of Hormuz to all vessels in exchange for a temporary cease-fire, a key condition sought by Washington.

Trump has extended his ultimatum deadline to allow additional time for negotiations, but Israeli officials said Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) leadership so far remains unwilling to compromise.

Israel is preparing for a potential escalation in the conflict if talks fail, the officials said, while noting that a last-minute agreement cannot be ruled out.

Israel struck a petrochemical plant in Iran’s South Pars gas field on April 6.

Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz said his country’s air force had carried out “a powerful strike on the largest petrochemical facility in Iran.”

Israeli military spokesperson Lt. Col. Nadav Shoshani said there would be “no immunity” for Iran, regardless of talks about a cease-fire.

South Pars in the Persian Gulf is part of the world’s largest gas field, shared with Qatar.

When Israel struck South Pars on March 18, Trump said it was “out of anger for what has taken place in the Middle East” and took place without his knowledge.

In an April 5 post on Truth Social, Trump wrote, “Tuesday will be Power Plant Day, and Bridge Day, all wrapped up in one, in Iran. There will be nothing like it!!!”

He also warned the Iranians that if they did not open the Strait of Hormuz, they would be “living in Hell.”

Iranian officials have warned they would respond with swift escalation if Trump were to follow through on his threat.

The standoff follows weeks of escalation since U.S. and Israeli strikes on Iran in late February, prompting retaliatory attacks and raising the risk of a wider regional war.

Iran Signals Escalation Risk

Washington has demanded a full reopening of the strait as a condition for de-escalation, even as Iranian officials signal they intend to maintain long-term control over the waterway and defend it with full military force, setting up a high-stakes deadline showdown.

Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Kazem Gharibabadi vowed a “decisive” and “regret-inducing” response to Trump’s threat, and the IRGC signaled broader, more intense strikes if civilian infrastructure is targeted.

In a post on X, responding to Trump’s threat, the speaker of the Iranian parliament, Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf, said the whole region “is going to burn.”

“Your reckless moves are dragging the United States into a living HELL for every single family, and our whole region is going to burn because you insist on following Netanyahu’s commands,” he wrote.

“The only real solution is respecting the rights of the Iranian people and ending this dangerous game,” he added in a follow-up post.

The Strait of Hormuz is a crucial waterway located just south of Iran, through which one-fifth of the world’s oil and gas is transported. A majority of the oil and gas that passed through the waterway went to Asia, while the United States and Europe were buying about 3 percent and 4 percent, respectively, of the crude moving through the strait.

The price of Brent crude oil hit a high of $111.89 late on April 5, but was trading at $108.61 as of 6 a.m. ET.

Iran has allowed some ships through the Strait of Hormuz in recent weeks, but traffic is down by more than 90 percent from the same period last year.

Three Omani-operated tankers, a French-owned container ship, and a Japanese-owned gas carrier have crossed the strait since April 2, shipping data showed, reflecting Iran’s policy to allow passage for vessels it deems friendly.

A container ship owned by France’s CMA CGM transited the strait on April 2, the day that French President Emmanuel Macron said that only diplomatic efforts, not a military operation, could open the waterway.

The French vessel changed ​its Automatic Identification System destination to “Owner France” before entering Iranian waters, signaling its nationality to Iranian authorities.

On April 3, two oil tankers and a liquefied natural gas (LNG) ship made it through the strait while hugging the coast of Oman.

At least one of the ships was owned by an Omani shipping company, and the Omani Foreign Ministry has said the deputy foreign ministers of Iran and Oman have met to discuss passage through the strait.

The Dhalkut, Habrut, and Sohar LNG were the first vessels in more than three weeks to have passed through the strait without passing through an Iranian “tollbooth” north of Larak island.

On April 6, the United States and Israel continued to exchange fire with the Iranian regime.

Iranian state-owned news agency Tasnim news reported that the IRGC had said that Maj. Gen. Majid Khademi, the IRGC’s intelligence chief, had been killed during an airstrike on April 6.

In a post on X, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) confirmed Khademi had been eliminated.

“Khademi worked to advance terrorist attacks worldwide, and was responsible for monitoring Iranian civilians as part of the regime’s suppression of internal protests,” the IDF wrote.

Two people were found dead after a residential building in Haifa, in northern Israel, was hit by an Iranian missile early on April 6.

Explosions from airstrikes could be heard all night in Tehran, and in the morning, thick black smoke rose near Tehran’s Azadi Square after one airstrike hit the grounds of the Sharif University of Technology.

The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report.