Washington (United States) (AFP) - US President Donald Trump on Thursday pushed back his deadline for strikes on Iran’s energy assets to April 6, saying the move came following a request from Tehran and that talks on ending the war were “going very well.”

Trump had earlier denied that he was desperate for a deal to end the war, despite the Islamic republic’s cool response to an American peace plan.

“Talks are ongoing and, despite erroneous statements to the contrary by the Fake News Media, and others, they are going very well,” Trump posted on his Truth Social platform.

Last Saturday, Trump had initially given Iran 48 hours to open the crucial Strait of Hormuz to oil tankers, threatening to destroy its power plants, but he has now extended the deadline twice.

“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.

Trump’s envoy Steve Witkoff told a cabinet meeting earlier of “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,” Witkoff said.

At the meeting, Trump said Iran had allowed 10 oil tankers passage through the Strait of Hormuz to show it was serious about talks.

- ‘They want a deal’ -

The Iranian news agency Tasnim said that “Iran’s response to the 15 points proposed by the US was officially sent last night through intermediaries, and Iran is awaiting the other side’s response.”

The Tasnim report, citing an unnamed official, said Iran’s reply called for an end to US and Israeli attacks on Iran and also on Tehran-backed groups elsewhere in the region – a reference to Lebanon’s Hezbollah, among others.

War reparations should be paid and Iran’s “sovereignty” over the Strait of Hormuz be respected, it said, citing conditions that put Tehran’s demands far beyond anything in the US plan.

As strikes continued, it remained unclear if the talks would quickly end a war now in its fourth week, after the United States and Israel began airstrikes against Iran on February 28.

Tehran has responded with retaliatory drone and missile launches at sites across the Gulf and a de facto closure of the Strait of Hormuz, sending oil prices soaring and roiling financial markets.

In a televised meeting at the White House, Trump veered between repeated threats to “obliterate” Iran and claims it was already on the verge of capitulating.

“They want to make a deal. The reason they want to make a deal is they have been just beat to shit,” he said.

Trump also said the United States might take control of Iran’s oil, comparing it to the deal Washington made with Venezuela after toppling Nicolas Maduro.

- ‘Too few soldiers’ -

Trump’s tough talk came as Israeli opposition leader Yair Lapid warned his country’s government for the first time that the war was taking too high a toll.

“The IDF is stretched to the limit and beyond. The government is leaving the army wounded out on the battlefield,” Lapid said, echoing a warning delivered a day earlier by military chief Lieutenant General Eyal Zamir.

“The government is sending the army into a multi-front war without a strategy, without the necessary means, and with far too few soldiers,” Lapid said.

In a televised briefing, Israeli military spokesman Brigadier General Effie Defrin said: “On the Lebanese front, the forward defensive zone that we are creating requires additional IDF forces… For that, more combat soldiers are needed in the IDF.”

- ‘No turning back’ -

Iran was hit by a new wave of Israeli strikes Thursday, one of which Israel said had “eliminated” Alireza Tangsiri, navy commander of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards, and several senior officers.

An AFP reporter in Tehran heard warplanes overhead and three loud explosions, while Iranian media reported US-Israeli attacks in the central cities of Isfahan and Shiraz, in Gulf port city Bandar Abbas in the south and Tabriz in the northwest.

Strikes were also reported in eastern cities of Mashhad and Birjand, towards the Afghan border in an area largely spared until now.

Elsewhere in the region, Lebanese media reported an Israeli strike hit Beirut’s southern suburbs early Friday, with AFP correspondents hearing several explosions from the Hezbollah stronghold.

Lebanon said it would complain to the UN Security Council over Israeli attacks as a threat to its “sovereignty” and “the integrity of its territory.”

Israel said this week that its military would take control of south Lebanon up to the Litani River, around 30 kilometres (20 miles) from the border, to create a buffer zone against Hezbollah-fired rockets.

In the UAE, two people were killed by debris from an Iranian ballistic missile intercepted near Abu Dhabi, and drones were fired at both Saudi Arabia and Kuwait.