Iranian TV claims Trump is in ‘retreat’ after US President announced a five-day halt to

On Mar 23, 2026

Has Donald Trump backed down?

(FILES) US President Donald Trump speaks during the Angel Families Remembrance Ceremony in the East Room of the White House in Washington, DC, on February 23, 2026. Twenty-nine people in total have been sent to Equatorial Guinea, held by armed guards, as part of an opaque $7.5 million deal with the Trump administration, according to a report by Senate Democrats. All 29 had been previously been granted deportation protections. (Photo by SAUL LOEB / AFP via Getty Images)

On Saturday, Donald Trump warned Iranian power plants would be destroyed if Tehran failed to ‘fully open’ the Strait of Hormuz to all shipping within 48 hours.

The President set a deadline of around 7:44 pm EDT (23:44 GMT) today.

Iran’s Revolutionary Guards threatened retaliation, saying they would attack Israel’s power plants and those supplying US bases across the Gulf region if Trump followed through with his threat.

The threat of strikes on Gulf electricity grids raised fears of mass disruption to desalination for drinking water, and further rattled oil markets already shocked by the partial closure of Hormuz, through which about a fifth of global oil and liquefied natural gas flows..

While attacks on electricity could hurt Iran, they could be catastrophic for its Gulf neighbors, which consume around five times as much power per capita.

Electricity makes their gleaming desert cities habitable, in part by powering the desalination plants that produce 100 per cent of the water consumed in Bahrain and Qatar.

Such plants use seawater to meet more than 80 per cent of drinking water needs in the United Arab Emirates, and 50 per cent of the water supply in Saudi Arabia.