Name: Trump delays Iran ultimatum after ‘very good’ talks with Tehran
Uploaded: 2026-03-23T23:03:29.000Z
Duration: 10 min 48 s
Description: Thousands of YouTube videos with English-Chinese subtitles! Now you can learn to understand native speakers, expand your vocabulary, and improve your pronunciation...

Adverbs of degree

The president just posting moments ago, he has now decided to, quote, "postpone any and all military strikes on Iranian power plants" after two days of talks with Iran.

Past perfect

This, of course, comes after the president had issued an ultimatum.

He was demanding Iran reopen the Strait of Hormuz by tonight, or he warned that they would be risking strikes on their power plants.

CNN's Kevin Liptak is at the White House this morning.

So the president's message this morning is, the window is now a little bit wider in terms of that deadline.

What else in terms of these talks, Kevin?

that I think is what is most extraordinary about this post that we've gotten from the president.

Until now, uh, we did not understand that the U.S.

and Iran were speaking at all over the course of this now, uh, three-week-long conflict.

Now the president says that these conversations are underway,

and so you can start to see and start to envision how potentially, uh, there is a diplomatic route to de-escalation that we did not know of until, you know, 10 minutes ago before the president was posting this.

And I'll read you a little bit of what he said.

He said he's pleased to report that the United States, the country of Iran, have had over the last two days very good and productive conversations regarding a complete and total resolution of our hostilities in the Middle East.

The president goes on to say that based on the tenor and tone of these in-depth, detailed, and

constructive conversations, which will continue throughout the week, "I have instructed the Department of War to postpone any and all military strikes against Iranian power plants and energy infrastructure for a five-day period subject to the success of the ongoing meetings and discussions." So you do see the president opening the window of this ultimatum that he had set on Iran, that he would strike power plants in that country if it did not reopen that very critical Strait of Hormuz, uh, where, uh, all those, uh, energy tankers are waiting to go through.

Iran had threatened very severe retaliation, not only on, uh, energy strikes, but

Now, some big questions remain, namely who the U.S.

is talking to, because remember, the president had said that the Iranian leaders that he thought he could work with had been killed.

Uh, now he says that those conversations are ongoing and, according to him, very fruitful.

And so very significant development, I think, this morning,

and does lead you, uh, to believe that the president has, uh, i-or is at least searching, uh, for something of an off-ramp here.

Uh, and we will see what more we learn about that potential off-ramp.

Joining us now, CNN senior military analyst and the former Supreme Allied Commander of NATO, Admiral James DeVritis.

This just came in to us this morning, the president saying, "Look, w-we're having talks,

and they're going well." Uh, was that is that a surprise to you?

Because a lot of people don't realize that oftentimes, even in the midst of war, there are always sort of talks going on.

But there is the issue of who is leading Iran.

Apparently, they know who that is, and they've been talking to them.

Uh, well, first and foremost, let's all just say, wow, are we allowed to have some good news for at least one minute?

And, you know, it's going to be a roller coaster, but I think this is good news.

Um, there's almost always kind of at least back-channel conversations.

I've been hearing about them from several sources.

And here's what you want to watch as this roller coaster unfolds.

I'll give you, uh, three things to watch.

Number one, where are literally Jared Kushner and Steve Witkoff?

Because they are the ones who are going to be the U.S. side of this.

Uh, keep an eye on their normal counterparty, the Iranian foreign minister, still alive by all accounts, Abbas Arroghi is his name.

Are they popping up, for example, in a place like Geneva?

The Marines are still kind of chugging along toward the Gulf.

The first big Marine force gets there in seven days.

Another one right behind it, two to three weeks later.

And then number three, all eyes are going to continue to be on the Strait of Hormuz.

Again, this is good news, but we just heard from our gas guy,

and he laid out pretty clearly, uh, the Strait's going to have to open before this is going to really turn into good news.

But bottom line, Sarah, yeah, it's it's always better to be talked, talked, talked than bombs away.

Joining us now, CNN political and global affairs analyst Barack Ravid.

Uh, this just came in this morning, a-and so I know it's a fast thing to have to try to figure out what happened here,

This was this was a bit of a surprise, at least to to to many who thought the deadline was fast approaching.

Uh, yes, I think it was a a big surprise.

At least last night, I spoke to several U.S.

and nobo none of them thought sorry, none of them thought that the ceasefire is coming or that there's any, uh, diplomatic, uh, opening.

I think that, uh, from what I learned in the last few minutes, is that over the weekend, several countries from the region, uh, tried very hard to at least buy more time and sort of prolong Trump's 48-hour, uh, uh, ultimatum to the Iranians to try and get some sort of diplomacy going.

And those countries, uh, spoke to both, um, uh, Iran, Iran Iran's foreign minister, Abbas Arroghi, and

White House envoy, Steve Witkoff, uh, to try and get more time.

And I think that at least this initial effort, uh, as we saw, was successful because it managed to get Trump to say, "Okay, I'm giving it another, uh, five days for diplomacy to see if we can get something going." By the way, those talks, as far as I understand, are not just about the Strait of Hormuz.

They're about trying to launch a diplomatic process that ends the war.

Obviously, the Strait of Hormuz is a very big part of it,

but it is not just something, uh, that is, um, focused on the Strait of Hormuz.

Um, i-if, if indeed they're they're talking about how to end this war and that those conversations are actually going on, you mentioned the foreign minister, uh, involved in this.

Um, so there is someone because at some point, the president President Trump said that he didn't know who to talk to because so many of the leadership had been killed.

It sounds to me like what you're learning is that the foreign minister is very much involved in this and and maybe heading this up.

So i-i-it does it appear there is a diplomatic path out of this?

You know, we it just it just happened 30 minutes ago.

Uh, and, you know, I think, A, President Trump decided to give it more time, I think was a good decision.

Um, but it still doesn't mean that, uh, an agreement is, uh, around the corner.

it also doesn't mean that the talks that are g-ongoing with Iran's foreign minister, who is, I think, uh, his main quality at the moment is that he's the only one who answers the phone over there, because many other people are in hiding and are not, uh, uh, communicating, uh, over the phone.

It so it doesn't mean that, uh, the leadership that is running the show right now, mainly the commanders of the IRGC, that they are ready for any kind of deal.

Uh, um, the Iranian foreign minister, although he's a government official, senior government official, he does not call the shots, uh, or at least he's only one part of a much bigger decision-making process.

So I think, you know, we should, um, first try to find more details about what exactly happened,

and second, keep our expectations low when it comes to the ability to get a deal.

Uh, there's more time on the clock, which is super important because a U.S.

strike on Iranian power plants would, uh, have triggered, uh, a massive Iranian retaliation against, uh, power plants all over the region, against desalination factories, against, uh, critical infrastructure, th which would dramatically escalate this war.

So the fact that President Trump gave it another five days is a hugely important step, a hugely important decision, because it means that he understands that, you know, the what kind of escalation such a strike, um, would, um, would trigger,

and that he's willing to try and find a diplomatic off-ramp.

This just in to us right now, Iran is now denying that they are in talks with Washington.

This is just an hour after President Trump claimed the U.S.

has had productive conversations with i Tehran.

According to Iranian state-affiliated media outlets, Iran accused Trump of trying to lower energy prices and buy time for military plans.

Earlier this morning, Trump said he was putting military strikes on Iran's power plants on hold for at least five days, pending the outcome of these talks.