As President Donald Trump’s deadline for a massive attack on Iran’s power plants and bridges drew near Tuesday, one report claimed talks to avert the attacks were moving forward.
What Fox News called an unnamed senior U.S. official said there was hope the talks would secure an agreement.
“We are absolutely in touch with [Iran]. Absolutely. [The talks] have been positive. If we get lucky, we will have something by the end of the day,” the official said.
Trump’s deadline for a deal was set for 8 p.m. Eastern Time.
“I hope they make the right response, because what we really want is … a world where oil and gas [are] flowing freely, where people can afford to heat their homes and cool their homes, where people can afford to transport themselves to work,” Vice President J.D. Vance said in a video posted to X.
“That’s not gonna happen if the Iranians are engaged in acts of economic terrorism. And so they’ve got to know that we’ve got tools in our tool kit that we, so far, haven’t decided to use. The president of the United States can decide to use them and will decide to use them if the Iranians don’t change their course of conduct,” he said.
JD Vance:
We feel confident that we can get a response from the Iranians by 8 o’clock tonight.
I hope they make the right response. pic.twitter.com/bMRTjVctlx
— Clash Report (@clashreport) April 7, 2026
During an appearance in Hungary, Vance said Iran has to make a choice, according to Fox News.
“There are two pathways that this thing is ultimately going to end. First of all, the United States has largely accomplished its military objectives,” Vance said.
“There are still some things that we’d like to do, for example, on Iranian ability to manufacture weapons, that we’d like to do a little bit more work on militarily. But fundamentally, the military objectives of the United States have been completed.
“I think there really are two pathways, and I’m oversimplifying this a little bit, but I think pathway one is where the Iranians decide they’re going to be a normal country. They’re not going to fund terrorism anymore. They’re going to be part of the world system of commerce and exchange,” Vance said.
“And that’s going to mean much better things for them economically. It’s going to mean better things for the peace and safety of the world. It’s going to mean a lot of good things for a lot of people all over the planet. That’s option A,” he said.
“Option B is that the Iranians don’t come to the table and they stay committed to terrorism, to terrorizing their neighbors, not just Israel but of course their Arab neighbors too. Then the economic situation in Iran is going to continue to be very, very bad. And frankly, it will probably get worse,” he said.
“The president also has been very clear that while the Iranians are trying to exact as much economic cost through the Strait of Hormuz, the United States has the ability to extract much greater economic costs on Iran than Iran has an ability to extract costs on us or on our friends in the world,” Vance said. “
Speaking 12 hours before the deadline, Vance said, “There’s going to be a lot of negotiation between now and then, and I’m hopeful that it gets to a good resolution.”
In a report filed around noon Tuesday, Bret Baier of Fox News said Trump is not preparing to stand down
“I just got off the phone with the president and he called and I said, listen, if you were to put odds on it, what were the odds that this is going to end up being a negotiated deal? He said he wasn’t going to put odds on it. But he said, 8 p.m. Is happening. That’s what he said,” Baier said.
“He said, it is, if we get to that point, there is going to be an attack like they have not seen. Now he’s sticking to that at this point. Now he said if negotiations move forward today and there is something concrete, that could change. But at this hour, he didn’t want to put odds on it. But he said it is moving forward with the plans that we have. That’s a huge deal,” he said.
The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps warned that “if the American terrorist army crosses the red lines, our response will go beyond the region,” according to the Times of Israel.
It said it will target infrastructure “to deprive the United States and its allies of oil and gas in the region for years.”
“America’s regional partners should also know that until today, we have exercised great restraint for the sake of good neighborliness and have had some reservations in choosing targets for retaliation, but all these reservations have since been removed,” it said.
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