hankyoreh

A man cleans a billboard in Iran showing the country’s supreme leaders since 1979, from Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini (left) to Ayatollah Ali Khamenei (center), and his son, the new supreme leader, Mojtaba Khamenei (right), on March 23, 2026. (AFP/Yonhap)

After US President Donald Trump ordered a pause on attacks against Iranian power plants, stating he would engage in talks with Iran for five days, a senior Iranian official claimed that Trump has “backed down” after being warned Iran would target power plants in West Asia. However, the official also cautioned that this move might be an attempt to divert attention from another attack.

A senior Iranian security official told the semi-official Fars News Agency on Monday (local time) that Trump has backed down from attacking energy sites as Iran’s military threats have been proven credible. 

“Pressure from financial markets and the threat related to bonds in the United States and the West increased, which was another major factor,” according to the official. 

Earlier that day, as the deadline for the US ultimatum approached, Iran had threatened that it could play various “cards” — ranging from attacks on power plants in Gulf nations to the laying of mines across the Persian Gulf itself — in response to the intensity of US attacks.

The official revealed that since the war began, a message calling for negotiations was conveyed to Iran through intermediaries. “The clear response has been that we will continue defending until achieving the necessary level of deterrence,” the official said.

The official noted that negotiations have not yet begun and cautioned that the US proposal for a five-day ceasefire and dialogue must not turn into “psychological warfare” designed to disguise another attack. 

“With this kind of psychological warfare, neither will the Strait of Hormuz return to pre-war conditions nor will calm return to [the] energy market,” the official said. 

They added that Trump’s five-day ultimatum signals that the “continuation of this [US] regime’s plans for crimes against people,” and added that Iran would continue to defend itself against US attacks.

On Monday, Mehr News Agency, which is affiliated with Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, commented on Trump’s post on Truth Social regarding the five-day suspension of attacks.

Calling Trump’s latest response a “retreat,” the outlet asserted that the US president’s threats to attack Iran’s power infrastructure had been “empty.” 

Mehr claimed that Iran’s powerful and destructive response to the attack on the South Pars gas field influenced Trump’s decision. The outlet asserted that Trump backed down in the face of Iran’s threat to respond immediately and harshly to any attack on Iran’s energy infrastructure.

By Kim Ji-hoon, staff reporter

Please direct questions or comments to [english@hani.co.kr]