A senior Iranian official confirmed to international outlets that Tehran rejected a US-proposed 45-day ceasefire conditioned on reopening the Strait of Hormuz. Stating that Washington is "not ready for a permanent truce," Iran demanded financial compensation for war damages before fully lifting the maritime blockade. The rejection severely stalled ongoing back-channel negotiations facilitated by Pakistani, Egyptian, and Turkish mediators.

Reacting to the US threat to destroy Iranian power plants and bridges, Iranian Parliament Speaker Bagher Ghalibaf publicly warned that any such strikes would make energy and oil infrastructure across the entire Gulf region immediate targets for "irreversible destruction." Additionally, an adviser to Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei threatened to close the Bab al-Mandab Strait, aiming to create a dual-chokepoint blockade combining Hormuz and Bab al-Mandab to maximise global economic pain.

The fact-checking organisation Snopes formally verified the authenticity of President Trump's Easter Sunday Truth Social post. The post explicitly threatened to target Iranian power plants and bridges by Tuesday, demanding the regime "Open the F**kin' Strait" or end up "living in hell." The verification highlighted the severe legal and ethical concerns raised by international observers regarding the targeted destruction of civilian infrastructure to force diplomatic concessions.

As traders returned from the Easter weekend, global financial institutions reported severe market anxiety counting down to the US President's 8:00 PM ET Tuesday deadline. With oil and LNG prices already heavily inflated due to the near-total halt of commercial shipping through the Strait of Hormuz, the prospect of imminent mass strikes on Iranian infrastructure and promised retaliatory attacks on GCC energy grids dominated global economic forecasting.