The U.S. dollar weakened slightly on Tuesday, as investors remained on edge ahed of a key deadline imposed by President Donald Trump for Iran to reopen the Strait of Hormuz or face attacks on energy infrastructure.
Pakistan requested Trump to extend the deadline by two weeks and asked all warring parties to observe a ceasefire in that period. The move came after the U.S. leader earlier in the day said the entire "civilization" of Iran "will die tonight" if Tehran did not make a peace deal.
At 17:27 ET (21:27 GMT), the US Dollar Index, which tracks the greenback against a basket of six major peers, fell 0.2% to 99.86.
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Trump threatens Iran, Tehran says will target Aramco facilities “A whole civilization will die tonight, never to be brought back again. I don’t want that to happen, but it probably will,” Trump wrote on his Truth Social service on Tuesday.
On Monday, Trump reasserted his threat to hit bridges and power plants in Iran with strikes should Tehran not agree to halt hostilities and reopen the Strait of Hormuz by 20:00 ET Tuesday. The vital waterway through which roughly a fifth of the world’s oil passes has been effectively closed by Iran for weeks.
Reuters reported that Iran said there were no negotiations with the U.S. which wants the country to "surrender under pressure," citing a senior Iranian source.
Iran also warned that if the U.S. attacked its power plants, "the entire region and Saudi Arabia will fall into complete darkness," Reuters said, adding that Qatar had conveyed this message to the U.S. on Monday.
Later, Iran’s Tasnim reported that the country would target more oil facilities, including those of Saudi Aramco, if Trump carried out his threats to attack energy infrastructure.
Pakistan asks for deadline extension, two-week ceasefire Pakistan, which has emerged as a key mediator between the U.S. and Iran, said that "diplomatic efforts for peaceful settlement of the ongoing war in the Middle East are progressing steadily, strongly and powerfully with the potential to lead to substantive results in near future."
"To allow diplomacy to run its course, I earnestly request President Trump to extend the deadline for two weeks. Pakistan, in all sincerity, requests the Iranian brothers to open Strait of Hormuz for a corresponding period of two weeks as a goodwill gesture," the Asian nation’s prime minister Shehbaz Sharif said on X.
"We also urge all warring parties to observe a ceasefire everywhere for two weeks to allow diplomacy to achieve conclusive termination of war, in the interest of long-term peace and stability in the region," he added.
Reuters said Tehran was positively reviewing Pakistan’s request, citing an Iranian official. Separately, Axios reported that Trump was aware of Pakistan’s proposal, citing White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt.
