Newsletter: Trump sharpens threatening rhetoric over the Strait of Hormuz | Euronews

## Summary
I’m Eleonora Vasques ADVERTISEMENT ADVERTISEMENT The situation in Iran may see an important development this evening, as the deadline set by US President Donald Trump to reopen the Strait of Hormuz expires at 8 pm in Washington (4 am CET) Trump told a press conference at the White House on Monday that if the Strait is not reopened, the US military will strike Iran’s power plants, bridges and other infrastructure. For over a week, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has repeatedly stated that Kyiv is ready to help unblock the Strait of Hormuz, which has been disrupted since the outbreak of the Iran war. “Our signal to the United States and countries in the Middle East about the Strait of Hormuz was that we were open to discussing it," he said on X. Zelenskyy said no country can lift the blockade on its own at this stage, as he insisted that Kyiv has experience with launching the Grain Corridor in the Black Sea "despite Russia’s attempts to block the flow of food and other goods." "The situation now is similar, but it is about energy," he said, adding that from Ukraine’s experience "the war and the negotiations on reopening the Hormuz Strait can go in parallel." "An alternative step would be to control the strait unilaterally, as Ukraine did with the Grain Corridor. Ukraine and Syria to cooperate on security in an unexpected military alliance Ukraine and Syria pledged greater security cooperation in talks in Damascus on Sunday, as Kyiv pushes to deepen security ties across the Middle East amid Moscow's ongoing full-scale invasion and the Iran war.

## Article Content
By&nbsp
Eleonora Vasques
Published on
07/04/2026 - 9:32 GMT+2
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Also in this newsletter: US President JD Vance travels to Hungary to support Viktor Orbán for the general elections. UN Goodwill Ambassador and actress Kristin Davis talks about the war in Sudan.
Good morning from Brussels. I’m
Eleonora Vasques
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The situation in Iran may see an important development this evening, as the deadline set by US President Donald Trump to reopen the Strait of Hormuz expires at 8 pm in Washington (4 am CET)
Trump told a press conference at the White House on Monday that if the Strait is not reopened, the US military will strike Iran’s power plants, bridges and other infrastructure. The US President said he is “not at all” concerned about committing possible war crimes and refused to confirm whether civilian infrastructure will not be targeted.
For the moment, Tehran is hitting back against Trump’ threats.
On Monday, Iran rejected a 45-day ceasefire proposal by mediators, asking instead for an end to the war. “We only accept an end of the war with guarantees that we won’t be attacked again,” Mojtaba Ferdousi Pour, head of the Iranian diplomatic mission in Cairo, told the Associated Press.
On the same day, Israel
struck
a key petrochemical plant at Iran’s massive South Pars natural gas field. It also killed the paramilitary Revolutionary Guards’ head of intelligence and the leader of its undercover unit.
Israel is determined to maintain its attacks on Iran: it approved three weeks of battle plans in the absence of a ceasefire, military chief spokesperson Effie Defrin said on Monday.
Discover how the war is impacting the Gulf region from our Euronews correspondent Aadel Haleem in Doha.
Watch
.
Meanwhile, the situation in Hungary is heating up with parliamentary elections set to take place in less than a week. The election will determine whether current Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, in power since 2010, will remain in office or leave the premiership to his opponent, Péter Magyar.
US Vice President JD Vance confirmed he will arrive in Hungary on Tuesday to support Orbán, a significant endorsement that follows US President Donald Trump’s backing at the end of March via a video message.
Vance will appear at a Fidesz rally, with the two leaders also expected to hold a bilateral meeting, our correspondent Gábor Tanács
report
s.
You can also follow the latest updates from today’s
Europe Today show
, featuring on-the-ground reports from our Budapest correspondent, Zoltan Siposhegyi.
In the meantime, Serbian intelligence services are investigating an attempt to sabotage a gas pipeline running from Russia to Serbia and Hungary, the head of military security agency VBA Đuro Jovanić said on Sunday.
The incident occurred on the Balkan Stream pipeline, an extension of TurkStream. "Two large packages of explosives with detonators" were found inside backpacks in northern Serbia's Kanjiža, "a few hundred metres from the gas pipeline", Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić announced on Sunday morning.
Orbán implied Ukraine's involvement without making a formal accusation. "Ukraine has been working for years to cut Europe off from Russian energy", Orbán said in a video published on
X
later that day, saying that Hungary is reinforcing security around the pipeline.
Kyiv "categorically" rejected the accusation. "Ukraine has nothing to do with this", foreign ministry spokesperson Heorhii Tykhyi said on
X
.
Moscow also pointed the finger at Ukraine, with Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov telling reporters on Monday that it is "highly likely" that Kyiv is involved in a sabotage attempt.
On today’s show, you can also
watch
how the incident is affecting the electoral campaign with input from our Brussels-based reporter on Hungary Sandor Zsiros.
Meanwhile, Sudan is set to enter its fourth year of war in mid-April, and is currently experiencing one the worst humanitarian crises worldwide. UN Goodwill Ambassador and actress Kristin Davis sat down with Euronews to talk about her most recent visit to Sudan.
Davis stressed her surprise for the lack of media coverage for such a major crisis. “For some reason, the media does not seem to want to cover it, which I find really interesting and I can't explain why” she said in the interview.
According to UN data, more than 30 million people are in need of humanitarian assistance in Sudan and roughly 12 million people are displaced.
You can watch the full interview
here
.
How can Ukraine help unlock the Strait of Hormuz?
For over a week, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has repeatedly stated that Kyiv is ready to help unblock the Strait of Hormuz, which has been disrupted since the outbreak of the Iran war.
“Our signal to the United States and countries in the Middle East about the Strait of Hormuz was that we were open to discussing it," he said on X.
Zelensky

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## Expert Analysis

### Merits
- I’m Eleonora Vasques ADVERTISEMENT ADVERTISEMENT The situation in Iran may see an important development this evening, as the deadline set by US President Donald Trump to reopen the Strait of Hormuz expires at 8 pm in Washington (4 am CET) Trump told a press conference at the White House on Monday that if the Strait is not reopened, the US military will strike Iran’s power plants, bridges and other infrastructure.
- US Vice President JD Vance confirmed he will arrive in Hungary on Tuesday to support Orbán, a significant endorsement that follows US President Donald Trump’s backing at the end of March via a video message.

### Areas for Consideration
N/A

### Implications
- I’m Eleonora Vasques ADVERTISEMENT ADVERTISEMENT The situation in Iran may see an important development this evening, as the deadline set by US President Donald Trump to reopen the Strait of Hormuz expires at 8 pm in Washington (4 am CET) Trump told a press conference at the White House on Monday that if the Strait is not reopened, the US military will strike Iran’s power plants, bridges and other infrastructure.
- The US President said he is “not at all” concerned about committing possible war crimes and refused to confirm whether civilian infrastructure will not be targeted.
- The election will determine whether current Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, in power since 2010, will remain in office or leave the premiership to his opponent, Péter Magyar.
- US Vice President JD Vance confirmed he will arrive in Hungary on Tuesday to support Orbán, a significant endorsement that follows US President Donald Trump’s backing at the end of March via a video message.

### Expert Commentary
This article covers iran, war, president topics. Notable strengths include discussion of iran. Readability: Flesch-Kincaid grade 0.0. Word count: 1376.