The Dispatch
The President of the United States has issued a progress report on negotiations to conclude the military operation in Iran. The update was published on Truth Social at 7:26 AM on March 30, 2026, and signed “President DONALD J. TRUMP.” It is reproduced here in full, as it constitutes its own summary:
“The United States of America is in serious discussions with A New, AND MORE REASONABLE, REGIME to end our Military Operations in Iran. Great progress has been made but, if for any reason a deal is not shortly reached, which it probably will be, and if the Hormuz Strait is not immediately ‘Open for Business,’ we will conclude our lovely ‘stay’ in Iran by blowing up and completely obliterating all of their Electric Generating Plants, Oil Wells and Kharg Island (and possibly all desalinization plants!), which we have purposefully not yet ‘touched.’ This will be in retribution for our many soldiers, and others, that Iran has butchered and killed over the old Regime’s 47 year ‘Reign of Terror.’ Thank you for your attention to this matter. President DONALD J. TRUMP”
This correspondent notes several items for the record. The President is negotiating with a regime he has described as new and more reasonable than the previous one, which is the regime the military operation began against in February. The transition between regimes appears to have occurred during the operation. The new regime’s precise composition and the circumstances of its emergence were not addressed in the post.
The contingency targets identified by the President — electric generating plants, oil wells, Kharg Island, and possibly desalination plants — are civilian infrastructure. The Geneva Conventions and their Additional Protocols prohibit the deliberate targeting of objects indispensable to the survival of the civilian population, a category that includes drinking water installations. The desalination plants appear in the post with an exclamation point, suggesting the President considers their potential inclusion a matter of some enthusiasm. The word “touched” appears in quotation marks, implying the restraint exercised to date has been deliberate and provisional.
The Hormuz Strait, closure of which would affect approximately 20 percent of the world’s oil supply and the economies of multiple nations not party to the current military operation, is described as needing to be “Open for Business.” This is a commercial framing. The post closes with “Thank you for your attention to this matter,” which is a formal epistolary convention typically employed in correspondence with landlords, utility providers, and regulatory bodies.
In a related development, Israeli Channel 12 has reported that if the United States proceeds to a ground operation in Iran, Israeli forces will not participate. This is a troop contribution update. The military operation, which began as a joint US-Israeli air campaign, has killed the Iranian Supreme Leader, expended more than 850 Tomahawk cruise missiles, and produced over 1,900 confirmed dead. Israel has indicated it will observe the ground phase from a comfortable distance. Prime Minister Netanyahu’s precise location at the time of this clarification was not reported. He was not in Iran.
Great progress has been made. The desalination plants have not yet been touched.
Source Block
Primary source: President Donald J. Trump — Truth Social, 30 March 2026
Archived copy: archive.org
Screenshot on file: screenshots/trump-iran-obliterate-truth-social.pngSecondary source: AF Post — @AFpost, X, 30 March 2026
Screenshot on file: screenshots/israel-no-ground-troops-netanyahu.png
Via: Israeli Channel 12Supporting context:
- Geneva Conventions Additional Protocol I, Article 54: https://ihl-databases.icrc.org/en/ihl-treaties/api-1977/article-54
- Hormuz Strait oil transit figures: https://www.eia.gov/todayinenergy/detail.php?id=61025
Internal links:
- Trump military operation piece: /rabbit-trails/trump-military-operation-war-congressional-approval
- Tomahawk piece: /rabbit-trails/tomahawk-missiles-alarmingly-low-iran-war
External link:
