Donald Trump announced Tuesday night that Iran has agreed to a two-week ceasefire and that the Strait of Hormuz will be reopened after Tehran submitted a 10-point peace plan.
Trump posted on Truth Social on Tuesday night, ‘I agree to suspend the bombing and attack of Iran for a period of two weeks,’ after earlier sparking doomsday fears when he threatened to wipe out its ‘entire civilization.’
Iran accepted the Pakistan-brokered ceasefire deal after a last-minute intervention by China which asked Tehran to show flexibility amid concerns over the widespread economic impacts of the war, three Iranian officials told the New York Times.
The officials said that the ceasefire was approved by the new supreme leader, Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei, despite intelligence reports which say he is in a coma.
Iran’s foreign minister Abbas Araghchi confirmed the truce and that ‘safe passage through the Strait of Hormuz will be possible’ during the two-week period..
Israel has also agreed to a ceasefire and will halt attacks on Iran for two weeks, a senior White House official told Axios, adding that the ceasefire will take effect when Iran re-opens the Strait of Hormuz.
US crude oil prices plunged after Trump’s ceasefire announcement, with West Texas Intermediate contracts falling by more than 10 percent to $98 per barrel after hitting $116 earlier Tuesday.
Trump said that after talks with Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif he had been assured that Iran will agree ‘to the complete, immediate, and safe opening of the Strait of Hormuz.’
‘This will be a double sided ceasefire,’ Trump added. ‘The reason for doing so is that we have already met and exceeded all Military objectives, and are very far along with a definitive agreement concerning long-term peace with Iran.’
He noted that a 10-point proposal from Iran ‘is a workable basis on which to negotiate,’ despite saying on Monday that the deal was not ‘good enough.’
Vance, along with Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner and Special Envoy Steve Witkoff have been leading US negotiations to end the war, dubbed Operation Epic Fury.
The last-minute deal comes after Sharif posted on X that major breakthroughs have been made between US and Iranian negotiators.
Trump warned Tuesday morning that ‘a whole civilization will die tonight, never to be brought back again’ if a deal were not reached by his 8pm ET deadline Tuesday.
Shortly after the ceasefire deal was announced, early alerts for incoming missile fire went out in Tel Aviv, Fox News reported.
The extension is the fourth Trump has offered the Islamic Republic amid the war since he first threatened to ‘obliterate’ Iran’s power plants on March 21.
The Republican has been fixated on Iran striking a deal with the US to end its chokehold on the Strait of Hormuz, the strategic waterway off of the country’s coast through which a fifth of the world’s oil supply travels.
Iran has bombed multiple vessels that have made the dangerous decision to transit the strait. As a result, oil prices have skyrocketed and global markets have churned.
The average price for a gallon of regular gas has shot up from $2.98 to $4.14, a 39 percent increase.
The US negotiators have demanded that Iran give up its nuclear enrichment capabilities, cut back its drone and ballistic missile programs, cease its support for proxies across the region and immediately reopen the Strait of Hormuz.
The President has stressed repeatedly that the objectives of the war are to ensure Iran cannot create a nuclear weapon, its proxies cannot meddle with Middle Eastern countries, and Iran’s Navy, drone and ballistic missile capabilities are destroyed.
Iran proposed a 10-point counter-proposal to US negotiators via Pakistani officials on Monday after the US gave Islamabad a 15-point proposal to begin a ceasefire.
The President refused to comment on the 10-pint plan earlier on Tuesday, telling Fox News: ‘I can’t comment, because right now we’re in heated negotiations.’
Trump said on Monday at a White House press conference that the 10-point plan was a ‘significant step,’ but he added that it is ‘not good enough.’
Pakistani PM Sharif called on Trump and the Iranian regime to accept the ceasefire before the President eventually did.
‘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,’ he said.
‘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.’
Even before the deadline expired, airstrikes had already hit two bridges and a train station. American forces also struck military infrastructure on Kharg Island for the second time, a key hub for Iranian oil production.
Israel’s military warned of an increased risk of inbound attacks as Trump’s deadline approached.
Blasts were heard in the Qatari capital Doha, while the UAE said its air defenses were responding to missile threats.
