DUBAI/WASHINGTON: US President Donald Trump said Wednesday that he had agreed to a two-week ceasefire with Iran, less than two hours before his deadline for Tehran to reopen the Strait of Hormuz or face widespread attacks on its civilian infrastructure.
Iranian state TV flashed an announcement claiming that Trump had accepted Iran’s terms for ending the war, describing it as a “humiliating retreat” by the US president. Iran said talks between the US and Iran would begin on Friday in Islamabad.
Two White House officials confirmed that Israel has also agreed to the two-week ceasefire and to suspend its bombing campaign on Iran. A few minutes after Trump’s announcement, the Israeli military said that it identified missiles launched from Iran towards Israel.
Trump’s announcement on social media represented an abrupt turnaround from earlier in the day, when Trump issued an extraordinary warning that “a whole civilization will die tonight” if his demands were not met.
Trump said the deal was subject to Iran’s agreement to pause its blockade of oil and gas supplies through the strait, which typically handles about one-fifth of global oil shipments.
“This will be a double sided CEASEFIRE!” Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform. “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 Longterm PEACE with Iran, and PEACE in the Middle East.”
Trump said Iran had presented a 10-point proposal that was a “workable basis” for negotiations and that he expected an agreement to be “finalized and consummated” during the two-week ceasefire.
“Based on conversations with Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and Field Marshal Asim Munir, of Pakistan, and wherein they requested that I hold off the destructive force being sent tonight to Iran, and subject to the Islamic Republic of Iran agreeing to the COMPLETE, IMMEDIATE, and SAFE OPENING of the Strait of Hormuz, I agree to suspend the bombing and attack of Iran for a period of two weeks. This will be a double sided CEASEFIRE! 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 Longterm PEACE with Iran, and PEACE in the Middle East. We received a 10 point proposal from Iran, and believe it is a workable basis on which to negotiate. Almost all of the various points of past contention have been agreed to between the United States and Iran, but a two week period will allow the Agreement to be finalized and consummated. On behalf of the United States of America, as President, and also representing the Countries of the Middle East, it is an Honor to have this Longterm problem close to resolution. Thank you for your attention to this matter! President DONALD J. TRUMP”
Iran’s Supreme Security Council said negotiations with the United States would begin on Friday, April 10 in Islamabad after it submitted a 10-point proposal to Washington via Pakistan, Iranian state media reported, adding that talks do not signal the end of the war.
Iran said the talks, which may last up to 15 days and could be extended by agreement, aim to finalise details of the proposal, which includes provisions on transit through the Strait of Hormuz, sanctions relief and withdrawal of US combat forces from regional bases.
Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi said in a statement that Iran would halt attacks if attacks against it stop and that safe transit through the Strait of Hormuz would be possible for two weeks in coordination with Iranian armed forces,
Iran accepted Pakistan’s two-week ceasefire proposal following frantic diplomatic efforts by Pakistan and last-minute intervention by China, a key ally, asking Iran to show flexibility and defuse tensions, and amid growing concerns about the economic devastation from damages to critical infrastructure, according to three Iranian officials, New York Times reported. They said the ceasefire was approved by the new supreme leader, Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei.
The US oil benchmark plunged nearly seven percent after President Donald Trump announced a two-week delay of his threatened mass wave of strikes against Iran. A barrel of West Texas Intermediate (WTI) was trading around $105.12 at 2245GMT, just a few minutes after opening lower on hopes of a last-minute US-Iran ceasefire agreement.
Earlier on Tuesday, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif requested US President Donald Trump make a two-week extension to a deadline he imposed on Iran to end its blockade of Gulf oil. “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,” Sharif said in a post on X.
He also urged 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 that diplomatic efforts to settle the war peacefully were “progressing steadily, strongly and powerfully with the potential to lead to substantive results in near future”.
President Trump said that the United States is in “heated negotiations” over the Iran war, declining to elaborate on the talks. Trump said that he was about to be fully briefed on Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif’s proposed two-week ceasefire — to which the White House told CNN earlier Tuesday “a response will come.”
A senior Iranian official told Reuters that Iran is positively reviewing Pakistan’s request for a two-week ceasefire. President Donald Trump warned that “a whole civilization will die” in Iran if the country does not heed his ultimatum to accept US war demands, as Russia and China vetoed a UN Security Council resolution on reopening the Strait of Hormuz.
The wildly provocative statement prompted swift and severe criticism, with one of his former close allies calling for his removal from office. Vice President JD Vance offered his own threatening assessment of what may follow, warning Tehran that US forces have tools they “so far haven’t decided to use” against the Islamic republic.
Since February 28 the United States and its ally Israel have leveled Iranian military targets, killed the country’s top leadership and devastated parts of its infrastructure.
Early Tuesday Trump issued one of his most glaring threats of the war. “A whole civilization will die tonight, never to be brought back again. I don’t want that to happen, but it probably will,” he wrote on his Truth Social platform.
On Monday, he said a temporary ceasefire proposal being circulated was insufficient. Iran rejected US pressure, with state media reporting authorities are insisting that instead of a ceasefire it wants a full end to the war.
On Truth Social, Trump left the door open for a last-hour agreement. “Now that we have Complete and Total Regime Change, where different, smarter, and less radicalized minds prevail, maybe something revolutionarily wonderful can happen, WHO KNOWS? We will find out tonight,” he wrote.
Trump said Monday that starting in Washington late Tuesday evening, US forces would destroy “every bridge in Iran” and cripple “every power plant” -- something many experts say would be a blatant war crime. The extent of Trump’s saber rattling and goading language has appalled critics. “These are the rantings of a bloodthirsty lunatic. It is sick beyond measure to threaten to wipe out an entire civilization,” said longtime Democratic Senator Patty Murray, one of several lawmakers to lash out at Trump.
“This is not what the American people want. It is well past time for the Republican Congress to join Democrats and put an end to this war.”
Even some political figures once close to Trump are calling for his removal through the US Constitution’s 25th Amendment, which provides for a transfer of power if a president is unable to govern, particularly in the event of illness.
“25TH AMENDMENT!!! Not a single bomb has dropped on America,” former congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene wrote on X. “We cannot kill an entire civilization. This is evil and madness.”
Anthony Scaramucci, a financier who briefly worked in Trump’s White House, urged Republicans to “wake up” because the president “is calling for A NUCLEAR STRIKE. Seek his removal immediately.”
Meanwhile Vance, visiting Hungary, delivered an ominous warning to Iran. “They’ve got to know we’ve got tools in our toolkit that we so far haven’t decided to use,” Vance said. Trump “will decide to use them if the Iranians don’t change their course of conduct.”
Team Trump denied Vance’s remarks contained any suggestion of nuclear attack. “Literally nothing @VP said here ‘implies’ this, you absolute buffoons,” the White House said on X. The post was in response to one from an account associated with Kamala Harris, which said Vance implied Trump “might use nuclear weapons.”
Russia and China vetoed a UN Security Council resolution Tuesday on reopening the Strait of Hormuz, a text already diluted from the green light Gulf states had sought to use force to protect the key shipping lane.
The draft resolution prepared by Bahrain and supported by the United States received 11 votes in favor, two against and two abstentions. Bahrain’s Foreign Minister Abdullatif bin Rashid Al Zayani said Gulf states “regret” the rejection of the measure.
“Today’s result does not restrict the United States to continue to act in its own self defense and in the collective defense of our allies and partners,” US ambassador Mike Waltz said after the Security Council vote.
Iran’s ambassador to Pakistan Reza Amiri Moghadam said in the early hours of Wednesday in a post on X that “as of now” there has been “a step forward from critical, sensitive stage”. “In the next stage, respect and comity should be replaced by rhetorics and redundancy. Stay more tuned,” the Iranian ambassador to Pakistan added.
Efforts to facilitate talks between the US and Iran were still ongoing, two Pakistani sources with knowledge of the discussions told Reuters on Tuesday.
Iran and the United States continue to exchange messages through Pakistan, a senior Iranian source told Reuters, but Tehran will not show flexibility as long as Washington continues to demand its “surrender under pressure”.
The senior Iranian source, who asked not to be named, said Qatar on Monday had conveyed Tehran’s message to the United States and regional countries that if Washington attacks Iran’s power plants, “the entire region and Saudi Arabia will fall into complete darkness with Iran’s retaliatory strikes”. He also warned that “if the situation gets out of control, Iran’s allies will also close the Bab El-Mandeb Strait”.
Iran’s Revolutionary Guards warned they would retaliate beyond the Middle East and deprive Washington and its allies of oil and gas if the United States crossed “red lines”, a statement carried on state television said.
Overnight attacks on Saudi Arabia hit a petrochemical complex in a sprawling industrial area in the eastern city of Jubail, a witness who requested anonymity told AFP on Tuesday, hours after similar installations in Iran were struck. “An attack caused a fire at the SABIC plants in Jubail. The sounds of explosions were very loud,” the source said, referring to the Saudi Basic Industries Corporation.
Iran said critical infrastructure, including two bridges, was struck Tuesday by the United States and Israel. The strikes came as Iran’s Revolutionary Guards warned they would deprive the United States and its allies of oil and gas if Washington crossed Tehran’s “red lines”.
Iranian authorities reported a US-Israeli attack on a bridge outside the city of Qom and a strike on a rail bridge in central Iran that killed two people.
Regional authorities also said that a US-Israeli strike shut down a key highway in northern Iran connecting the city of Tabriz with Tehran. The Mizan news agency additionally reported a strike on railway tracks in Karaj, outside Tehran.
On Tuesday the Israeli military told Iranians to avoid taking trains until 1730 GMT, and train travel to and from Iran’s second city of Mashhad was cancelled until further notice. In the Gulf, the King Fahd Bridge, a major artery connecting Saudi Arabia and the island nation of Bahrain, was temporarily closed as a precaution amid fears of retaliatory strikes by Iran. Strikes were also reported on Kharg island, a critical hub for the Iranian oil industry, according to Iran’s Mehr news agency, although a journalist for the US publication Axios said the attack was against “military targets”.
Earlier in the day a series of explosions was heard across Tehran, and Iranian media reported that 18 people, including two children, were killed in strikes in Alborz province neighbouring the capital. US-Israeli strikes also “completely destroyed” the capital’s Rafi-Nia synagogue, local media reported. Iranian media said explosions were heard in parts of the capital and nearby Karaj.
The Israeli army later said it had detected missiles launched from Iran towards Israeli territory, adding that air defence systems were working to intercept them.
The Israeli military expressed regret over “collateral damage” to a synagogue in Tehran caused by an overnight strike it said was targeting a senior Iranian commander.
Iran’s ambassador to the United Nations said at a Security Council meeting on Tuesday that Iran “categorically rejects” a temporary ceasefire and that any agreement must ensure what he described as a permanent end to aggression, with credible, verifiable guarantees to prevent it from happening again.
Secretary of War Pete Hegseth’s planned press conference on Tuesday was abruptly canceled without explanation hours in advance, as the US began striking Kharg Island.
Pentagon officials informed reporters about the abrupt cancellation late Monday. Hegseth and Gen Dan Caine, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, have regularly been briefing reporters on the war in Iran since the conflict began on Feb. 28.
It’s unclear whether the scrapped press conference was intended as a misdirection or whether battlefield events prompted the cancellation. At times during the war, the Trump administration has sought to trick Iran.
The House Democratic leadership called for lawmakers to return to Washington immediately to hold a vote to end the Iran war. The statement, signed by Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries of New York and other top House Democratic lawmakers, said President Trump is “completely unhinged” and that a vote is necessary to stop the president before he “plunges the country into World War III.”
“For years, Republicans have enabled and excused Donald Trump’s deeply dangerous and extreme behavior. Enough is enough. Our brave men and women in uniform have been put into harm’s way in the Middle East. Over a dozen have already been killed and hundreds injured. Gas prices are skyrocketing, the cost of living in America is out of control and billions of taxpayer dollars are being wasted on a reckless war of choice,” the statement said, adding, “It’s time for House Republicans to put patriotic duty over party loyalty and join Democrats in stopping this madness.”
Donald Trump is no stranger to provocative language. But his threat to wipe out Iranian civilization and other recent menacing comments have prompted critics to question the US president’s mental health.
“We cannot kill an entire civilization. This is evil and madness,” hard-right ex-congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene, who split with Trump last year, said on X.
Former loyalists including Greene have also joined Democrats calling for Trump’s cabinet to invoke the 25th amendment, which provides for a transfer of power if a president is unable to govern, particularly in the event of illness.
Right-wing TV host Tucker Carlson called Trump’s Easter Sunday comments the “first step toward nuclear war,” ex-White House press secretary Anthony Scaramucci called him a “crazy person” and sought Trump’s removal from office, and conspiracy theorist Alex Jones asked on his INFO WARS show: “How do we 25th Amendment his ass?”
Former Democratic vice-presidential candidate Tim Walz meanwhile said “the President has lost his mind.” But Trump himself brushed off questions about his mental health, when asked by an AFP journalist at a briefing at the White House on Monday. “I haven’t heard that,” Trump said in response to a question about critics saying his mental state should be examined following his “crazy bastards” comment. “But if that’s the case, you’re going to have to have more people like me.”
The United States urged its citizens to reconsider travelling to Saudi Arabia to take part in the Haj pilgrimage next month due to security concerns, according to a statement posted by the US embassy in Riyadh.
Kuwait asked residents to avoid going outside from midnight until Wednesday morning, hours ahead of a US deadline for Iran to agree to a deal or suffer major strikes on civilian infrastructure.
At least three people were killed and five others wounded on Tuesday when rockets fired from the direction of Kuwait hit a house in Khor al-Zubair near Basra, security and health officials told Reuters on Tuesday. A regional source said “some good news is expected from both sides soon” and that discussions were steered directly by Pakistan’s army chief, Field Marshal Asim Munir. The source added that a deal is expected to be closed tonight, CNN reported.
Meanwhile, Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar in separate phone calls with his counterparts in Saudi Arabia, Turkiye, Egypt and Morocco exchanged views on the evolving regional situation.
Talking to Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan, Dar highlighted Pakistan’s continued resolve to promote dialogue and diplomatic engagement, sharing the latest developments in Pakistan’s efforts to fostering peace and stability in the region, the spokesperson for the foreign ministry said in a statement late Tuesday.
In his telephonic conversation with Foreign Minister of Saudi Arabia, Faisal bin Farhan, he discussed the regional situation and evolving developments in the Middle East and the wider region, and shared the latest developments in Pakistan’s continued efforts to promote dialogue and diplomatic engagement in pursuit of peace and stability in the region.
Dar also spoke with the Foreign Minister of Egypt, Badr Abdelatty. They exchanged views on the evolving regional situation. “DPM/FM highlighted the latest developments in Pakistan’s ongoing efforts to promote dialogue and diplomatic engagement towards advancing peace and stability in the region.”
He also held a telephonic conversation with the Foreign Minister of Morocco, Nasser Bourita. The two leaders exchanged views on the latest developments in the Middle East and the wider region. He highlighted the current status of Pakistan’s sustained efforts to promote dialogue and diplomatic engagement aimed at fostering peace and stability.
Pope Leo said that threats against the population of Iran are “unacceptable,” in an unusual appeal hours after President Trump said “a whole civilization will die tonight” in a social media post that shocked world leaders.
“Today, as we all know, there was this threat against the entire people of Iran, and this is truly unacceptable,” said the pope, who has emerged as an outspoken critic of the Iran war. “There are certainly issues here of international law, but even more than that, it is a moral question for the good of the (world’s) people,” he said.
Angry protesters stormed the Kuwaiti consulate in the Iraqi city of Basra, police sources said on Tuesday, after a rocket attack fired from the direction of Kuwait, killing three people.
Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif announced that Iran and the United States, along with their allies, have “agreed to an immediate ceasefire everywhere including Lebanon and elsewhere, EFFECTIVE IMMEDIATELY”.
“I warmly welcome the sagacious gesture and extend deepest gratitude to the leadership of both the countries and invite their delegations to Islamabad on Friday, 10th April 2026, to further negotiate for a conclusive agreement to settle all disputes,” he added.
He said, “We earnestly hope, that the ‘Islamabad Talks’ succeed in achieving sustainable peace and wish to share more good news in coming days!”
