Trump announces two-week Iran ceasefire

(TIMES OF ISRAEL) US President Donald Trump announced a two-week ceasefire with Iran on Tuesday night, suspending a major bombing campaign less than two hours before his deadline for Tehran to reopen the Strait of Hormuz was set to expire.

“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,” Trump wrote on Truth Social.

“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 long-term peace with Iran, and peace in the Middle East.”

Trump said the US had received a 10-point proposal from Iran and believed it was “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 finalised and consummated,” he wrote.

The announcement marked the fourth time Trump had pushed back his threat to bomb Iran’s energy and civilian infrastructure sites. He first gave Tehran 48 hours to reopen the Strait of Hormuz on March 21 and had since pushed back that deadline by five, 10 and one day respectively.

Two White House officials told Reuters that Israel was part of the ceasefire and would halt strikes on Iran as diplomatic negotiations were held.

However, sirens were activated in Jerusalem and some central Israel communities amid an Iranian ballistic missile attack launched shortly after Trump’s announcement. A second ballistic missile attack targeting southern Israel was later identified by the IDF.

The New York Times quoted three Iranian officials saying Tehran had accepted Pakistan’s proposal for the ceasefire. The report said China intervened at the last minute “to show flexibility and defuse tensions” while noting concerns about economic fallout if Trump went ahead with strikes on Iranian energy sites.

The officials said new supreme leader Mojtaba Khamenei, who had yet to be seen publicly since being declared his father’s successor, signed off on the truce.

Iran’s Supreme National Security Council confirmed it would stop launching attacks if strikes against it stopped.

“For a period of two weeks, safe passage through the Strait of Hormuz will be possible via coordination with Iran’s Armed Forces and with due consideration of technical limitations,” a statement issued by Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi said.

Iranian state media quoted the council confirming talks with the US would begin Friday in Islamabad. The negotiations did not signal the end of the war, Iran said.

A White House official told Axios the ceasefire would come into effect when Tehran opened the Strait of Hormuz, with the first round of talks scheduled for Friday in the Pakistani capital.

Trump had threatened hours before the ceasefire announcement that “a whole civilisation will die tonight, never to be brought back again,” if Iran didn’t agree to his demands for reopening the Strait of Hormuz.

“I don’t want that to happen, but it probably will,” Trump wrote on his Truth Social site. “However, now that we have Complete and Total Regime Change, where different, smarter, and less radicalised minds prevail, maybe something revolutionarily wonderful can happen, WHO KNOWS?”

Earlier on Tuesday, the Israeli Air Force bombed eight rail sections and bridges in Iran as part of efforts to prevent the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps from moving weapon systems, the military said.

A security official told The Times of Israel that the IRGC had used the “key” rail sections and bridges to transport weapons. Israel had also warned it would strike Iranian “national infrastructure” to cause economic damage to the regime.

Meanwhile, the US military conducted strikes on military targets on Iran’s Kharg Island, the Axios news outlet reported on Tuesday, citing an unidentified senior US official. The island, located off Iran’s western coast, is a vital oil export terminal for the country.