US and Iran Agree To Conditional Two-Week Ceasefire
The United States and Iran have agreed to a provisional two-week ceasefire, halting more than five weeks of US-Israeli military strikes on Iran and allowing shipping to resume through the Strait of Hormuz.
Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif announced the deal on Wednesday, saying that it was effective immediately. "Both parties have displayed remarkable wisdom and understanding and have remained constructively engaged in furthering the cause of peace and stability," he wrote on X.
Trump made the announcement on Truth Social just two hours before a deadline he had set for Iran to reopen the Strait or face what he described as the destruction of its "whole civilisation", which resulted in condemnation from the UN Secretary-General and the Pope. Trump said he had agreed to suspend strikes because "we have already met and exceeded all Military objectives," and told AFP the ceasefire represented "a total and complete victory."
Iran's foreign minister Abbas Araghchi confirmed Tehran's agreement, posting that "if attacks against Iran are halted, our Powerful Armed Forces will cease their defensive operations." Iran has agreed to allow safe passage through the Strait for the two-week period, with transit coordinated through its armed forces. Pro-Iran armed factions in Iraq also declared a two-week halt to their attacks on what they called "enemy bases" in the region.
The prospect of the Strait reopening triggered an immediate market reaction, with oil prices falling sharply and stock markets rising around the world. The Strait typically carries about a fifth of global oil and gas, and its effective closure since the war began on 28th February had caused what the International Energy Agency called the biggest ever disruption to global energy supplies. Shipping companies remained cautious, however. Maersk said it was not yet making changes: "Any decision to transit the Strait of Hormuz will be based on continuous risk assessments, close monitoring of the security situation, and available guidance from relevant authorities and partners."
Iran published a 10-point framework as the basis for negotiations, which according to Al Jazeera's diplomatic editor includes demands for a US non-aggression commitment, an end to all sanctions, the release of frozen Iranian assets, full compensation for war damage, the withdrawal of US combat forces from the region, and the formalisation of all arrangements in a binding UN Security Council resolution. It also states that "Iran fully commits to not seeking possession of any nuclear weapons."
Trump called the proposal "a workable basis on which to negotiate," though he later told Sky News that the points Iran had leaked publicly were "not the maximalist demands that Iran is claiming" and that "most of them have been fully negotiated." He also insisted that Iran's nuclear stockpile "will be perfectly taken care of, or I wouldn't have settled", though the US has made no public mention of Iran's ballistic missile programme, which Washington had previously demanded be curtailed and which Tehran says is not up for discussion.
The deal's terms continue to be significantly contested, with the two sides presenting contradictory accounts of what has been agreed. Iran's Supreme National Security Council declared that "the enemy, in its unjust, illegal and criminal war against the Iranian nation, has suffered an undeniable, historic and crushing defeat," while Trump framed it as an American victory.
The situation in Lebanon adds a further complication. Sharif said the ceasefire would also apply there, where Israel has ground troops fighting Hezbollah, but Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu said it did not. Israel's military continued striking targets in southern Lebanon on Wednesday morning, issuing evacuation orders near the city of Tyre. A senior Lebanese official told Reuters that Lebanon had received no information about being included in the ceasefire and had not been party to the talks. At least 1,497 people have been killed in Lebanon since the war began, Lebanese authorities say.
In Israel, the ceasefire was met with harsh criticism. Opposition politician Yair Lapid called it "a diplomatic disaster" and said "it will take us years to repair the diplomatic and strategic damage that Netanyahu caused due to arrogance, negligence and lack of strategic planning." Former military deputy chief of staff Yair Golan wrote that it was "a complete failure that endangered Israel's security. The nuclear program was not destroyed. The ballistic threat remains. The regime is still intact and is even emerging from this war stronger."
Crowds in Iran celebrated in the streets overnight, burning US and Israeli flags, though some expressed scepticism that the deal would hold. "Israel will not allow diplomacy to work and Trump might change his view tomorrow. But at least we can sleep tonight without strikes," one Tehran resident told Reuters.
Talks between US and Iranian delegations are expected to begin in Islamabad on Friday. Trump warned that if negotiations failed: "If it isn't good, we'll go right back to it very easily." Iran expert Trita Parsi cautioned that the talks could still collapse, but said the terrain had shifted fundamentally. "Trump's failed use of force has blunted the credibility of American military threats... The United States is no longer in a position to dictate terms; any agreement will have to rest on genuine compromise."
