DONALD Trump has announced a two-week ceasefire with Iran as he pauses a month of unprecedented war in the Middle East.
The US President will avert his “destructive force” with Iran’s leaders agreeing to reopen the Strait of Hormuz as part of the deal.
The stop to war comes after Trump threatened to wipe out the rogue nation’s “whole civilisation” on Tuesday as he put pressure on Iran with a deadline.
But just 90 minutes before Iran faced obliteration, Trump declared in a TruthSocial post: “I agree to suspend the bombing and attack of Iran for a period of two weeks.”
Trump said he will “hold off the destructive force being sent tonight to Iran” “subject to the Islamic Republic of Iran agreeing to the COMPLETE, IMMEDIATE, and SAFE OPENING of the Strait of Hormuz”.
He wrote: “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.”
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Iran‘s Supreme National Security Council has also confirmed the fortnight-long ceasefire agreement and said “safe passage” would be possible through Hormuz during the pause.
It said: “If attacks against Iran are halted, our Powerful Armed Forces will cease their defensive operation.
“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 the due consideration of technical limitations.”
US forces have already stopped attacking Iran as the ceasefire pausing the five-week long war comes into effect, Axios reported.
Yet the UAE and Israel said they are continuing to detecting missiles fired from Iran – the US expects orders to pause attacks to take some time to filter down to all forces on the ground.
Trump said the two-week ceasefire will give Iran and the US time to finalise a deal.
The first round of talks will be held in Pakistan’s capital Islamabad on Friday April, its PM confirmed.
He added: “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.”
Trump said it was “an Honor to have this Longterm problem close to resolution”.
A senior White House official told CNN that Israel is also part of the two-week ceasefire deal and has agreed to stop bombing while negotiations continue.
After the temporary ceasefire was agreed, Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi thanked Pakistan for its part in securing it.
The ten-point plan that forms the basis of negotiations for long-term peace
IRAN’S state broadcaster claimed that this is the ten-point plan referred to by US President Donald Trump as a “workable basis on which to negotiate” a long term peace deal:
- Complete cessation of the war on Iraq, Lebanon, and Yemen
- Complete and permanent cessation of the war on Iran with no time limit
- Ending all conflicts in the region in their entirety
- Reopening the Strait of Hormuz
- Establishing a protocol and conditions to ensure freedom and security of navigation in the Strait of Hormuz
- Full payment of compensation for reconstruction costs to Iran
- Full commitment to lifting sanctions on Iran
- Release of Iranian funds and frozen assets held by the United States
- Iran fully commits to not seeking possession of any nuclear weapons
- Immediate ceasefire takes effect on all fronts immediately upon approval of the above conditions
He wrote that the security council had agreed to the two-week pause “considering the request by the US for negotiations based on its 15-point proposal as well as announcement by POTUS about acceptance of the general framework of Iran’s 10-point proposal as a basis for negotiations”.
Iranian state media reported that their 10-point proposal included “controlled transit” through Hormuz and lifting all sanctions on the rogue nation.
It said the plan also demanded the withdrawal of US forces from all regional bases, compensation to Iran and the end of the war.
This ceasefire is the result of “heated negotiations” underway tonight as the time ticked down to 1am BST, the precise time that Trump threatened he would “decimate” Iran if the rogue nation had not agreed to a deal.
The US president had threatened to wipe out “a whole civilisation” if Tehran did not agree to his demands, after vowing to bomb the Islamic Republic “back to the stone ages” and take out every bridge and power plant in the country.
Sources told CBS earlier that Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif was negotiating a ceasefire with Vice President JD Vance.
The last gasp pause was agreed after Pakistan’s Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif begged Trump to extend his deadline on Tuesday night so that “diplomacy could run its course”.
“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 wrote on X.
“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.”
In response, Trump spoke highly of PM Sharif: “I can say this – that I know him very well. He’s a highly respected man, all over.”
The US president has repeatedly said that he was talking to “the right people” in Iran, but the fractured nation rejected previous deals and denied talks even existed, with army bosses at one point claiming that the Trump was talking to himself.