US President Announces Temporary Ceasefire with Iran
The United States president declared on social media that he has agreed to suspend attacks on Iran for a two-week period, contingent upon Tehran lifting its blockade of the Strait of Hormuz. This announcement came shortly before a self-imposed deadline for military action, following a last-minute diplomatic intervention led by Pakistan.
Ceasefire Agreement and Deadline
The ceasefire was announced less than two hours before President Trump's 8pm Eastern time deadline to initiate strikes on Iran’s power plants and bridges. Legal experts, officials from various countries, and the Pope had previously warned that such attacks could constitute war crimes.
Earlier on the same day, Trump posted on Truth Social:
“A whole civilization will die tonight, never to be brought back again. I don’t want that to happen, but it probably will.”
B-52 bombers were reportedly en route to Iran before the ceasefire was declared.
Diplomatic Mediation by Pakistan
By Tuesday evening, Trump announced that Pakistan’s Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif had mediated the ceasefire agreement, requesting a two-week peace period to allow diplomacy to proceed.
Trump stated:
“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.”
During this period, Trump expressed optimism that the US and Iran could negotiate over a 10-point proposal from Tehran to finalize an armistice.
“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.”
Context of the Conflict and Reactions
The US war in Iran had been ongoing for five weeks with no indication that Tehran would surrender or lift its blockade of the Strait of Hormuz, a critical route for one-fifth of the global energy supply, where maritime traffic had significantly slowed.
Axios reported that Israel also agreed to the two-week ceasefire, with the truce set to commence once the Strait of Hormuz blockade ended.
Previously, Trump had rejected Iran’s 10-point plan as insufficient, though he has historically set deadlines that have passed without action during the five-week conflict. On Tuesday, he warned that the upcoming hours could be:
“one of the most important moments in the long and complex history of the World”
unless a remarkable change occurred within Iran’s leadership.
Iran’s Response and International Law
Amir-Saeid Iravani, Iran’s UN representative, condemned Trump’s threats as:
“incitement to war crimes – and potentially genocide”.
During a UN Security Council session on the Strait of Hormuz, Iravani stated:
“Iran will not stand idle in the face of such egregious war crimes. It will exercise, without hesitation, its inherent right of self-defence and will take immediate and proportionate reciprocal measures.”
UN Secretary-General António Guterres, through his spokesperson, reminded on Monday that attacks on civilian infrastructure violate international law. However, Trump declared on the same day he was:
“not at all” concerned about being called a war criminal.
Escalation of Attacks Before Deadline
In the hours preceding Trump’s deadline, Israel conducted attacks on Iranian infrastructure. Iranian state media reported that a rail bridge in Kashan was bombed, resulting in two fatalities. The Israeli military confirmed launching a wide-scale wave of strikes targeting dozens of infrastructure sites.
Additional targets included a bridge over a railway near Karaj, northwest of Tehran, with power outages reported in the city following bombings of a substation and transmission lines. Bridges near Qom and Tabriz were also reportedly struck.
The US targeted 50 military sites on Iran’s Kharg Island, home to its primary oil export terminal. In retaliation, Iran’s Revolutionary Guards attacked Saudi Arabia’s Jubail petrochemical complex, responding to strikes on an Iranian petrochemical facility the previous night.
