US President Donald Trump said Tuesday he had agreed to a two-week ceasefire with Iran, just hours before a deadline he had set for Tehran to reopen the Strait of Hormuz. Trump’s announcement came after Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif proposed a temporary halt in fighting to allow diplomatic negotiations between Washington and Tehran.
Minutes after Trump’s announcement, a senior White House official told CNN that Israel was also part of the two-week ceasefire. The official said Israel had agreed to suspend its bombing campaign while negotiations continue.
Deadline averted at the last minute
The announcement followed a day of increasingly stark rhetoric from Trump, who had warned earlier that “a whole civilization will die tonight” if Iran did not make a deal before his cutoff. Trump’s deadline for Iran to reopen the strait was 8 p.m. EDT on Tuesday.
The Strait of Hormuz, through which roughly a fifth of the world’s oil passes, has been at the center of the crisis. Iran’s blockade has become a major global economic concern, disrupting shipping and energy markets and prompting an urgent diplomatic push to avert a wider war.
Trump said the ceasefire followed talks with Pakistani intermediaries. Pakistan has been pressing for a temporary halt in hostilities and renewed diplomacy, with Sharif urging Trump to extend the deadline by two weeks “to allow diplomacy to run its course.” Sharif also called on Iran to reopen the Strait of Hormuz as part of the de-escalation effort.
Trump said the ceasefire depends on Iran reopening the strait, but several major questions remain unresolved. He also described an Iranian 10-point proposal as a potentially workable basis for talks, suggesting diplomacy could continue during the two-week window.
Earlier on Tuesday, UN Secretary-General António Guterres expressed deep concern over remarks suggesting that entire populations or civilizations could bear the consequences of military decisions, according to his spokesperson Stéphane Dujarric. Separately, Pope Leo criticized Trump’s rhetoric as “truly unacceptable.”
UN Security Council deadlock
Earlier on Tuesday, Russia and China vetoed a US-backed UN Security Council resolution aimed at reopening the Strait of Hormuz, highlighting deep divisions among major powers over how to respond to Iran’s blockade of the crucial shipping route. The draft, prepared by Bahrain and backed by Gulf Arab states and Washington, won 11 votes in favor, while Colombia and Pakistan abstained. But opposition from Moscow and Beijing, both permanent members of the council, was enough to defeat the measure.
The text had already been watered down before the vote after objections from France, Russia and China. Gulf states had initially sought language explicitly authorizing force to protect commercial shipping, but the final version stopped short of that, instead urging states to coordinate defensive efforts, including escorts for merchant and commercial vessels. It also demanded that Iran immediately halt attacks on shipping and any attempt to impede transit passage or freedom of navigation in the strait.