Trump agrees to suspend attacks for two weeks if Iran opens Strait of Hormuz

Donald Trump

It was 90 minutes before 8 p.m., when President Donald Trump had threatened to “wipe out a whole civilization” with large-scale attacks on Iran’s energy facilities and bridges, but instead he gave diplomacy two more weeks to work.

“If the Islamic Republic of Iran agrees to the full, immediate and safe opening of the Strait of Hormuz,” Trump said on social media Tuesday “I agree to suspend the bombing and attack of Iran for a period of two weeks.”

“Already met and exceeded all Military objectives, and very far along with a definitive Agreement concerning Long-term Peace with Iran,” Trump said. The proposal, a 10-point list sent by Tehran he described as a “workable basis on which to negotiate.”

Trump continued, “This will be a double-sided CEASEFIRE!”

Trump said his decision was made after a request from Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif of Pakistan and Gen. Asim Munir, the military chief of the country whose government has been acting as an intermediary between the United States and Iran.

“There is steady progress on diplomatic efforts for peaceful settlement,” Sharif said in a post on social media. “I sincerely ask President Trump to extend the deadline by two weeks.”

In a statement after Trump’s announcement, Sharif said that delegations from both the United States and Iran had been invited to Islamabad on Friday “to have further negotiations for a conclusive agreement to resolve all disputes.” He added that the ceasefire would also apply to Lebanon, where Israel has been waging a large bombing campaign against Iran-backed Hezbollah.

Pakistan has so far helmed a group of mediators, including Egypt and Turkey, that has sought an out from the war that’s unhinged much of the region. Trump has developed a especially close bond with Munir, and in an interview on Fox News prior to the extension announcement described Sharif as “a highly respected man all over.”

In a statement posted after Trump’s announcement, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said he was also acting at the request of Pakistan and “acceptance of the general Framework of Iran’s 10-point proposal for negotiations.”

“If attacks against Iran stop,” it said, “our Mighty Armed Forces will stop their defensive operations.” For two weeks, it said, “safe passage through the Strait of Hormuz will be possible in dual coordination” with the Iranian military.

Just last weekend, the two sides seemed locked in a stalemate over mutually exclusive demands. Iran had rebuffed American demands to scrap its nuclear and ballistic missile programs, halt its support for regional proxies and reopen the strait, the critical Persian Gulf waterway that carries an estimated one-fifth of the world’s energy supplies.

In the 10-point proposal Trump described as a basis for negotiations, Iran demanded not only an end to the war but also to any attacks against what it describes as the “Axis of Resistance” — its proxy groups in the region, including Hezbollah. As part of its demands, which Iranian media reported late Tuesday were announced via a government statement, Iran sought the establishment of a formal protocol for passage through the Strait of Hormuz “that guarantees an oversight role for Iran.”

The list demanded recognition of Iran’s right to uranium enrichment, “withdrawal of U.S. combat forces from all bases and military deployment points in the region,” full compensation for damage from any war, lifting all sanctions against Iran and releasing all Iranian assets abroad.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu expressed his support for Trump’s “decision to suspend strikes against Iran for two weeks subject to Iran immediately opening the straits and stopping all attacks on the U.S., Israel and countries in the region” in a brief statement issued in English by his office early Wednesday, local time.

“Israel is also supportive of the U.S. effort to make sure that Iran is no longer able to pose a nuclear, missile and terror threat.” … The United States has communicated to Israel that it is committed to achieving these goals … in the upcoming negotiations,” Netanyahu said. In a caveat that foreshadowed sour negotiations to come, he said the cease-fire “does not include Lebanon.”

The brief U.S. military raid that netted the Venezuelan strongman Nicolás Maduro is one that Trump has repeatedly described as a model for U.S. action in Iran. By ousting its leader in Caracas, Trump left the remaining regime in place and is now calling it a great U.S. partner.

“If this two-week cease-fire does hold and serious negotiations take place, one thing is clear,” Aaron David Miller, a veteran of Middle East negotiations through both Republican and Democratic administrations, said. “Regime change is out — and legitimizing this regime is in. And the more direct engagement, [the more] it looks like the old reality, not so much new. “A brutal, repressive regime has outlasted the world’s most powerful military.”

Although the truce might not be welcome news to some of the president’s most hawkish backers — and there is no assurance that a diplomatic deal with Iran can be made in two weeks — Trump has as many motives of his own for wanting to call off a war, including nearly doubled gas prices at home and declining approval ratings as midterm elections loom.

The announcement of a cease-fire sent the price of a barrel of oil crashing down about 14 percent and stock futures soaring.

For much of Tuesday, a U.S. strike across Iran seemed inevitable. After Trump’s apocalyptic threat, issued in the early hours of the morning, calling off talks with Iran and vowing “a new stage of warfare.”

As much of the world held its breath, governments in the region advised people to stay indoors. In Washington, Trump’s political rivals challenged his fitness for the office and demanded his removal.

And while Democratic lawmakers said Congress must prevent the war from escalating Tuesday, Republicans had scant to offer. And former Republican congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene and the N.A.A.C.P., as well as some Democrats, urged Trump’s expulsion under the 25th Amendment to the Constitution — which allows for the president to be removed from power, including by a vice president and a majority of the Cabinet, if they come to believe him “unable to discharge the powers and duties of his office.”

“This is pure evil and madness,” Greene said on X.

House Democratic leadership issued a statement saying Trump was “completely unhinged” and called for lawmakers to “come back into session immediately” to vote on an end of the war.

Rep. Ted Lieu (Calif.), the No. 4 Democrat in House leadership, urged the Pentagon not to follow any orders that would wipe out “a whole civilization.”

In a statement, Senate Minority Leader Charles E. Schumer (D-New York) said he was “glad Trump backed off and is desperately searching for any sort of exit ramp from his ridiculous bluster” following the ceasefire announcement.