Iran and the US have agreed to a two-week ceasefire with conditions. During this time, ships will be able to pass through the Strait of Hormuz.
This happened more than a month after the US and Israel attacked Iran together. It happened just hours after US President Donald Trump said, “A whole civilization will die tonight” if Iran didn’t reopen the Strait.
Pakistan’s Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, who has been helping to mediate talks, said on Wednesday morning that the ceasefire was in effect right away.
So far, this is what we know about the deal.
What did the US and Iran say?
Trump said he would “suspend the bombing and attack of Iran for a period of two weeks” if Tehran agrees to reopen the Strait of Hormuz, which is an important shipping route for oil and other Gulf exports.
Trump said on Truth Social that he agreed to the temporary ceasefire because “we have already met and exceeded all military objectives.”
Earlier, he had said that the US could destroy Iran “in one night” and that a “whole civilization will die tonight, never to be brought back again.” These threats were condemned by UN Secretary General António Guterres and Pope Leo XIV.
Later on Wednesday, Trump said that the US and Iran would work together and “talk about tariff and sanctions relief.”
He also wrote on his Truth Social platform that “a country that sells military weapons to Iran will be charged 50% on all goods sold to the United States of America, effective immediately.” There won’t be any exceptions or exclusions.
Pete Hegseth, the US Secretary of Defense, said that the US military would make sure that Iran follows the ceasefire and comes to the table to talk about a deal.
He went on to say that troops would “stay put, stay ready, and stay vigilant” and be “ready to re-start at a moment’s notice.”
Iran has agreed to let ships pass through the Hormuz Strait for two weeks, with the Iranian military in charge of coordinating their passage.
The country has also made a 10-point plan that includes, among other things, stopping all wars in Iran, Iraq, Lebanon, and Yemen; “full commitment” to lifting sanctions on Iran; the release of Iranian funds and frozen assets held by the US; and “full payment of compensation for reconstruction costs” to Iran.
It also says, “Iran fully commits to not seeking possession of any nuclear weapons.”The Supreme National Security Council of Tehran said in a statement that Iran’s victory on the battlefield would also be solidified in political talks.
Sharif says the ceasefire will also apply to Lebanon, where Israel has been fighting the Iranian-backed militant group Hezbollah.
Israel has supported the deal but says it “does not include Lebanon.” On Wednesday, they started bombing again in the Tyre and Nabatieh areas in the south of the country.
What did Israel say?
Sirens went off in Israel soon after Trump made his announcement. The Israel Defense Forces said they were stopping missiles that had been fired from Iran.
Late on Tuesday night, people in Jerusalem heard a lot of loud booms.
Netanyahu said a few hours after the ceasefire was confirmed, “Israel supports President Trump’s decision to stop strikes against Iran for two weeks, as long as Iran opens the straits right away and stops all attacks on the US, Israel, and countries in the region.”
The statement went on to say that the “ceasefire does not include Lebanon,” where Israel has ground troops.
We don’t know how much Netanyahu had to do with Trump’s decisions.
What’s next?
Pakistan, which has been helping with the talks, has asked the delegations to meet in Islamabad on Friday “to continue negotiating for a final agreement to end all disputes.”
Karoline Leavitt, the White House press secretary, said that talks about in-person talks are still going on, but that “nothing is final until announced by the President or the White House.”
No matter what they look like, negotiations are going to be very hard.
After the ceasefire, strikes seemed to be still going on. On Wednesday morning, Kuwait reported Iranian attacks that damaged oil facilities, power plants, and desalination plants.The military of Kuwait said on X that “Kuwait’s air defenses have been dealing with an intense wave of hostile Iranian attacks, with 28 drones targeting the State of Kuwait.”
It looks like the US and Iran have different ideas about what this ceasefire means. In the past year, Iran and the US have talked to each other twice. Both times, tensions between the military grew while talks were going on.
The leaders of France, Italy, Germany, Britain, Canada, Denmark, the Netherlands, Spain, and the EU all welcomed the ceasefire. They also called for a “swift and lasting end” to the war in a joint statement.They said, “We ask all sides to follow the ceasefire, even in Lebanon.”
