Trump agrees to two-week suspension of threatened attacks on Iran

President Trump agreed to hold off on his apocalyptic promise to order the death of “a whole civilization” Tuesday after Iran agreed to open up the Strait of Hormuz as part of a Pakistan-brokered temporary ceasefire of the ongoing conflict between Washington and Tehran.

Mr. Trump said a two-week suspension of what he indicated would be a sweeping bombing campaign targeting Iran’s bridges, power plants and utilities was based on his conversations with Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and Field Marshal Asim Munir, the country’s military chief.

“They requested that I hold off the destructive force being sent tonight to Iran and subject to the Islamic Republic of Iran agreeing to the complete, immediate, and safe opening of the Strait of Hormuz,” he said on Truth Social.

Mr. Trump said both sides will observe the ceasefire.

“We have already met and exceeded all military objectives and are very far along with a definitive agreement concerning long-term peace with Iran and peace in the Middle East,” he wrote.

He said a 10-point plan offered by Iran was a “workable base” from which to negotiate.

“Almost all of the various points of past contention have been agreed to between the United States and Iran,” Mr. Trump said. “A two-week period will allow the agreement to be finalized and consummated.”

The tone of the most recent Truth Social post was markedly more optimistic than an earlier message from the president in which he warned that “a whole civilization will die tonight, never to be brought back again.”

Iran’s Supreme National Security Council confirmed that it had accepted a two-week ceasefire and would negotiate with U.S. officials later this week in Islamabad.

“It is emphasized that this does not signify the termination of the war,” the council’s statement said.

Jerusalem was included in the two-week cessation of hostilities between Washington and Tehran. But the ink wasn’t even dry on the truce when sirens started going off in Israel.

Iran launched a ballistic missile barrage targeting central Israel almost immediately after President Trump announced the truce, Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) officials said.

“A short while ago, the IDF identified missiles launched from Iran toward the territory of the State of Israel. Defensive systems are operating to intercept the threat,” the IDF said late Tuesday on Telegram. “The public is asked to act responsively and follow the instructions - they save lives.”

It wasn’t clear though, given the damage to Iran’s military and government hierarchy and its command-and-control systems, whether this was a deliberate violation or decentralized units acting in ignorance.

The Strait of Hormuz has become the most critical flash point of Operation Epic Fury, the U.S. and Israeli military operation meant to destroy Iran’s naval and missile capabilities and end Tehran’s nuclear ambitions.

It is often called the world’s most critical oil artery because if the narrow passage is closed, it could send a staggering blow to the global economy. Even Iran’s threat of a closure this year has been enough to send oil prices soaring.

The strait carries a staggering amount of the world’s energy: roughly 25% of all seaborne oil trade and about 20% of the liquefied natural gas trade, primarily from Qatar.

Iranian officials condemned Mr. Trump’s threats to destroy their civilization by targeting the country’s critical infrastructure. On Monday, Iran’s envoy called on the United Nations to “unequivocally” condemn the president’s statements.

“Such statements constitute direct incitement to terrorism and provide clear evidence of intent to commit war crimes under international law,” Ambassador Amir Saeid Iravani said in a letter to U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres.

Earlier in the day, U.S. forces had pummeled Kharg Island, a critical offshore hub of Iran’s oil export industry. Meanwhile, oil prices rose and stocks fell as the world waited to see whether Mr. Trump would follow through on his threats.

Mr. Trump had left room for negotiation, pointing to the possibility of “different, smarter, and less radicalized minds” prevailing after U.S. and Israeli forces killed Iran’s elder leaders in the initial stages of the conflict.

Mr. Sharif, citing progress in talks, had asked Mr. Trump to delay serious strikes for two weeks and called on its fellow Muslim neighbor to reciprocate.

“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.”

Iranian Foreign Minister Seyed Abbas Araghchi spun the agreement as a victory, saying Mr. Trump agreed with the general framework of Iran’s 10-point proposal as a basis for negotiations. 

As a result of the truce, “If attacks against Iran are halted, our powerful armed forces will cease their defensive operations,” he said in a statement on behalf of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council.

“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 due consideration of technical considerations,” Mr. Araghchi said.

His interpretation of what constitutes reopening the Strait of Hormuz to commercial shipping appears more regulated by Iran than Mr. Trump’s demand for a “complete, immediate, and safe opening” of the crucial waterway.

Iran’s 10-point proposal, which Mr. Trump described Tuesday as a “workable basis” for a ceasefire, represents Tehran’s counteroffer to earlier U.S. and Israeli demands.

Among Tehran’s demands is control over the Strait of Hormuz, instead of a return to the pre-war status quo. Tehran also wants the U.S. and the international community to formally accept Iran’s right to continue with its uranium enrichment program.

They also demand a timeline for the withdrawal of all U.S. military forces from the Middle East. compensation for war damages, and permanent security guarantees that the U.S. and Israel will not launch future preemptive strikes against Iranian territory or its nuclear facilities.

Some of Tehran’s demands, particularly its continuing control over the Strait of Hormuz and uranium enrichment rights, are considered non-starters in Washington and Jerusalem.

The next 14 days of discussions in Islamabad will determine which are up for negotiation and which are simply opening gambits.

U.S. Democratic lawmakers were not conciliatory to Mr. Trump for agreeing to the two-week ceasefire. 

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer of New York said on X that he was glad that Mr. Trump “backed off” and was “desperately searching for any sort of exit ramp from his ridiculous bluster.” 

Rep. Ro Khanna of California also said the president “backed down” but gave no credit to Congress, which he said “barely made a whimper.”

“Credit to the American people — progressive activists and anti-war conservative voices like [podcast host Tucker Carlson],  [former Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene], and many more. We need an anti-Epstein class, anti-war, pro-working class coalition,” Mr. Khanna wrote on X.

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez was dismissive of the president’s announcement, saying “this statement changes nothing.”

“The President has threatened a genocide against the Iranian people and is continuing to leverage that threat,” the New York Democrat wrote on X. “He has launched a massive war of enormous risk and of catastrophic consequence without reason, rationale, or Congressional authorization — which is as clear a violation of the Constitution as any.”

Several U.S. agencies issued a high-urgency joint advisory warning of an ongoing Iranian-affiliated cybersecurity threat to multiple critical infrastructure sectors.

The joint statement came from the FBI, the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, the National Security Agency, the Environmental Protection Agency, the Department of Energy and the U.S. Cyber Command — Cyber National Mission Force.

Vice President J.D. Vance said the regime in Tehran must choose one of two pathways to avoid more economic pain and destruction.

Mr. Vance, speaking in Hungary, said the Iranians can choose to be a “normal” country that does not fund terrorist proxies in the Middle East and participates in normal commerce and global relations.

“Option B is that the Iranians don’t come to the table and they stay committed to terrorism, to terrorizing their neighbors,” the vice president said. “The economic situation in Iran is going to continue to be very, very bad, and frankly, it will probably get worse.”

The strikes on Kharg Island followed a wave of U.S. and Israeli attacks on Iranian infrastructure in recent days.

Several highways, civilian roadways and railway bridges have been damaged or destroyed in U.S. airstrikes, and Israel has attacked petrochemical facilities in Iran this week.

The U.S. launched strikes on Kharg Island on March 13. U.S. Central Command confirmed that precision airstrikes destroyed naval mine storage facilities and missile storage bunkers. The attacks avoided the island’s oil infrastructure, which is used in Iran’s exporting operations.

The island is Iran’s energy revenue linchpin, managing at least 90% of the country’s oil exports. Although sufficient damage to its oil infrastructure from airstrikes would devastate Tehran financially, the risk is that Iran’s retaliation would increase pressure on international markets.

The strikes on Kharg Island followed a wave of U.S. and Israeli attacks on Iranian infrastructure in recent days.

Several highways, civilian roadways and railway bridges have been damaged or destroyed in U.S. airstrikes, and Israel has attacked petrochemical facilities in Iran this week.

The U.S. launched strikes on Kharg Island on March 13. U.S. Central Command confirmed that precision airstrikes destroyed naval mine storage facilities and missile storage bunkers. The attacks avoided the island’s oil infrastructure, which is used in Iran’s exporting operations.

The island is Iran’s energy revenue linchpin, managing at least 90% of the country’s oil exports. Although sufficient damage to its oil infrastructure from airstrikes would devastate Tehran financially, the risk is that Iran’s retaliation would increase pressure on international markets.

Archbishop Paul S. Coakley, president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, said threats to wipe out a civilization “cannot be morally justified.”

“I call on President Trump to step back from the precipice of war and negotiate a just settlement for the sake of peace and before more lives are lost,” he said.

Elsewhere, the Kataib Hezbollah militia said it had released an American journalist, Shelly Kittleson, who was abducted in Baghdad a week earlier, Iraqi officials said.

French President Emmanuel Macron said two of his country’s citizens, Cecile Kohler and Jacques Paris, were released after three years of detention in Iran on spying charges that were decried as baseless.

Regardless, signs indicated escalating tension in the region.

• Vaughn Cockayne and Mary McCue Bell contributed to this report.