Live Updates: U.S., Iran reach 2-week ceasefire ahead of Trump’s deadline
In a dramatic turn of events, the United States and Iran have agreed to a two-week ceasefire, just hours before President Trump’s looming deadline that threatened widespread destruction in Iran. The agreement, brokered with the mediation of Pakistan, stipulates the complete, immediate, and safe reopening of the vital Strait of Hormuz. This development comes after a period of intense escalation, with both sides exchanging threats and military strikes, sending global financial markets into turmoil.
The ceasefire announcement by President Trump on his Truth Social platform late Tuesday, April 7, 2026, marked a significant pivot from his earlier dire warnings. "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," Trump posted. He indicated that Iran had presented a 10-point peace proposal, which he deemed a "workable basis on which to negotiate." Iran’s Supreme National Security Council, via its Tasnim News Agency, confirmed the agreement, claiming the U.S. had accepted its 10-point plan, which included "continued Iranian control over the Strait of Hormuz" through coordination with its armed forces, the withdrawal of U.S. combat forces from the region, the lifting of all primary and secondary sanctions, and an end to the war against the "Axis of Resistance."
The path to this temporary truce was fraught with escalating tensions. Throughout Tuesday, President Trump had issued an ultimatum, threatening to destroy all of Iran’s power plants and bridges if the Strait of Hormuz was not reopened by 8 p.m. Eastern Time. Earlier in the day, he declared, "a whole civilization will die tonight," adding, "I don’t want that to happen, but it probably will." This rhetoric drew sharp condemnation from U.S. lawmakers, with Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer calling Trump "an extremely sick person" and House Democratic leaders urging Congress to return to session to end what they termed a "reckless war of choice." Calls for invoking the 25th Amendment and accusations of potential war crimes also emerged.
Amidst these threats, Israel, a close U.S. ally, had ramped up its military actions. The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) acknowledged striking Iranian railways and bridges, citing their use by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) for transporting weapons. IDF warnings in Farsi urged Iranians to avoid train travel, signaling further strikes. Iranian state media, including IRNA, subsequently reported two fatalities and three injuries from an "enemy attack" on a railway bridge in Kashan. Furthermore, a synagogue in Tehran was reportedly "completely destroyed" in overnight strikes, with 18 civilians, including two young children, allegedly killed in U.S.-Israeli airstrikes in Alborz Province, west of Tehran. Iran’s Fars news agency even broadcast video of what it called "human chains" of civilians forming around the Kazerun power plant, acting as human shields in response to official calls. U.S. Central Command confirmed launching one-way attack drones into Iran on Monday night, and a U.S. official confirmed new strikes on military targets on Iran’s Kharg Island, a crucial oil export hub.
Iranian officials, however, remained defiant. Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmail Baqaei stated that "Iranians are not going to be subdued by such deadlines" and that Iran would not hesitate to defend itself. The IRGC Cyber Guard warned of dropping "self-restraint" and threatening to deprive the U.S. and its allies of Gulf oil for years. There were also renewed threats from Iran to block the Bab el-Mandeb Strait, another vital shipping lane, via its Houthi allies in Yemen, if the war escalated. Attacks on Gulf states continued, with explosions and fires reported in Saudi Arabia’s Jubail industrial area, and a container ship near Iran’s Kish Island reportedly hit by a projectile. Kuwait issued an overnight curfew as a precaution.
Diplomatic efforts, primarily led by Pakistan, intensified in the final hours before Trump’s deadline. Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif publicly requested a two-week extension to allow diplomacy to run its course, calling for Iran to open the Strait of Hormuz as a goodwill gesture. Vice President JD Vance was identified as the U.S. interlocutor in these talks.
The ceasefire announcement brought immediate relief to financial markets. Oil prices, which had surged to over $110 a barrel for Brent crude and $115 for West Texas Intermediate on Tuesday morning, plummeted by double-digit margins by Tuesday night, with WTI falling to around $97 and Brent to $95. Stock markets reacted positively, with S&P 500 futures up 2.3% and Asian markets spiking.
Despite the positive market reaction and Trump’s celebratory tone, complexities and immediate challenges emerged. Hours after the ceasefire, explosions were heard in Bahrain’s capital, Manama, with the Gulf kingdom’s interior ministry attributing them to "the sinful Iranian aggression." Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office clarified that the two-week ceasefire "does not include Lebanon," appearing to contradict an earlier statement by Pakistan’s Sharif. This distinction is critical as Israel and the Iranian-backed Hezbollah in Lebanon have been engaged in intense missile and drone attacks, displacing hundreds of thousands and killing over 1,500 people.
Looking ahead, Iran’s Supreme National Security Council announced that peace talks would commence on Friday, April 10, in Islamabad, with a two-week period allocated, extensible by mutual agreement. White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt stated that while "discussions about in person talks" were ongoing, nothing was final. Leavitt, touting the deal as "a victory for the United States," emphasized that President Trump had also secured the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz. However, the International Air Transport Association (IATA) Director General, Willie Walsh, warned that jet fuel supplies and prices would take "months" to normalize, even with the Strait open, due to disruptions in Middle Eastern refining capacity.
In other diplomatic developments, American journalist Shelly Kittleson, kidnapped by a pro-Iran militia group in Iraq last week, was confirmed released. Separately, French President Emmanuel Macron announced the release of Cécile Kohler and Jacques Paris, a couple jailed in Iran for three and a half years, thanking Oman for its mediation efforts. These releases underscored the broader geopolitical and humanitarian dimensions intertwined with the U.S.-Iran conflict. Senator Lindsey Graham, a Republican who had previously supported intervention, expressed "extreme caution" regarding the ceasefire plan, calling for a congressional review process similar to the Obama-era Iran deal. Meanwhile, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, while critical of Trump’s previous rhetoric, expressed relief, saying he was "glad Trump backed off and is desperately searching for any sort of exit ramp from his ridiculous bluster." The coming weeks will test the fragility of this ceasefire and the prospects for a lasting peace in the volatile Middle East.
