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Iran has confirmed a two-week ceasefire announced by U.S. President Donald Trump, the Tasnim news agency, which is close to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), reported early on Wednesday.
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said safe passage through the Strait of Hormuz would be possible for two weeks in coordination with Iran’s armed forces “and with due consideration of technical limitations.”
Trump had made reopening the waterway a condition for the ceasefire and had threatened to target Iran’s energy sector and infrastructure, including bridges, if Tehran failed to comply, setting a deadline of 0000 GMT.
The Strait of Hormuz, crucial to global oil and gas trade, has been largely closed since the United States and Israel launched large-scale attacks on Iran on Feb. 28.
According to a senior U.S. official, Israel will also adhere to what Trump described as a “double sided CEASEFIRE.”
Pakistan, which has mediated between Tehran and Washington, said that an immediate ceasefire between Iran and the US had taken effect.
Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif wrote on X that the Islamic Republic of Iran and the U.S., along with their allies, had agreed to an “immediate ceasefire everywhere,” including in Lebanon.
“I warmly welcome the sagacious gesture and extend deepest gratitude to the leadership of both the countries and invite their delegations to Islamabad on Friday … to further negotiate for a conclusive agreement to settle all disputes,” Sharif said.
Trump earlier said Sharif had asked him to refrain from carrying out the threatened attacks.
The U.S. has received a 10-point proposal from Iran and believed it offered a “workable basis” for negotiations, Trump wrote on his platform Truth Social.
According to The New York Times, the plan calls for lifting all sanctions imposed on Iran.
Pakistan made a last-minute proposal Tuesday to avert catastrophic US attacks on Iran, hours ahead of a deadline set by President Donald Trump who warned a “whole civilization will die tonight”.
The White House said it was aware and would respond to the proposal by Pakistan, which has sought to mediate after more than five weeks of US and Israeli attacks on Iran.
“Diplomatic efforts for peaceful settlement of the ongoing war in the Middle East are progressing steadily, strongly and powerfully with the potential to lead to substantive results in near future,” Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif wrote on X.
He appealed directly to Trump to extend his deadline set for 8:00 PM Washington time (midnight GMT) by two weeks.
Read Also: Pakistani Court Sentences Former PM Imran And Wife To 17 Years
In turn, he asked Iran to commit for two weeks to fulfilling Trump’s key demand — reopening the Strait of Hormuz, the vital gateway for global oil which Tehran closed in retaliation for the war.
The latest threats from Trump, shocking even by his own provocative standards, brought disbelief and warnings that he was encouraging genocide — potentially one day leading to war crimes charges against US servicemembers who comply.
“A whole civilization will die tonight, never to be brought back again. I don’t want that to happen, but it probably will,” Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform.
The rhetoric was an escalation from a profanity-laden post two days earlier, on Easter Sunday, in which Trump threatened to destroy all bridges and power plants in the country of 90 million — a war crime unless proven that the sites are mostly for military use.
Pope Leo XIV said that “this threat against all the people of Iran” was “truly unacceptable”.
Speaking in Budapest, Vice President JD Vance said the United States had tools “that we so far haven’t decided to use” against Iran, without explaining further.
The White House later denied to AFP that Vance was alluding to nuclear weapons.
The United States and Israel were striking key infrastructure even before Trump’s deadline, with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu confirming attacks on railways and bridges he said were “used by the Revolutionary Guards”.
The Israeli military also offered a rare statement of regret after it acknowledged damaging a synagogue in Tehran, saying it had been targeting a senior Iranian commander.
Iran, run by Shia Muslim clerics, is home to around 100 synagogues for its historic Jewish minority.
First Vice President Mohammad Reza Aref said Iran was prepared “for all scenarios” from the United States.
“No threat is beyond our preparedness and intelligence,” he added.
Infrastructure attacks reported by Iranian authorities Tuesday included a US-Israeli strike on a bridge outside the city of Qom and another on a rail bridge in central Iran that killed two people.
