Trump announces Iran ceasefire, backing down on threat to destroy country

WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump on Tuesday evening announced a two-week ceasefire with Iran just hours after a world-shaking threat to eliminate the “whole” Iranian civilization.

In a post on his Truth Social platform just after 6:30 p.m. Eastern time, the U.S. commander in chief said senior Pakistani officials had brokered the temporary halting of hostilities, which would lead to Iran’s reopening of the Strait of Hormuz.

“Based on conversations with Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and Field Marshal Asim Munir, of Pakistan, and wherein 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, I agree to suspend the bombing and attack of Iran for a period of two weeks,” the president wrote. “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 added. “We received a 10 point proposal from Iran, and believe it is a workable basis on which to negotiate. Almost all of the various points of past contention have been agreed to between the United States and Iran, but a two week period will allow the Agreement to be finalized and consummated.”

After more than a month of heavy bombing of targets across Iran by U.S. and Israeli military forces, and intermittent talks led by Pakistan and other countries, Trump on Tuesday evening declared that it was “an Honor to have this Longterm problem close to resolution.”

Iran appeared to be in agreement with the ceasefire terms announced by Trump, with Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi saying, “If attacks against Iran are halted, our Powerful Armed Forces will cease their defensive operations.”

“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 limitations,” Araghchi said in a statement posted on X.

The evening post capped a historic and tense day during which even some Republican lawmakers joined Democrats in calling for the president to tamp down his rhetoric about ending an entire civilization.

Earlier Tuesday, Sharif, the Pakistani leader, used a post on X to announce his offer to U.S. and Iranian officials.

“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. To allow diplomacy to run its course, I earnestly request President Trump to extend the deadline for two weeks,” he wrote.

“Pakistan, in all sincerity, requests the Iranian brothers to open Strait of Hormuz for a corresponding period of two weeks as a goodwill gesture,” Sharif added.

Trump’s ceasefire announcement comes as the Iran war that he launched with Israel on Feb. 28 remains unpopular at home.

According to an April 3-6 Economist/YouGov poll, 34% of Americans said they supported the war with Iran, while over half (53%) were opposed, including 41% who were strongly opposed. Among independents, 57% opposed the conflict, with just 24% in support. Almost all Democrats opposed the war (84% were opposed, 9% supported it) while two-thirds of Republicans (67%) supported the conflict, with 21% opposed.

Trump began Tuesday with a social media post that shook the world and attracted widespread condemnation — even rare criticism from Republican lawmakers.

“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 Truth Social. “However, now that we have Complete and Total Regime Change, where different, smarter, and less radicalized minds prevail, maybe something revolutionarily wonderful can happen, WHO KNOWS?”

“We will find out tonight, one of the most important moments in the long and complex history of the World,” he added. “47 years of extortion, corruption, and death, will finally end. God Bless the Great People of Iran!”

California Rep. Kevin Kiley, who recently switched his political affiliation from Republican to independent but continues to caucus with his former party, said on social media: “The United States does not destroy civilizations. Nor do we threaten to do so as some sort of negotiating tactic.”

“Congress has a responsibility to conduct oversight with respect to ongoing military operations and our obligations under both U.S. law and international agreements to which we are a signatory,” he added.

Alaska Sen. Lisa Murkowski, who has been more willing than many of her fellow Republican colleagues to push back on Trump’s most extreme instincts, said the president’s morning threat “cannot be excused away as an attempt to gain leverage in negotiations with Iran.”

“This type of rhetoric is an affront to the ideals our nation has sought to uphold and promote around the world for nearly 250 years,” she wrote on X. “It undermines our long-standing role as a global beacon of freedom and directly endangers Americans both abroad and at home.”

Arizona Democratic Sen. Ruben Gallego, a retired Marine, said on X that the U.S. military “is the best in the world, not just because of our strength, but because we fight the right way. We follow the law and protect civilians.”

“That’s what you’re taught in the Marines from day one,” he added. “Trump threatening to kill ‘a whole civilization’ spits on everything we stand for and is flat out illegal.”