Trump Declares Iran Ceasefire Extension as Peace Talks Remain in Doubt

In a surprise move that underscored the volatility of the conflict, US President Donald Trump said he would extend the ceasefire with Iran indefinitely to make room for more peace talks, though it remained unclear whether Iran or Israel, Washington’s ally in the two-month war, would accept the arrangement.

In a social media statement, Mr Trump said the US had accepted a request from Pakistani mediators “to hold our Attack on the Country of Iran until such time as their leaders and representatives can come up with a unified proposal … and discussions are concluded, one way or the other.”

Pakistan’s leaders have been hosting peace negotiations in Islamabad aimed at bringing a war to an end after it killed thousands and rattled the global economy.

Yet even as he unveiled what appeared to be a unilateral extension of the ceasefire, Mr Trump said the US Navy would keep enforcing its blockade on Iran’s seaborne trade, a measure Tehran regards as an act of war.

Mr Trump had earlier signalled he would not prolong the ceasefire

Tasnim News Agency, which is affiliated with the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps, said Iran had not sought any ceasefire extension and reiterated threats to challenge the US blockade by force.

An adviser to Iran’s chief negotiator, parliament speaker Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf, said Mr Trump’s announcement should not be taken seriously and could amount to a ploy.

Mr Trump’s wartime messaging has swung sharply from one extreme to the other. Just two weeks ago, in an expletive-laden threat against Iran, he said a “whole civilization will die ‌tonight”, while at other moments he has projected urgency about ending the bloodshed ⁠and the turmoil in financial markets.

With this latest announcement, Mr Trump once again stepped back at the final moment from threats to bomb Iran’s power plants and bridges.

United Nations Secretary General António Guterres and others have denounced those threats, stressing that international humanitarian law prohibits attacks on civilians and civilian infrastructure.

Fresh peace talks in doubt

The US and Israel launched the war on 28 February with aerial bombardments of Iran.

The fighting soon spread to Gulf states hosting US military bases and to Lebanon after Hezbollah, the Iran-allied militant group, entered the conflict.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has spent decades pushing to remove Iran’s leadership, but Mr Trump has offered shifting and at times contradictory explanations for joining Israel in launching the war and for how he expects it to end, adding to confusion in global markets.

Police officers stand watch as Pakistan’s leaders host peace talks in Islamabad aimed at ending the war

US stock futures moved higher, the dollar ‌fluctuated and oil prices fell after Mr Trump’s announcement.

More than 5,000 civilians have been killed across the region and hundreds of thousands forced from their homes so far, mainly in Iran and Lebanon. The war has also all but shut the Strait of Hormuz, the crucial energy chokepoint between Iran and Oman, sending ⁠oil prices sharply higher and raising fears that the global economy could slide into recession.

Israel-Lebanon talks

On another front in the war, Israel and Lebanon, which do not have diplomatic relations, are due to hold new talks in Washington tomorrow, a State Department official told AFP.

A separate 10-day ceasefire was agreed between the two countries on Friday and included Hezbollah, whose rocket fire in support of Iran pulled Lebanon deeper into the broader Middle East conflict.

Violence has continued sporadically, and Israel’s military warned civilians not to return to dozens of villages in southern Lebanon.

A digger clears rubble from buildings destroyed in Israeli strikes in southern Lebanon

Yesterday, the Israeli army said the “Hezbollah terrorist organization launched several rockets” at its troops in Lebanon, adding that it had “struck the launcher from which the rockets were launched.”

Israeli attacks on Lebanon have killed at least 2,454 people since the war began, according to the latest toll from a Lebanese government body.

Hezbollah said it had launched an attack on northern Israel in response to what it described as Israeli ceasefire violations, marking its first such claim since the truce took effect.

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