US President Donald Trump said on Tuesday he would indefinitely extend the ceasefire with Iran just hours before it was due to expire, allowing negotiations to continue over ending a seven-week conflict that has killed thousands and disrupted the global economy.
Reversing earlier warnings of renewed military action, Trump said he had accepted a request from Pakistan, which has been mediating the talks, “to hold our Attack on the Country of Iran until such time as their leaders and representatives can come up with a unified proposal.”
The announcement appeared to come unilaterally, with no immediate indication that Iran or key US ally Israel had agreed to prolong the truce, which began two weeks ago. Trump also said the US Navy would continue its blockade of Iranian ports and coastline, a move Tehran has described as an act of war.
Iran’s top leadership did not immediately respond. However, Tasnim News Agency reported that Tehran had not requested any ceasefire extension and repeated earlier threats to break the blockade by force.
Mahdi Mohammadi, an adviser to parliament speaker Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf, dismissed Trump’s announcement.
“Trump’s ceasefire extension is certainly a ploy to buy time for a surprise strike,” Mahdi Mohammadi, the parliament speaker’s adviser, said in a statement on social media, calling the U.S. blockade an ongoing military aggression. “The time for Iran to take the initiative has come.”
Trump said the ceasefire would remain in place until Iran’s “proposal is submitted, and discussions are concluded, one way or the other.”
The move marked another last-minute retreat from Trump’s repeated threats to bomb Iranian power plants. António Guterres and others have condemned such threats, saying international humanitarian law prohibits attacks on civilians and civilian infrastructure.
Trump, whose administration joined Israel in launching the war against Iran on February 28, said he chose to prolong the ceasefire because “the Government of Iran is seriously fractured, not unexpectedly so,” referring to US-Israeli assassinations of senior Iranian leaders, including former Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who was succeeded by his son.
The US blockade has become a major obstacle in efforts to arrange a second round of peace talks in Islamabad.
Only hours before announcing the extension, Trump had said he was unwilling to continue the temporary truce and that US forces were “raring to go.” In an interview with CNBC, he said Washington held a strong negotiating position and would secure what he described as “a great deal.”
Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif thanked Trump for “graciously accepting our request to extend the ceasefire to allow ongoing diplomatic efforts to take their course.”
“I sincerely hope that both sides will continue to observe the ceasefire and be able to conclude a comprehensive ‘Peace Deal’ during the second round of talks scheduled at Islamabad for a permanent end to the conflict,” Sharif wrote.
It remains unclear when, or whether, that second round of negotiations will take place.