Iran, the US and Israel late on Tuesday agreed to a two-week ceasefire, an 11th-hour deal that headed off US President Donald Trump’s threat to unleash a bombing campaign that would destroy Iranian civilization, but yesterday, hours after the announcement, Iran and Gulf Arab countries reported new attacks.
It was not clear if the strikes would scuttle the deal, which US Vice President J.D. Vance called “fragile.”
US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth yesterday told a news conference at the Pentagon that the US has had a decisive military victory over Iran.
Photo: AFP
Even before the new attacks, much about the agreement was unclear as the sides presented vastly different visions of the terms.
Iran said the deal would allow it to formalize its new practice of charging ships passing through the Strait of Hormuz, a crucial transit lane for oil, but the terms were not clear, nor was whether ships would feel safe using it. It was also unclear whether any other country agreed to this condition.
Hegseth said the strait was already open and that the US military would be “hanging around” in the Middle East to ensure Iran complies with the ceasefire.
Photo: Bloomberg
Iranian state television yesterday reported that the first ship had already passed through the strait with Tehran’s permission.
Pakistan, which helped to mediate the deal, and others said fighting would pause in Lebanon, where Israel has launched a ground invasion against the Iran-backed Hezbollah militant group.
However, Israel said the agreement does not extend to Hezbollah.
Photo: Reuters
Israeli strikes yesterday hit several dense commercial and residential areas in central Beirut afternoon without warning, hours after the ceasefire was announced.
The Lebanese Ministry of Health said that dozens were killed and hundreds wounded in an early estimate.
The fate of Iran’s missile and nuclear programs — the elimination of which were major objectives for the US and Israel in going to war — also remained unclear, but Hegseth said that Tehran’s missile program had been functionally destroyed.
Trump said the US would work with Iran to remove buried enriched uranium, although Iran did not confirm that.
In the streets of Tehran, pro-government demonstrators chanted: “Death to America, death to Israel, death to compromisers,” after the ceasefire announcement, and burned US and Israeli flags.
The chants underscored the anger animating hard-liners, who have been preparing for what many assumed would be an apocalyptic battle with the US.
Trump on Tuesday said that “a whole civilization will die tonight,” if a deal was not reached.
Trump initially said Iran proposed a “workable” 10-point plan that could help end the war the US launched with Israel on Feb. 28, but when a version in Farsi emerged that indicated Iran would be allowed to continue enriching uranium — which is key to building a nuclear weapon — Trump called it fraudulent without elaborating.
Vance later said the deal was being misrepresented within Iran, although he did not offer details.
Iran’s demands for ending the war include a withdrawal of US combat forces from the region, the lifting of sanctions and the release of its frozen assets.
“We are, and will be, talking Tariff and Sanctions relief with Iran,” Trump wrote online yesterday.
It is not clear if other Western nations would agree to that — and the other points are likely nonstarters.
Pakistan said that talks to hammer out a permanent end to the war could begin in Islamabad as soon as tomorrow.
US Chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman General Dan Caine praised the halt in fighting, but added: “Let’s be clear, the ceasefire is a pause, and the joint force remains ready.”
Additional reporting by Bloomberg
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