President Donald Trump expanded a two-week ceasefire on his and Israel’s war against Iran, but the US leader also said a naval blockade of the Middle Eastern nation will continue and fears of new attacks remain high.
Two weeks later threatening to remove Iran’s “entire civilization” just hours before a ceasefire deal was reached, Trump took on his Truth Social platform again on Tuesday afternoon to announce the extension, without a clear timeline.
“Based on the fact that the government of Iran has been seriously broken, not suddenly and, at the request of Field Marshal Asim Munir and Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, Pakistan“We have been asked to hold off on our attack on the country of Iran until such time as their leaders and representatives can come up with a unified proposal,” Trump wrote.
“Therefore, I have instructed our army to continue the blockade and, in all other respects, to remain ready and able, and will therefore extend the cease-fire until such time as their proposal is presented and the discussions concluded, one way or the other.”
Trump imposed the blockade in response to Iran closing the Strait of Hormuz, a key waterway between the Persian Gulf and the Gulf of Oman. trade road, including for fossil fuels. As part of the blockade, the president said On Sunday, US forces seized the Touska, a nearly 900-foot Iranian-flagged cargo ship.
Trita Parsi, co-founder and executive vice president of the Quincy Institute for the Responsible State, END that Trump’s entry “reflects the outcome that I have argued is most likely: No deal, no sanctions relief, no nuclear compromise, no return to war, while Iran continues to control the strait. Not a stable situation, but one in which Trump pockets the central thing he asked for — getting out of the war — while Iran is missing out on the main thing it asked for: the lifting of sanctions.”
While a spokesperson for United Nations Secretary General Antonio Guterres said that he welcomes Trump’s announcement as “an important step toward de-escalation and creating the critical space for diplomacy and confidence-building between Iran and United States,” and encouraged all parties to “build on this momentum,” comments from Iran suggested limited progress.
Co-founder of Drop Site News Jeremy Scahill reported On Tuesday that “an Iranian official tells me that, as of this moment, Iran’s position remains unchanged: Lifting the naval blockade is a condition for a second round of talks.”
According to Reuters chief national security reporter Phil Stewart, an adviser to Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, the speaker of Iran’s parliament, said Tuesday’s extension meant nothing and could even be a ploy to buy time for a surprise attack, adding that continuing the US blockade is the same as bombing and should be met with military force.
Center for International Policy Senior Fellow Sina Toossi pointed out that report and warned that “after being attacked twice by surprise, some entered Tehran are calling on Iran to take the initiative and strike first, including American ships or tankers ready to leave Hormuz.”
Toossi too emphasized that “trust between the parties remains at zero and a renewed war can break out at any time”.
“Let’s be real, Pakistan is not deciding whether the US goes to war with Iran,” he added. “They are a conduit, not a driver. More of a convenient excuse and diplomatic cover than having any kind of actual influence over Trump in Iran.”
Before the extension, Toossi had published an article in The Guardian arguing that “having fought what they see as an existential war with the US and Israel and holding their ground, Iranian officials see little reason to rush into major concessions. The priority is not a comprehensive deal, but reducing the risk of war while preserving essential sources of power, from Hormuz to its nuclear program.”
“In the short term, this may simply mean extending the ceasefire rather than reaching a substantive agreement. Beyond that, the most likely outcome is an interim agreement, or a broad memorandum of understanding-style framework that pushes out key details, rather than decisive progress,” he continued. “In this view, the conflict is not being resolved, but being managed – and, over time, Iran believes its position will be strengthened as the global fallout from the power outage makes further escalation a cost that no one is willing to bear.”
A Tuesday report from the climate advocacy group 350.org RATINGS that during the first 50 days of the Iran war, consumers and businesses worldwide paid an additional $158.6-166.9 billion due to increased fuel costs.
Additionally, thousands of people have been killed in Iran and across the region, and at least tens of thousands of Iranian civilians infrastructure the sites have been damaged since the US and Israeli strikes began in February.
