President Trump on Tuesday walked back his threat to destroy the entire Iranian civilization and said he had agreed to a two-week cease-fire deal with Iran in hopes the countries will be able to finalize a long-term peace deal.
“We have already met and exceeded all military objectives, and are far from a definitive agreement regarding long-term peace with Iran and peace in the Middle East,” Trump wrote on Truth Social.
Trump said the agreement was “subject to the Islamic Republic of Iran agreeing to the full, immediate and secure opening of the Strait of Hormuz.”
Iran said it had achieved its war aims and signaled its intention to continue controlling the strait, the world’s most important energy-shipping lane.
Trump posted his statement nearly 90 minutes before a deadline for Tehran to comply with his demands and more than 10 hours after threatening to destroy the country. The president’s threat to destroy Iran drew sharp reaction in Washington, with lawmakers on both sides of the aisle criticizing his rhetoric.
“An entire 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 Tuesday morning. The president said that “something revolutionary will probably happen” due to the multiple assassinations of Iranian leaders, which he considers regime change.
The US halted all offensive operations in Iran following Trump’s announcement on Tuesday evening, according to a senior US official.
“The reason we are doing this is because we have already met and exceeded all military objectives, and are very far from a definitive agreement on long-term peace with Iran and peace in the Middle East,” Trump posted on social media. The US attacked more than 13,000 targets in the 39 days of the war.
Trump had threatened to attack all power plants and bridges in Tehran. Under international law, troops are allowed to attack civilian power plants and other key infrastructure only if they contribute to the military operation and civilian damage is minimal.
Trump said in his post on Truth Social that the US has received a 10-point proposal from Iran that is a “practical basis for negotiations”. He said that “almost all the various points of the previous dispute have been agreed upon” and that “the two-week period will allow the agreement to be finalized and completed.”
Iran’s Supreme National Security Council reiterated Tehran’s own plan for a peace agreement, which includes “regulated passage through the Strait of Hormuz under the coordination of Iran’s armed forces, providing Iran with a unique economic and geopolitical position.”
Iran’s foreign minister, Abbas Araghchi, said on X: “For a period of two weeks, safe passage through the Strait of Hormuz will be possible through coordination with Iran’s armed forces and due consideration of technical limitations.”
Trump had said that the two-week ceasefire was contingent on Iran reopening the strait.
Before the war, more than 100 ships passed freely through the strait every day. In recent days Iranian officials have indicated that they want to make their influence on the strait permanent, putting forward proposals to charge transit fees similar to those charged for passage through the Suez Canal. According to mediators, it was unclear whether Iran would abandon charging ships or grant access to all ships wishing to cross.
The US accepted Iran’s conditions for the status of the strait, the White House and Trump reposted the Iranian foreign minister’s statement on social media.
Iran’s Supreme National Security Council said that talks with the US will begin on Friday in Pakistan’s capital Islamabad. The council said the two-week ceasefire could be extended if both sides agreed.
Pakistan helped negotiate the ceasefire, and its Prime Minister, Shehbaz Sharif, said the ceasefire agreement applied to fighting “everywhere including Lebanon”.
But the office of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the ceasefire does not apply to Lebanon, which Israel has invaded to defeat the Tehran-backed militia Hezbollah.
Netanyahu’s office said it supports Trump’s decision to suspend the strike pending negotiations. It also said the US had told Israel it was committed to ensuring that “Iran no longer poses a nuclear, missile, and terrorist threat to the United States, Israel, Iran’s Arab neighbors, and the world.”
An Israeli security official said Israel is continuing to attack Iran despite the ceasefire announcement. After the ceasefire was announced, Iran fired several missiles at Israel.
Gulf countries including Kuwait, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates also reported missile attacks after Trump announced the ceasefire agreement.
Republicans in Congress applauded the president’s announcement, but Senator Lindsey Graham, a close ally of the president, raised some red flags about the ceasefire agreement.
“As far as the Iranian ten-point proposal to end the war is concerned, I look forward to reviewing it at the appropriate time and presenting it for a vote in Congress,” Graham, a South Carolina Republican, said on Twitter.
He wrote, “I want to confirm that from my perspective, each ounce of highly enriched uranium, approximately 900 pounds, should be controlled by the US and removed from Iran to prevent them from possessing a dirty bomb in the future or returning to the enrichment business.”
Senator Rick Scott (R., Florida) said: “This is a strong first step toward holding Iran accountable and demonstrating what happens when you have a leader who builds peace through strength over chaos and weak appeasement policies. This is a chance for Iran to do the right thing.”
Democrats in Congress said they were relieved that the President announced a conditional armistice, but they condemned his war effort.
Senator Chris Murphy (D., Conn.) said, “It appears that Trump agreed to give Iran control of the Strait of Hormuz, a history-changing victory for Iran. The level of incompetence is astonishing and heartbreaking.”
Senator Chuck Schumer of New York, the Democratic Senate minority leader, said: “I’m glad Trump has backed down and is looking for any way out of his ridiculous arrogance.”
Trump’s threats were condemned across the political spectrum. Senator Ron Johnson (R., Wis.), a staunch ally of the president, said he does not support U.S. bombing of Iranian civilian infrastructure.
In an interview with the Wall Street Journal, Johnson said, “I think it would be a big mistake. I mean if he attacks civilian targets he loses me. Everything we do has to be under the laws of war.”
More Democrats are calling for invoking the 25th Amendment to remove Trump from office. The 25th Amendment can be initiated by the Vice President and a majority of the members of the Cabinet must determine that the President is unfit to discharge his or her powers and duties in office.
By Tuesday afternoon, more than two dozen MPs had made this demand. While Democrats tried unsuccessfully to remove Trump from office in his first term, the party has largely avoided a similar effort so far.
House Democratic leadership called on lawmakers to immediately return to Washington to vote on ending the Iran war. The statement, signed by House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries of New York and others, said Trump is “completely unimpressed” and that the vote is necessary to stop the president from “plunging the country into World War III.”
The House is out of session till Monday. A bipartisan war powers resolution opposing the war in Iran previously failed in the House in March by a 212-219 vote, as lawmakers voted largely along party lines.
Influential right-wing podcaster Tucker Carlson, who has long been critical of US military operations abroad, called on US officials to oppose any efforts by Trump to launch large-scale attacks that would kill Iranian civilians.
Carlson, in comments on his podcast, also called Trump’s Easter Sunday comments about opening the Strait of Hormuz “evil” and said they were a mockery of Christianity and Islam. Trump responded that Carlson is “a man with a low IQ who has absolutely no idea what’s going on.”
Far-right conspiracy theorist Alex Jones, conservative commentator Candace Owens and former Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R., Ga.), a Trump ally who has become a fierce critic, also spoke out against Trump’s rhetoric. Green called for the removal of the president.
“25th Amendment!!! Not a single bomb has fallen on America. We can’t kill an entire civilization,” Greene said on social media.
In Iran, people held rallies to celebrate the ceasefire in the central city of Isfahan, in Kerman in the eastern part of the country and in a suburb of Tehran, according to residents and state media.
A resident of Isfahan, who opposes the Iranian government, expressed disappointment that Trump walked back his threat to increase bombing even if regime change does not occur in Iran.
In January, Trump said “help is ongoing” for anti-regime protesters but ultimately did not intervene during the government crackdown that left thousands of Iranians dead.
Write to Alexander Ward alex.ward@wsj.comSamar said summer.said@wsj.com And Alyssa on the lookout alyssa.lukpat@wsj.com
