For 39 days, the world watched a war spiral outward from the Middle East like a wound that wouldn't stop bleeding. Airports shuttered. Oil prices doubled. Children were killed in their schools. A supreme leader was assassinated. And on Tuesday evening, just ninety minutes before a self-imposed deadline that threatened to turn Iran's cities dark forever, Donald Trump blinked — or pivoted, depending on who you ask.
The war, for now, have fallen silent. The question is whether anyone trusts the silence.
Tuesday, April 7 — A Race Against the Clock
By Tuesday, the war had reached what everyone could feel was a turning point, though nobody knew which direction it would turn.
Trump had set 8 PM Eastern as a hard deadline for Iran to either reopen the Strait or face what he called total devastation. He told reporters the US had a plan under which every bridge and power plant in Iran could be destroyed by midnight Tuesday, and that he had previously threatened to also hit water desalination plants.
Just after 8 AM Washington time, Trump posted what may have been the most alarming message a sitting US president has ever published about a foreign nation. He wrote that "a whole civilization will die tonight, never to be brought back again," and added that he didn't want that to happen, but believed it probably would.
The language unnerved world leaders almost as much as the missiles. Pope Leo XIV said Trump's threat to destroy Iranian civilization was "truly unacceptable" and said any attacks on civilian infrastructure violate international law.
Iran's government responded not with retreat, but with something that felt almost defiant in its symbolism. The regime called on young Iranians to form human chains around the country's power plants. On state television, images emerged of Iranians standing hand in hand in front of gas facilities in Fars Province, their backs to the turbines, facing whatever was coming.
Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian said around 14 million Iranians had answered the government's call for volunteers to fight. "I too remain ready to give my life for Iran," he wrote on X.
Also Read: Iran War Live: UN Veto, Trump's Deadline & Strikes — April 7, 2026
The Strikes That Ran Right Up to the Deadline
Even as diplomats scrambled, the bombs kept falling.
US forces carried out dozens of strikes against military targets on Kharg Island, Iran's main oil export hub, late Monday and into Tuesday morning — the second major round of strikes on the facility since mid-March.
Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu said his forces had destroyed transport aircraft and dozens of helicopters, and on Tuesday targeted railway lines and bridges used by the Revolutionary Guards. Israel's military also issued a warning on X urging Iranians to avoid trains and stay away from railway tracks.
Israeli strikes also hit three airports in Tehran, the Khorramabad International Airport in western Iran, and Iran's largest petrochemical complex serving the South Pars gas field — the world's largest natural gas reserve.
Civilians continued to pay the price. At least 18 people, including two children, were killed in US-Israeli strikes on residential areas in Alborz Province. Nine more were killed in a strike on a neighbourhood in Tehran Province's Shahriar city.
A railway bridge in Kashan was struck, killing two. A synagogue in central Tehran — one of the last remnants of Iran's ancient Jewish community — was completely destroyed.
In response to the Kharg Island strikes, Iran declared that its previous policy of restraint toward oil infrastructure in the region would no longer apply — a signal that could have consequences that outlast any ceasefire.
Iran also struck back across the Gulf. An Iranian drone strike on Kuwait's Ali Al Salem Air Base wounded 15 American personnel. Saudi Arabia's air defences intercepted at least 18 drones. The King Fahd Causeway between Bahrain and Saudi Arabia was closed indefinitely as a precautionary measure. UAE air defence systems engaged incoming Iranian missiles and drones.
In Lebanon, Israel deepened its bombardment and ground invasion, with recent strikes hitting Christian suburbs east of Beirut. The UN reported more than 1.1 million people had been displaced in Lebanon.
Also Read: Iran-Israel War Latest Updates: Trump Warns of ‘Civilisation End’, Fresh Attacks Hit Israel
The Deal That Pulled the World Back
With diplomacy seemingly exhausted and strikes intensifying, Pakistan's Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif made one final attempt.
In a post on X Tuesday afternoon, Sharif called on Trump to extend his deadline by two weeks to allow diplomacy to run its course, and simultaneously asked Iran to reopen the Strait of Hormuz as a goodwill gesture for the same duration.
Vice President JD Vance was serving as the US interlocutor in the Pakistan-mediated talks, CBS News reported.
Then, at 6:32 PM Eastern — ninety minutes before the deadline — Trump posted his answer on Truth Social. He announced he would suspend attacks for two weeks, provided Iran agreed to a "complete, immediate, and safe opening" of the Strait of Hormuz. He credited Pakistan's prime minister and Field Marshal Asim Munir for requesting the pause.
Trump claimed the US had "already met and exceeded all military objectives" and said Iran's 10-point peace proposal was "a workable basis on which to negotiate," adding that "almost all of the various points of past contention have been agreed to between the United States and Iran."
https://twitter.com/FoxNews/status/2041654229979509135
Within minutes, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi confirmed Tehran's acceptance. He said Iran would allow safe passage through the Strait of Hormuz for two weeks, coordinated with Iran's armed forces.
Iran's Supreme National Security Council also accepted the ceasefire, though its statement carried a pointed warning: "This does not signify the termination of the war. Our hands remain upon the trigger, and should the slightest error be committed by the enemy, it shall be met with full force."
Pakistani Prime Minister Sharif announced the agreement on X, calling on all parties to observe a ceasefire "everywhere including Lebanon and elsewhere, effective immediately," and inviting both delegations to Islamabad on Friday, April 10, 2026 for further negotiations.
https://twitter.com/CMShehbaz/status/2041596151108137363
Israel also agreed to the temporary ceasefire, a White House official said — though Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu denied any ceasefire applied in Lebanon, saying Israel would only comply with the pause in Iran
Markets reacted instantly. Oil prices dropped 8% to around $103 a barrel after trading as high as $117 earlier in the day. S&P 500 futures jumped over 1.6%. Nasdaq futures soared nearly 2%. Dow futures were up 725 points.
Iran Calls It Victory. Trump Claims Success. The Truth Is Somewhere in Between
Within hours of the announcement, Iranian state television was broadcasting celebrations in Tehran's streets. State TV framed the ceasefire as a "humiliating retreat" by the US president.
Trump, meanwhile, posted that it was an "honour" to have the region's problems "close to resolution."
Both cannot be right — but both might be telling their respective publics exactly what they need to hear.
Iran's version of the deal hints at something significant: the Strait of Hormuz will be subject to "regulated passage under the coordination of the Armed Forces of Iran," thereby conferring on Tehran what its proposal called "a unique economic and geopolitical standing." That is a far cry from the free passage the US originally demanded — and resembles, in structure, Iran's proposal to charge a $2 million toll per ship.
The US, according to Wikipedia citing multiple sources, is reported to have adopted the general framework of Iran's ten-point peace plan as the basis for further talks expected in Islamabad.
There's a profound irony buried in all of this. Just the day before the strikes began on February 28, Oman's foreign minister had declared that a diplomatic breakthrough had been reached, with Iran agreeing to never stockpile enriched uranium and to full IAEA verification. He said peace was "within reach," with talks due to resume on March 2. The US and Israel attacked the following day.
Forty days and thousands of casualties later, both sides are back at a negotiating table — this time in Islamabad, with Pakistan as guarantor and the whole world watching.
Sources
- Al Jazeera
- NBC News Live Blog
- CBS News Live Blog
- Axios
- NPR
- PBS NewsHour
- Fox News