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08-04-2026
WASHINGTON/ TEHRAN: The United States and Iran have announced a suspension of all attacks for two weeks, and Tehran has agreed to allow safe transit of vessels through the Strait of Hormuz.
Iran has claimed victory and says upcoming talks in Pakistan’s Islamabad on Friday do not mean that the end of the war is guaranteed.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu backs the US decision, but says Lebanon will not be included in the ceasefire.
Trump has said Iran will get sanctions and tariff relief, but won’t be allowed to enrich uranium. He has also threatened 50 percent tariffs on countries that sell Iran weapons.
Attacks on Gulf countries and Lebanon continue despite the ceasefire.
Oil prices have fallen after Trump announced the pause in attacks on Iran, with Brent crude trading at just below $95 a barrel.
Visit our live tracker for the latest casualty figures from across the region.
Ceasefire ‘only a pause’
The US Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General Dan Caine has said that the ceasefire is only a pause in the war.
In a press conference with US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth, he said the country’s joint force remains ready if ordered or called to resume combat operations.
US-Iran deal means Tehran ‘will never ever possess a nuclear weapon’
The US Secretary of State Pete Hegseth also says “the new Iranian regime understood that a deal was far better than the fate that awaited them”.
He listed a number of senior Iranian leaders killed in the US-Israeli attacks.
“This new regime was out of options and out of time, so they cut a deal. They know that this agreement means they will never ever possess a nuclear weapon,” Hegseth added.
In less than 40 days, using just 10 percent of the US combat power, the country dismantled “one of the world’s largest militaries”, Hegseth says.
He claimed Iran proved itself unable to defend itself, adding that the US-Israeli joint operation against Tehran achieved “every single objective on plan, on schedule”.
The US defence secretary said “Iran’s navy is at the bottom of the sea … Iran no longer has an air defence system … their missile program is functionally destroyed”.
“We finished completely destroying Iran’s defense-industrial base, a core pillar of our mission,” Hegseth added. “They can no longer build missiles.”
Hegseth and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General Dan Caine are holding a news conference at the Pentagon.
Hegseth claimed Iran begged for the ceasefire as “the Operation Epic Fury was a historic success”.
European leaders, Canada call on US and Iran to reach ‘negotiated settlement’
Several European leaders, as well as Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney, have called on the United States and Iran to quickly reach a diplomatic solution to their conflict.
“We strongly encourage quick progress towards a substantive negotiated settlement,” they said in a joint statement on Wednesday.
The leaders also called upon all sides to implement the ceasefire, including in Lebanon.
Iran could open Strait of Hormuz on Thursday or Friday
A senior Iranian official has told the Reuters news agency that Tehran could open the Strait of Hormuz on Thursday or Friday ahead of the country’s meeting with the US in Pakistan, if a ceasefire framework is reached. (Int’l Monitoring Desk)
