US, Israel, Iran Agree on Ceasefire Deal

Iran, the United States, and Israel said they reached a deal for a two-week ceasefire, with Tehran saying it would negotiate with the United States in Islamabad beginning Friday, the AP reports. In a statement Wednesday morning, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office said it supports Trump's decision to suspend strikes against Iran for two weeks, but that it doesn't include the war with Hezbollah in Lebanon, where more than 1,500 people have been killed. It wasn't immediately clear from the ceasefire when it would begin. Iran has fired missiles on the Gulf Arab states and Israel after the announcement, and Bahrain sounded its missile alert sirens Wednesday morning, hours after the ceasefire was announced.

Trump in a social media post declared the ceasefire agreement a "big day for World Peace" and that the US "will be helping with the traffic buildup in the Strait of Hormuz." "There will be lots of positive action!" Trump predicted in his post. "Big money will be made. Iran can start the reconstruction process. We'll be loading up with supplies of all kinds, and just 'hangin' around' in order to make sure that everything goes well. I feel confident that it will." Trump's message on his Truth Social website signals Washington's concern about Iran maintaining its chokehold over the narrow mouth of the Persian Gulf, through which 20% of all oil and natural gas passes in peace time.

The ceasefire process was clouded in uncertainty after Iran released two different versions of the 10-point plan intended to be the basis for negotiations, the AP reports. In the version released in Farsi, Iran included the phrase "acceptance of enrichment" for its nuclear program. But for reasons that remain unclear, that phrase was missing in English versions shared by Iranian diplomats to journalists. Trump initially had said Iran proposed a "workable" 10-point plan that could help end the war launched by the US and Israel in February. But he later called it fraudulent, without elaborating. Trump has said ending Iran's nuclear program entirely was a key point of the war.