After 39 days of fighting and hostilities, the US and Iran reached a two-week ceasefire on Tuesday night (local time), deciding to negotiate on 10-point proposal tabled by Tehran. US President Donald Trump announced the ceasefire on his micro-blogging platform, Truth Social, saying he had accepted a proposal which calls for an immediate reopening of the Strait of Hormuz, a crucial maritime route through which 20 per cent of world's global oil passes, with Iran still controlling it.
Calling it a "big day for world peace", Trump said "Iran wants it to happen, they've had enough! Likewise, so has everyone else!"
"The United States of America will be helping with the traffic buildup in the Strait of Hormuz. There will be lots of positive action! 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. Just like we are experiencing in the U.S., this could be the Golden Age of the Middle East!!!" Trump wrote.
Before "Golden Age", Trump Had Threatened To Push Iran "Back To Stone Ages"
In the run up to the ceasefire talks, Trump had been threatening to strike Iran's power plants and bridges. In an address on April 1 (local time), US President had issued a sharp "stone ages" warning.
"Over the next two to three weeks, we are going to bring them back to the Stone Ages, where they belong," he said, adding that US forces would meet all their battlefield goals "very, very shortly." He also said that the US could target Iran's electric infrastructure if no agreement is reached.
Iran is not the one to sit quietly. In response, Iran had warned that the war in the Middle East will continue until the US faces "permanent humiliation, regret, and surrender."
"Your intelligence on our military power and equipment is incomplete. You know nothing of our vast strategic capabilities," the statement issued by Ebrahim Zolfaghari, spokesperson for Iran's Khatam al-Anbiya Central Headquarters said.
Iran asked US to expect "more crushing and devastating strikes".
Brigadier General Seyed Majid Moosavi, who commands the aerospace force of Iran's elite Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, also hit back at the Washington by saying the US will take its soldiers back to their graves.
"It is you who are taking your soldiers to their graves, not Iran, whom you seek to drag back to the Stone Age. Hollywood delusions have so poisoned your minds that, with your paltry 250-year history, you threaten a civilization over 6,000 years old," he said on X in response to a post by Pete Hegseth, the United States Secretary of Defense.
Iran's 10-Point Ceasefire Proposal That US Has Accepted As "Workable"
- Non-aggression
- Continuation of Iran's control over the Strait of Hormuz
- Acceptance of enrichment
- Lifting all primary sanctions
- Lifting all secondary sanctions
- Termination of all UN Security Council resolutions
- Termination of all IAEA Board of Governors resolutions
- Payment of compensation to Iran
- Withdrawal of US combat forces from the region
- Cessation of war on all fronts, including against the heroic Islamic Resistance of Lebanon
US vs Iran On Two-Week Ceasefire
The United States is looking at ceasefire with Iran as its victory. "Total and complete victory. 100 percent. No question about it," Trump said in a brief telephone interview with AFP shortly after the announcement of the truce.
Iran too has claimed the ceasefire as its victory but also made it clear that it is not the end of the war.
In a statement read on the state-run Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting (IRIB), Iran's Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei said: "This is not the end of the war but all military branches should follow the Supreme Leader's order and cease their fire."
A statement released by the Iran's Supreme National Security Council also reiterated 'not end to war' claim and added: "Our hands remain upon the trigger, and should the slightest error be committed by the enemy, it shall be met with full force."
