Ceasefire reached: US and Iran both assert 'victory' in conflict
Residents clear the debris in Tehran.
Image: Xinhua
The United States and Iran agreed to a two-week ceasefire barely an hour before President Donald Trump's Wednesday deadline to obliterate the country was set to expire, with Tehran to temporarily reopen the vital Strait of Hormuz.
Both sides claimed to have won the more than month-long conflict that has shocked the global markets and sent fuel prices skyrocketing, with Trump telling AFP the deal was a “total and complete victory” for the US.
Iran too cast the ceasefire as a win and said it had agreed to talks with Washington to begin Friday in Pakistan on a path to end the conflict.
A statement from the Iranian Supreme National Security Council said: “The enemy has suffered an undeniable, historic and crushing defeat in its cowardly, illegal and criminal war against the Iranian nation.
“Iran achieved a great victory.”
The White House said Israel had also agreed to the ceasefire, but Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said it does not include Lebanon, where Israeli assaults in response to rocket fire by Iranian-backed Hezbollah have led to more than 1 500 deaths, according to Lebanese authorities.
Israel had encouraged Trump to join the war against Iran and in the first strikes killed the long-serving supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
Trump said he had spoken to Pakistan’s leaders who “requested that I hold off the destructive force being sent tonight to Iran”.
He later told AFP he believed China had helped get Tehran to negotiate.
“Subject to the Islamic Republic of Iran agreeing to the COMPLETE, IMMEDIATE, and SAFE OPENING of the Strait of Hormuz, I agree to suspend the bombing and attack of Iran for a period of two weeks,” Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform on Tuesday.
Trump had set a deadline to Iran to open the Strait of Hormuz by 8pm Washington time (0000 GMT Wednesday).
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi confirmed safe passage for two weeks for ships through the Strait of Hormuz, the gateway for one-fifth of the world's oil which Tehran sealed off in retaliation for the war launched on February 28.