President Donald Trump late on Tuesday said he would delay a planned massive attack against Iran's civilian and energy sites by two weeks if Iran agrees to allow free transit through the strait of Hormuz.
Trump made the announcement an hour before an 8pm ET deadline he set for starting a campaign to destroy "every" bridge and power plant in Iran. Pakistani prime minister Shehbaz Sharif previewed the move by announcing, hours earlier, that diplomacy between the US and Iran made progress and suggesting that the sides to the war agree to a two-week ceasefire.
Trump cited Pakistan's mediation and said that "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 asserted that the US already met its military objectives and "are very far along with a definitive Agreement concerning Longterm PEACE with Iran, and PEACE in the Middle East." He further said that Iran submitted a 10-point proposal that he described as workable.
Tehran has yet to confirm that it will relinquish its control of transit through the strait of Hormuz.
Little is known about the details of the negotiations and the identity of the negotiators from the two sides. Trump previously asserted progress in talks with unnamed Iranian representatives, pushing back the deadline for his announced plan to attack Iran's infrastructure and energy sites.
The US and Israel already have attacked civilian and energy sites in Iran since the war started on 28 February, prompting Tehran to retaliate by striking at similar facilities in neighboring Mideast Gulf countries.
Tehran on Tuesday said if Trump followed through with the types of attacks he promised it would retaliate by targeting Saudi Aramco oil production facilities and its Yanbu oil loading terminal on the Red Sea coastline, as well as the Fujairah port facilities in the UAE, according to Iran's Tasnim news agency, which is linked to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.
