Trump’s Two-Week Ceasefire Pauses Iran Strikes and Reopens Hormuz

U.S. President Donald Trump said on Tuesday that Washington had agreed to a two-week ceasefire with Iran, less than two hours before a deadline he had set for Tehran to reopen the Strait of Hormuz or face attacks on civilian infrastructure.

Reuters, the BBC, Al Jazeera and other outlets reported that the deal was tied to Iran allowing safe passage through the waterway, which carries a large share of the world's oil and gas trade. Iran's foreign minister, Abbas Araghchi, said Tehran would halt counter-attacks and coordinate the reopening of the strait if attacks on Iran stopped.

The shift marked a sharp break from the crisis tone that had dominated coverage earlier in the day. Hours before the announcement, Trump had warned that Iran's civilian infrastructure could be devastated if the strait remained blocked. By evening, the White House was presenting the two-week pause as a chance to turn a military deadline into a negotiated settlement.

Western live blogs framed the move as a last-minute diplomatic climbdown that gave Trump a way out of a wider war. The BBC described it as both "disaster averted" and a postponement of a harder decision. Reuters said the agreement came shortly before the deadline and was subject to immediate shipping access through Hormuz.

Regional and non-Western coverage placed more weight on what the pause meant for trade and daily life. Al Jazeera and The Hindu both foregrounded the reopening of Hormuz and the prospect of talks rather than the personal drama around Trump's threats. CNBC highlighted Trump's claim that the pause followed talks with Pakistani leaders, suggesting Islamabad's mediation role had become part of the political story.

The agreement also appeared narrower than the word "ceasefire" suggested. The New York Times reported that Israel said the arrangement did not extend to Lebanon. That left open whether the pause could reduce regional fighting more broadly or only suspend the most immediate U.S.-Iran confrontation around Hormuz.

Oil traders and shipping markets are likely to read the announcement less as a peace settlement than as a temporary corridor of predictability. For governments in Asia, the Gulf and parts of Africa, the key fact is that a blocked strait may reopen for two weeks, giving importers, refiners and freight firms a short window to move cargo and reduce emergency planning.

Whether the pause lasts will depend on what follows the first headline. Trump said the two-week period would allow a final agreement to be completed. Iranian officials signalled the opening could be extended if talks progressed. For now, the war has not clearly ended. But the most dangerous immediate trigger — a blocked Hormuz met by attacks on civilian infrastructure — has been delayed.