A rare attack was reported in Iran, Gulf countries hours after Trump announced a ceasefire

The United States and Iran have agreed to a two-week ceasefire brokered by Pakistan, potentially ending a six-week war that has killed thousands, spread across the Middle East and caused unprecedented unrest around the world.

Trump announced the deal late Tuesday, two hours before a deadline he had set for Iran to open the blocked Strait of Hormuz or face the destruction of its “entire civilization.”

Since the war began, Trump has repeatedly pushed back deadlines just before they expired. Repeating this on Tuesday, Trump said in a social media post that he reached the decision “based on discussions” with Pakistan’s Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and Gen. Asim Munir, a powerful army officer in Pakistan.

Sharif invited Iranian and American delegations to meet in Islamabad on Friday.

However, a few hours after this announcement, the United Arab Emirates reported that an Iranian missile would arrive, and the Kuwaiti military said that its forces responded to the drones. Iran then claimed that an oil refinery on Lavan Island was attacked.

Israel supports the US-Iran truce, but Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Wednesday it would not stop his country’s war with Hezbollah in Lebanon, which continued this morning. That contradicts Pakistan’s comments that the ceasefire covers the fighting in Lebanon.

Lebanon’s regional news agency NNA reported continued Israeli strikes in southern Lebanon, including gunfire and an early morning airstrike on a building near a hospital that killed four people. The Israeli army has issued repeated emergency warnings to residents that it is planning to attack the city of Tire in southern Lebanon.

Quick change by ship is not possible

Trump told French news agency AFP that the ceasefire must be a “total and complete victory” and said on Truth Social that the US had achieved its war aims. The deal is contingent on Iran agreeing to temporarily ease its blockade of oil and gas through the corridor, Trump said.

The waterway typically carries about one-fifth of the world’s oil and liquefied natural gas shipments, and one-third of the world’s fertilizer supply. News of the deal, along with hopes that the worst disruption in global energy markets in history may be coming to an end, caused a sharp drop in oil prices and a surge in stock markets around the world.

Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi said in a statement that Tehran would stop attacks and provide safe passage to the waterway – if its attacks stop.

Resuming shipping from the Gulf may take time: shipping companies will need security clearances before sailing.

Container shipper Maersk said it has not made any changes yet.

“Any decision to pass through the Strait of Hormuz will be based on ongoing risk assessments, careful monitoring of the security situation, and available guidance from relevant authorities and partners,” the company said in a statement.

Anoop Singh, global head of shipping research at Oil Brokerage, said it should be expected that tankers and oil flowing to countries friendly to Iran would be the first to pass through this road.

Important issues have not been resolved publicly

The ceasefire halts the fighting that began on Feb. 28 by Trump and Netanyahu, including the assassination of Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and several senior Iranian officials.

Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian said the ceasefire “by accepting the general terms desired by Iran, was the fruit of the blood of our martyred great leader Khamenei and the success of the presence of all people in the scene.”

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American and Israeli officials wanted to prevent Iran from expanding beyond its borders, ending its nuclear program and creating conditions for the Iranian people to overthrow their rulers.

But war has yet to rob Iran of any of its stockpile of highly enriched weapons-grade uranium or its ability to strike its neighbors with missiles and drones. The clerical leadership, which has faced a major uprising in recent months, has resisted the onslaught of major powers without a sign of domestic opposition.

“The enemy, in its unjust, illegal and criminal war against the nation of Iran, has been defeated in an undeniable, historic and painful way,” Iran’s National Security Council said in a statement.

There is little public sign that Iran and the United States have resolved their differences over the fate of Iran’s nuclear program, missiles or its regional proxies.

In addition to border control, Iran’s demands for an end to the war may not be palatable to Washington. It includes the withdrawal of US military forces from the region, the lifting of sanctions and the release of its frozen assets.

Criticism of Israel

Crowds took to the streets of Iran throughout the night to celebrate, waving Iranian flags and burning the flags of the United States and Israel. But there was also concern that the deal would not hold.

“Israel will not allow diplomacy to work and Trump may change his mind tomorrow. But at least we can sleep tonight without strikes,” Alireza, 29, a civil servant in Tehran, told Reuters by telephone.

In Israel, Yair Golan, a former deputy army chief who plans to run in the upcoming election, wrote in X that the result was “a total failure that jeopardized Israel’s security.”

“The nuclear program has not been destroyed. The ballistic threat is still there. The regime is still strong and it is still coming out of this war strong,” said Golan.

Opposition politician Yair Lapid said it would take Israel “years to repair the damage caused by Netanyahu’s arrogance, recklessness and lack of strategic plans.”

But elsewhere around the world, the announcement was met with overwhelming relief and optimism. , and UN Security General Antonio Guterres, through his spokesman, and Pope Leo, in his weekly audience from the Vatican, each urged the parties to resolve the differences through dialogue.

After Trump threatened Iran on Tuesday that “the entire civilization will die tonight” if the country does not meet US demands to end the deal, Leo told reporters that the threat was “absolutely unacceptable.”

The Prime Minister of Spain, Pedro Sanchez, said in X that although “ceasefires are always good news,” his government “will not applaud those who set the world on fire because they showed up with a bucket.”

“What is needed now: diplomacy, international law, and PEACE,” said Sanchez, who has been a vocal critic of Europe over US and Israeli military actions in the Middle East.

More than 1,900 people have been killed in Iran since late March, but the government has not updated the war toll for days.

In Lebanon, more than 1,500 people have been killed, while in the Gulf Arab countries and the West Bank, more than twenty people have died.

11 Israeli soldiers were killed and 23 people were reported dead in Israel, and 13 in the US were killed.