UK foreign secretary Yvette Cooper desrcibed the ceasefire as “a vital step” towards security and stability in the Middle East. She said a swift resolution was the best way to improve security and ease the economic impacts caused by the effective closure of the strait of Hormuz. She said the proposed talks between the US and Iran in Pakistan must lead to a “full end to the conflict and ensure that Iran does not continue to threaten the strait or its neighbours”. “I also call for an urgent end to hostilities in Lebanon,” she added. Some of the first ships to sail through the strait of Hormuz since the ceasefire announcement have been detected, according to tracking data analyst MarineTraffic. Two vessels, including the Greek-owned bulk carrier NJ Earth and the Liberia-flagged Daytona Beach, have crossed the strait today, MarineTraffic said in a post on X. It said: Early signs of vessel activity are emerging in the strait of Hormuz following a ceasefire announcement, which includes a temporary reopening of the strategic waterway to allow for negotiations. According to MarineTraffic data, hundreds of vessels remain in the region, including 426 tankers, 34 LPG (liquefied petroleum gas) carriers, and 19 LNG (liquefied natural gas) vessels, many of which had been effectively stranded during the disruption. More on the proposed US-Iran talks in Islamabad – reportedly taking place this Friday – the Pakistani prime minister, Shehbaz Sharif, said he had a “warm and substantive conversation” with the Iranian president, Masoud Pezeshkian today. In a post of X, Sharif said: I conveyed my deep appreciation for the wisdom and sagacity of the Iranian leadership in accepting Pakistan’s offer to host peace talks in Islamabad later this week to work jointly for the return of peace to the region. President Pezeshkian reaffirmed Iran’s participation in the upcoming negotiations and expressed appreciation for Pakistan’s efforts, while conveying his best wishes for the people of Pakistan. Pakistan remains committed to working closely with all its friends and partners to advance peace and stability in the region and beyond. The president of Lebanon, Joseph Aoun, welcomed the US-Iran ceasefire and said he hoped his country will be included in the regional truce. The Israeli government and military said the fighting in southern Lebanon against Hezbollah militants would continue, with Israeli strikes reported in the country since the US-Iran ceasefire was announced. In a statement posted online by the Lebanese presidency, Aoun said Lebanon would continue efforts “to ensure that the regional peace includes Lebanon in a stable and lasting manner”. US vice-president JD Vance has acknowledged that the Iran ceasefire remained a “fragile truce”, as he sought to dispute Iran’s declared victory in the war. Speaking in the Hungarian capital city of Budapest, where he is supporting prime minister Viktor Orbán’s reelection bid, Vance said some Iranians “are basically lying about what we have accomplished militarily” and “about the nature of the agreement”. He said This is why I say this is a fragile truce. You have people who clearly want to come to the negotiating table and work with us to find a good deal, and then you have people who are lying about even the fragile truce that we’ve already struck. The president … has told me and he’s told the entire negotiating team, the secretary of state, the special envoy, Steve Witkoff, he said: go and work in good faith to come to an agreement. … If the Iranians are willing, in good faith, to work with us, I think we can make an agreement; if they’re going to lie, if they’re going to cheat, if they’re going to try to prevent even the fragile truce that we’ve set up from taking place, then they’re not going to be happy. My colleague, Jakub Krupa, has more over on the Europe live blog, where he is reporting reactions to the ceasefire deal from around continent and other Europe-related news. You can follow those updates here: In a statement released by his office, the Pakistani prime minister, Shehbaz Sharif, said he has got confirmation from Iran that it will participate in talks in Islamabad. Sharif said the Iranian president, Masoud Pezeshkian, confirmed Iran will take part in negotiations with the US that seek to resolve the conflict. Earlier, Sharif said he invited delegations for talks on Friday in the Pakistani capital. While Iranian state media reported that the talks may be extended, it said negotiations with the US do not amount to the end of the war. The Iranian president, Masoud Pezeshkian, said the ceasefire announced this morning is in line with “the general requirements desired” by Tehran. A translation of his post on X reads: The ceasefire, with the acceptance of the general principles desired by Iran, was the fruit of the blood of our martyred leader, the great Khamenei, and the result of the participation of all the people in the arena. From today, we will continue to stand together, whether in the field of diplomacy, in defence, on the streets, or in the realm of public service. He joins other Iranian officials who have declared the ceasefire deal a win for Iran. Mohammad Reza Aref, Iran’s first vice president, wrote on X that “the era of Iran has begun”, while Iran’s supreme national security council said the US has “suffered an undeniable, historical, and crushing defeat”. The Israeli military told people in the southern suburbs of Beirut to flee, moments after announcing its forces are continuing “combat and ground operations” against Hezbollah. In its third time it has told people in Lebanon to flee since the US-Iran ceasefire was announced, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) urged residents of seven Beirut neighbourhoods to flee their homes. The order covers a large swathe of the Lebanese capital, where hundreds of thousands of people have already become displaced following repeated IDF warnings to leave the area. “The IDF continues to operate and strike at military infrastructure belonging to the terrorist organisation Hezbollah across the southern suburbs,” the IDF Arabic-language spokesperson, Avichay Adraee, said on X. “The IDF has no intention of harming you; therefore, for your own safety, you must evacuate immediately.” The Israeli government said it accepts the two-week ceasefire agreement reached last night between the US and Iran, but that it does not include Lebanon, contrary to a statement by Pakistan. Hezbollah has yet to publicly announce its position. Oman’s foreign minister, Badr Albusaidi, who mediated indirect nuclear talks between Iran and the US before the war, said the ceasefire meant “for now the world has stepped back from disaster”. “But there’s no room for complacency,” he said in a post on X. “Serious negotiations now required for lasting peace. Oman will support this work for the vital and urgent purpose of strong and enduring regional security.`” Here are some of the latest images from across the Middle East: Last night, 1,441 ships were stuck on either side of the strait of Hormuz , according to shipping software company AXSMarine, which tracks global vessel movements. The majority - 959 - were in the Gulf, west of the strait, with 621 to the east either waiting to enter the gulf to load up with gas, oil, chemicals or dry bulk or with deliveries for gulf states. No ships carrying liquified natural gas have passed the strait since the war started on 28 February, according to AXSMarine’s data. A significant number on both sides were “spoofing” or had gone “dark”, turning off communications to hide their exact location and try and protect themselves from projectiles. In the last two weeks up to 6 April, just 51 tankers traversed the strait with 15 carrying crude oil and 9 carrying chemicals. This compares to 51 daily movements before the war. Before last night’s ceasefire, Iran had announced that ships owned by five nations (China, Russia, India, Iraq and Pakistan) would be allowed to transit. Malaysian and Thai vessels were granted access after diplomatic talks. On 2 April, Iran said it would allow Philippine-flagged vessels to cross following further negotiations. While the Israeli military said it will push on with its ground invasion of southern Lebanon, sources told Reuters that Hezbollah has halted its attacks against northern Israel and on Israeli troops. Three Lebanese sources close to the group told the news agency that Hezbollah is likely to issue a statement outlining its formal position on the US-Iran ceasefire and on Israel’s assertion that Lebanon is not included. The Lebanese army, meanwhile, has urged displaced families to delay their return home to the south of the country, warning of ongoing Israeli attacks. The Israeli military said it “continues fighting and ground operations” in Lebanon against the Iran-backed militant group Hezbollah. In a statement on social media, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said it carried out extensive strikes on launch sites across Iran overnight before halting fighting after the ceasefire was announced. “In accordance with political directives, the IDF has contained the fighting in the campaign against Iran and remains on high alert for defence, ready to respond to any violation,” the IDF said. It added that in Lebanon, “the IDF continues its combat and ground operations against the Hezbollah terrorist organisation”. Spain’s socialist prime minister, Pedro Sánchez, who has been perhaps the most outspoken western critic of Trump’s war in Iran, has issued a blunt reaction to the ceasefire announcement on X, saying his administration “will not applaud those who set the world on fire just because they show up with a bucket”. He said: Ceasefires are always good news - especially if they lead to a just and lasting peace. But this momentary relief cannot make us forget the chaos, the destruction, and the lives lost. The Spanish government will not applaud those who set the world on fire just because they show up with a bucket. What’s needed now are diplomacy, international legality, and PEACE. Brett McGurk, a former senior US security official and reluctantly supportive of the conflict, conceded on social media that the ceasefire agreement Trump has signed is not “status quo ante bellum” ie the US is now worse off than at the start of this war of choice. To spell it out, Trump needlessly started a war at the urging of Israel, refused to listen to those experts urging caution, devised a strategy built on a misapprehension of Iran, sparked a ruinous regional conflict, caused the death of thousands of civilians, unhinged the world economy, strengthened, for now, the repressive instincts of the Iranian and Russian governments, left America more discredited and isolated, provoked serious questions about the president’s fitness for public office, laid waste to large parts of Iran and Lebanon, including medical research centres, primary schools and universities, did not resolve Iran’s stockpiles of highly enriched uranium or its future nuclear programme, strengthened those in Iran backing possession of a nuclear weapon, and, yes, ensured Iran and Oman still plan to control and toll the strait of Hormuz for the first time. A return to war will doubtless soon be threatened even before the two-week ceasefire ends, but the use of force in this decades-old conflict has now been test driven and proven the wrong vehicle since it can only achieve its objectives at an inconceivable price. In further comments to RNE, Albares has criticised Israel for its continued offensive in Lebanon, saying it was “unacceptable”. “It is inconceivable that the bombing continues. This has to stop,” he said. There has been some confusion over whether the ceasefire announced this morning includes Lebanon. The Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, indicated Israeli troops would continue fighting there, contradicting an earlier statement from the Pakistani prime minister, Shehbaz Sharif. While more officials from around the world are issuing statements praising the cessation of hostilities between the US and Iran, the Spanish foreign minister, José Manuel Albares, has erred on the side of caution, saying the ceasefire is “only for two weeks” and that it was too early to determine whether the war was truly over. Speaking to the Spanish radio station RNE, he said the world came “perilously close to disaster” after US president Donald Trump threatened to wipe out Iranian civilisation in his ultimatum to Tehran. “When the leader of a military superpower makes such threats, I take them seriously,” Albares said. He continued: “We are talking about something unthinkable for humanity and which would have led to an unthinkable escalation.” While acknowledging the ceasefire announcement brings “a day of hope and joy” he cautioned that “it’s only two weeks, not a long time, and the two sides are far apart”. He added: “We’re still far from achieving what we want. The ceasefire is a necessary step, but not a definitive one.” It will take months for jet fuel supplies and prices to return to normal even after the strait of Hormuz reopens due to the disruptions to refineries in the Middle East, said Willie Walsh, the director general of the International Air Transport Association (IATA). Speaking to reporters in Singapore, he said that it was difficult to say how long fuel supplies would take to recover, but that “it’s not going to happen quickly”. “It will still take a period of months to get back to where supply needs to be given the disruption to the refining capacity in the Middle East,” he said, according to the AFP news agency. “I don’t think it’s going to happen in weeks.” Anwar Gargash, the UAE’s senior diplomatic envoy, said his country has triumphed in the war following the announcement of a US-Iran ceasefire. Writing in Arabic, a translation of his post on X reads: The UAE emerged victorious from a war we had sincerely sought to avoid, and we triumphed through an epic national defence that safeguarded our sovereignty and dignity and protected our achievements in the face of brutal aggression. Today, we are poised to navigate a complex regional landscape with greater experience, deeper insight, and a more robust capacity to influence and shape the future. Our strength, resilience and steadfastness have reinforced the UAE’s model of renaissance. As news of a ceasefire with Iran broke, it was unclear whether the halt in fighting would extend to Lebanon, the second front of the war, where Israel’s fight against Hezbollah has killed more than 1,500 people, many of them civilians. Conflicting statements came from Iran and mediator Pakistan, both of which insisted any ceasefire would include an end to Israeli strikes in Lebanon, and Israel, whose prime minister plainly stated a ceasefire would not include Lebanon. The US had yet to weigh in. Israel had previously said that it would redouble its focus on the Lebanese front once fighting in Iran ended. Israel continued striking Lebanon into the morning, pounding the south with artillery fire and carrying out two separate drone strikes on the town of Qana and al-Qaleileh. An hour before the Iran ceasefire was announced, Israel bombed a car in front of a row of beach-side cafes in Saida, killing eight people and wounding 22, according to the Lebanese ministry of health. Despite the lack of a ceasefire on the ground in Lebanon, the highways leading to the south of the country were choked with traffic as dawn broke. Residents were attempting to return to their homes in south Lebanon, but Hezbollah, in a statement, urged people. not to return to certain villages across the border due to the continuing presence of Israeli troops there. Israel’s military spokesperson also issued a renewed evacuation order for the city of Tyre, in south Lebanon. WhatsApp chats were filled with anxious and hopeful messages between people in Lebanon as they tried to parse whether or not the country would be included in the Iran ceasefire. The almost five weeks of war in Lebanon has brought the country to its breaking point, with more than 1.1 million people forcibly displaced, many of whom are living on the streets. UK prime minister Keir Starmer has joined a chorus of world leaders welcoming the announcement of a ceasefire between Iran and the US. “I welcome the ceasefire agreement reached overnight, which will bring a moment of relief to the region and the world,” he said. “Together with our partners we must do all we can to support and sustain this ceasefire, turn it into a lasting agreement and reopen the strait of Hormuz.” Starmer is travelling to the Middle East today to meet Gulf leaders to “discuss diplomatic efforts to support and uphold the ceasefire”, No 10 said. For those of you just joining us, here’s where things stand in the Middle East after a dramatic day. The US and Iran have agreed to a two-week ceasefire, barely an hour before Donald Trump’s Wednesday deadline to obliterate the country and its infrastructure. Iran’s Supreme National Security Council said it had conditionally accepted the two-week ceasefire if attacks against Iran are halted. Iran’s foreign minister said passage through the strait of Hormuz will be allowed for the next two weeks under Iranian military management. Iranian state media said negotiations with the US would be held in Islamabad to finalise details of an agreement. Talks will begin on Friday 10 April and may be extended, state media reported. State media also reported that talks with the US do not amount to the end of the war. Pakistan’s prime minister, Shebaz Sharif, announced that Iran, the US and their allies had agreed to an immediate ceasefire everywhere, including Lebanon, but Israel disputed this, saying fighting Hezbollah in Lebanon was not part of the ceasefire. Sharif has been a key figure in attempting to reach a diplomatic solution between the two warring parties. Trump said Iran had proposed a “workable” 10-point peace plan. According to Iranian state media, the proposal includes a number of conditions that the US has in the past rejected, among them controlled transit through the strait of Hormuz coordinated with Iranian armed forces and the withdrawal of all US forces from regional bases. The plan would also require the lifting of all primary and secondary sanctions, payment of full compensation to Iran and release of all frozen Iranian assets. Even as the ceasefire was proposed, missile alerts continued in the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Bahrain and Israel. Countries around the world have welcomed the tentative ceasefire. Australia’s PM, Anthony Albanese, welcomed the “very positive” developments but issued a rare rebuke of Trump’s “extraordinary” language beforehand. South Korea, Japan and New Zealand were among the other nations to welcome the news. Israeli opposition leader Yair Lapid has offered up his reflections on the last few hours of diplomacy and said “there has never been such a political disaster in all of our history.” Lapid, who heads the centrist Yesh Atid party, has said Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu “failed politically, failed strategically, and didn’t meet a single one of the goals that he himself set.” It will take us years to repair the political and strategic damage that Netanyahu wrought due to arrogance, negligence, and a lack of strategic planning. Analysis: US power has been severely diminished The likely biggest consequences are the ones most difficult to assess. But it seems clear that the despite a bellicose assertion of US military power under Trump and his defence secretary, Pete Hegseth, US power has been severely diminished by an illegal adventure with ill-defined war aims. With Iran still in control of the strait of Hormuz, a middle ranking global military power that has suffered under years of punitive sanctions has not only managed to survive weeks of heavy US and Israeli bombardment but pursued a succeessful strategy of horizontal escalation that imposed heavy global economic costs. The more militarily significant Gulf states, to the surprise of few, turned out to be paper tigers, despite a huge investment in arms. Netanyahu, who promised an easy war was revealed, not for the first time, to be hopelessly unrealistic in his assessments about Iran and the wider region. Across the globe friends and foes will draw their own conclusions. China and Russia will have noted the limits of US power and that, despite the jaw-jaw, the US did not commit ground troops to its chaotically conducted campaign. The damage wrought by Trump to a weakened Nato will also have been well-noted, even as European countries have moved to distance themselves from Washington. Practically, other big questions remain. Does the ceasefire deal cover Lebanon, as mediator Pakistan has suggested? In the run-up to the ceasefire, one suggestion was that one off ramp from the war would see the US and Israeli assault on Iran halt while Israel continued with an expansionist campaign against Lebanon to get Netanyahu off the hook. “Trump lost this war in every possible sense – morally, legally, politically, economically, reputationally, and strategically”, suggested Timothy Snyder, a historian of authoritarianism, echoing the views of many experts. “Trump has given the theocracy in Iran another lease on life with this failed war,” said Trita Parsi, an Iran expert at the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft, “just as Saddam Hussein did in 1980 when he invaded Iran and, by that, ensured that Ayatollah Khomeini could consolidate his power.” It is hard to disagree. A genocidal threat, and then the US president, Donald Trump, blinked – without any apparently meaningful concessions from Iran. As in so much concerning the second Trump administration, the two week ceasefire “deal” that will see the strait of Hormuz reopened – if it can be described as such – is maddeningly vague and short on detail, apparently kicking the can on key issues down the road. Iran’s nuclear issue, Trump said, would be solved “perfectly.” “It was a big day for world peace”, Trump posted on Truth Social. “Iran can start reconstruction” he added. “Big money” could be made. Yada. Yada. Yada. The reality is that as the current circumstances stand, this represents a huge strategic failure for the US. Despite having killed Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei and other senior leaders, the regime change initially promised by Trump and US prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu failed to materialise. Instead it appears the regime has consolidated around a more hardline core centred on the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps. Far from being a new, more reasonable and less radical regime, as Trump has repeatedly suggested, it remains essentially the same regime – wounded, wary, and perhaps even more hardline. Blasts and missile alarm warnings have been heard in Bahrain, despite the announcement of the temporary ceasefire in the region. The country’s interior ministry reported a fire had been extinguished at a facility after an Iranian attack, with no injuries sustained. Israel said it was also intercepting missiles and striking back at sites in Iran, while Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates also activated warning sirens and air defence systems in the hours after the ceasefire announcement. It remains unclear when the ceasefire will take effect. The ceasefire has offered some immediate relief to countries struggling with fuel supply, but hopes the truce will quickly restore normality are misplaced, analysts have suggested. Saul Kavonic, the head of energy research at MST Financial, said the two-week pause provided “an off-ramp for Trump’s overly bombastic ultimatum, but not yet an off-ramp for oil markets or the war”. He told Reuters it was unlikely the shut in oil and LNG production would resume until there was more confidence in a lasting ceasefire. Ron Bousso, Reuter’s energy correspondent, agreed that even if tankers could safely exit the Gulf, shipowners would probably remain cautious about re-entering the region when any resumption of hostilities could result in the loss of vessels or crew. Prashant Newnaha, a senior strategist at the Singapore-based TD Securities, said a renewed escalation could not be ruled out, “but markets are treating this ceasefire as the real deal and all parties involved will sell the ceasefire as a major win. “Looking further out, oil prices are not returning to pre-war levels. This will leave inflation persistence as a key theme for markets to ponder,” he said. Many other countries have also issued statements welcoming the tentative ceasefire, including South Korea, New Zealand and Iraq, alongside reactions from Australia, Japan and Pakistan as we reported earlier. South Korea’s ministry of foreign affairs issued a statement that they hoped “negotiations between the two sides will be successfully concluded and that peace and stability in the Middle East will be restored at an early date”, as well as wishes for “free and safe navigation of all vessels through the strait of Hormuz”. A spokesperson for New Zealand’s foreign minister, Winston Peters, welcomed the “encouraging news” but noted “there remains significant important work to be done to secure a lasting ceasefire”. Iraq’s foreign ministry likewise called for “serious and sustainable dialogue” between the US and Iran “to address the root causes of the disputes”. Japan has welcomed the temporary ceasefire in the US-Israel war on Iran, adding that it “expects” the move to result in a “final agreement” after Washington and Tehran begin talks on Friday. Describing the ceasefire as a “positive move”, the chief cabinet secretary, Minoru Kihara, told reporters that Tokyo wanted to see a de-escalation on the ground in the region, adding that the prime minister, Sanae Takaichi, was seeking talks with the Iranian president, Masoud Pezeshkian. A temporary end to hostilities will come as a relief to Japan, which depends on the Middle East for about 90% of its crude oil imports, most of which is transported through the strait of Hormuz. Takaichi has condemned Tehran for its partial blockade of the waterway and Iran’s attacks on other Middle Eastern countries, but has refused a request from Donald Trump to send Japanese maritime self-defence forces to help secure safe passage for ships using the strait. The Japanese PM reportedly explained to Trump that military involvement was impossible under Japan’s postwar constitution, which bans it from using force to settle international disputes. Trump has since condemned Japan – and Washngton’s other north-east Asian ally South Korea, along with Australia – for refusing to join the war. Markets in Asia responded positively to news of the ceasefire, with the Nikkei stock index surging 4.8% and South Korea’s Kospi gaining 5.6% on Wednesday morning. There was relief in Japan, too, over the dip in crude oil prices, after warnings that a prolonged conflict could push inflation higher and dampen domestic demand in the world’s fourth-largest economy. Takahide Kiuchi of the Nomura Research Institute said Japan and other countries in Asia that rely on oil imports could face “serious economic risks” if the conflict continued to drag on. “If shipping operations in the strait of Hormuz do not return to normal, Japan will eventually face a severe crude oil shortage,” Kiuchi told the Nikkei Asia business paper. “Should such risks escalate, the government would likely call on households and businesses to curb gasoline and electricity consumption, much as it did during the oil shocks of the 1970s.” US political leaders and many Americans breathed a sigh of relief on Tuesday evening, after Donald Trump announced a provisional ceasefire deal following threats to destroy Iran’s “whole civilization”. “I’m glad Trump backed off and is desperately searching for any sort of exit ramp from his ridiculous bluster,” Chuck Schumer, the Senate Democratic leader, said on Tuesday night. Several Republicans cheered the president’s decision, casting it as shrewd and tactical. “Excellent news,” Senator Rick Scott of Florida said. “This is a strong first step toward holding Iran accountable and what happens when you have a leader who puts peace through strength over chaos and weak appeasement policies.” Senator Lindsey Graham, one of the chamber’s loudest and most aggressive Iran hawks, said on Tuesday evening he shared the hope that “we can end the reign of terror of the Iranian regime through diplomacy”. But he added: “We must remember that the strait of Hormuz was attacked by Iran after the start of the war, destroying freedom of navigation. Going forward, it is imperative Iran is not rewarded for this hostile act against the world.” Donald Trump has called Tuesday “a big day for world peace” on a social media post, claiming that Iran has “had enough”. He said the US will be “helping with the traffic buildup” in the strait of Hormuz, and that “big money will be made” as Iran begins reconstruction. In the statement on Truth Social, he added that the US would be just “hangin’ around” in order to make sure everything goes well” and that he was confident it would. He later added “this could be the Golden Age of the Middle East”. The two-week ceasefire with Iran remains conditional in nature, and Washington has yet to publicly accept an invitation to talks planned for Friday in Islamabad. Some points in Iran’s 10-point plan for a ceasefire have previously been rejected by the US in the past. Australian prime minister Anthony Albanese has welcomed a two-week ceasefire deal between the US and Iran that is set to temporarily reopen the strait of Hormuz, as he issued a rare criticism of Donald Trump for threatening a “whole civilization will die”. The prime minister said news of the conditional ceasefire was “very positive” and was hopeful it would lead to the permanent end to a conflict that has sent global fuel prices soaring. In an interview with Sky News, Albanese said threatening to destroy civilian infrastructure was an “extraordinary statement to make”. “I don’t think it’s appropriate to use language such as that from the president of the United States. And I think it will cause some concern, which is there,” the prime minister said. “We’ve said very clearly that the conduct of any conflict must be within international law and that provides for making sure that civilians – who aren’t parties to the conflict – are given every protection possible.” Albanese would not be drawn on whether the bombing of civilian infrastructure would constitute a war crime, which is the view of legal experts and officials from numerous countries. Israel supports Donald Trump’s decision to suspend strikes against Iran for two weeks, but said the ceasefire does not include Lebanon, prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said on Wednesday. The office said Israel backed the US move, provided Tehran immediately opens the strait of Hormuz and stops attacks against the United States, Israel and countries in the region. The Pakistani prime minister, Shebaz Sharif, had previously said the ceasefire extended over Lebanon. Israeli attacks on Lebanon since the start of the war have killed more than 1,400 people, including 126 children, and displaced more than 1 million, according to Lebanese authorities. The renewed Israeli war on Lebanon was launched after Hezbollah – the Iranian-backed Lebanese militant group – fired rockets into northern Israel in response to the killing of the former Iranian supreme leader, Ali Khamenei, in joint US-Israeli airstrikes. Israel also said it supports US efforts to ensure Iran no longer poses a nuclear, missile or “terror” threat to US, Israel and Iran’s Arab neighbours, adding that Washington had told Israel it was committed to achieving their shared goals in upcoming negotiations. Iran said on Wednesday negotiations with the US would begin on Friday 10 April in Islamabad. Welcome to the Guardian’s continuing coverage of the US-Israel war on Iran. The United States and Iran have agreed to a two-week ceasefire barely an hour before Donald Trump’s Wednesday deadline to obliterate the country was set to expire, with Tehran saying it will temporarily reopen the vital strait of Hormuz. Both sides claimed to have won the more than month-long conflict that has roiled global financial markets and sent oil prices skyrocketing, with Trump telling the AFP news agency 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. “The enemy has suffered an undeniable, historic and crushing defeat in its cowardly, illegal and criminal war against the Iranian nation,” said a statement from the Iranian Supreme National Security Council. “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. Iran’s Supreme National Security Council said it had conditionally accepted a two-week ceasefire if attacks against Iran are halted. Iran’s foreign minister said passage through the strait of Hormuz will be allowed for the next 2 weeks under Iranian military management. Iranian state media said negotiations with the US would be held in Islamabad to finalise details of an agreement, with the aim of “confirming Iran’s battlefield achievements”. Talks will begin on Friday 10 April and may be extended, state media reported. State media also reported that talks with the US do not amount to the end of the war. Pakistani prime minister Shebaz Sharif announced that Iran, the US and their allies agreed to an immediate ceasefire everywhere, including Lebanon. Sharif has been a key figure in attempting to reach a diplomatic solution between the two warring parties. In his statement, Sharif invited delegations to Islamabad on “Friday, 10th April 2026, to further negotiate for a conclusive agreement to settle all disputes”. Benjamin Netanyahu said Israeli welcomed the ceasefire but said fighting Hezbollah in Lebanon was not part of it. Trump said Iran had proposed a “workable” 10-point peace plan. According to Iranian state media, the ten-point proposal includes a number of conditions that the US has in the past rejected. Among them are controlled transit through strait of Hormuz coordinated with Iranian armed forces and withdrawal of all US forces from regional bases. The plan would also require the lifting of all primary and secondary sanctions, payment of full compensation to Iran and release of all frozen Iranian assets. Iranian state media also said the 10-point plan for securing an end to the war would require Washington to accept its uranium enrichment program, a previous red line for the Trump administration. Even as the ceasefire was proposed, missile alerts continued in the United Arab Emirates, Qatar and Israel.
Middle East crisis live: Israel says Iran war ceasefire doesn’t include Lebanon as air strikes continue
Pakistan says it will host talks between US and Iran on Friday as JD Vance says ceasefire is a ‘fragile truce’
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