A ceasefire deal between the United States and Iran has been brokered by the Pakistani authorities after more than six weeks of conflict in the Middle East, a White House official said this morning. Israel did not immediately react to the ceasefire announcement. Its assault on Lebanon in response to rocket fire by Hezbollah has led to more than 1,500 deaths, according to Lebanese authorities.
Pakistan said that the United States, Iran and their allies had agreed to a ceasefire "everywhere", including Lebanon, following mediation by Islamabad.
Meanwhile, President Donald Trump told AFP on Tuesday that the United States had won a “total and complete victory” after agreeing a two-week ceasefire deal with Iran.
In a telephone call, Trump said he believed China had persuaded Iran to negotiate and said Tehran’s enriched uranium would be “perfectly taken care of".
The US leader appeared bullish on the truce with Iran, despite Tehran also casting it as a win for its side, and amid questions over exactly what both sides had agreed on.
The two sides agreed on the ceasefire barely an hour before Trump’s deadline to obliterate the Islamic republic was set to expire.
"Total and complete victory. One hundred percent". No question about it,” Trump told AFP in the brief call when asked if he was claiming victory with the ceasefire.
With uncertainty over arrangements for the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz to oil traffic in particular, Trump insisted there was a strong framework for a longer-term deal.
“We have a 15-point transaction, of which most of those things have been agreed on. We’ll see what happens. We’ll see if it gets there,” Trump said.
The Republican president had said in his earlier announcement on his "Truth Social Network" that Iran had given a 10-point proposal that was "workable."
Trump would not say whether he would go back to his original threats to lay waste to Iran’s civilian power plants and bridges if the deal fell apart.
“You’re going to have to see,” Trump told AFP.
