Photo- Coffins draped in Hezbollah flags in southern Lebanon on Tuesday.Credit…David Guttenfelder/The New York Times
The pause in hostilities had been set to expire within hours. The president said Pakistan, which is trying to mediate an end to the war, requested he hold off any attacks.
Here’s the latest
President Trump announced he was indefinitely extending the cease-fire between the United States and Iran, which was set to expire within hours. The president said he had received a request from Pakistan, which is attempting to mediate an end to the war, to hold off any attacks. He also said the extension was warranted due to Tehran’s government being “seriously fractured.”
“I have therefore directed our Military to continue the Blockade and, in all other respects, remain ready and able, and will therefore extend the Ceasefire until such time as their proposal is submitted, and discussions are concluded, one way or the other,” Trump wrote on Truth Social.
Vice President JD Vance’s trip to Pakistan for a second round of negotiations with Iran has been put on hold after Tehran failed to respond to American positions, a U.S. official with direct knowledge of the situation said Tuesday. Iran, for its part, said it had not yet decided whether to resume talks with the United States.
With the two-week truce set to expire Wednesday in Iran, it was unclear what steps, if any, Iran or the United States would take next. Talks could resume at a moment’s notice though President Trump has suggested that he did not want to extend the truce without a longer-term agreement.
It was a starkly different tone from the American president, who just this morning had threatened a military attack if Iran did not agree to U.S. demands. “I expect to be bombing,” Trump said on CNBC this morning. “The military is raring to go.”
As Lebanon and Israel prepare for peace talks , Hezbollah confirmed in a statement that it had fired rockets and drones on Tuesday across the border into northern Israel, which it said came in response to Israeli violations of the 10-day cease-fire between Israel and Lebanon. Israel has kept up its strikes against Hezbollah in southern Lebanon, citing a right to “self-defense” as outlined in the U.S.-mediated agreement. For now, the truce appears to still be largely holding, but with both sides accusing each other of violations, the tit-for-tat attacks have added to growing concerns that it could collapse.
Iran’s Foreign Minister, Abbas Araghchi, said the U.S. naval blockade of Iranian ports violates a ceasefire and amounts to “an act of war.” In a post on X, Araghchi said Iran would defend its interests and “resist bullying.” Araghchi’s comments come as both Iran and the United States have attacked ships trying to pass through the Strait of Hormuz. On Saturday, India said two of its ships came under attack from Iranian forces. The next day, the U.S. military attacked and seizedan Iranian-flagged cargo ship after it tried to maneuver around the U.S. blockade of Iranian ports. On Tuesday, U.S. forces stopped and boarded a sanctioned tanker in the Indian Ocean carrying oil from Iran, the Pentagon said.
Lebanese bury their dead amid a lull in the fighting.
Mass funerals for Hezbollah fighters and civilians took place across southern Lebanon on Tuesday, as people used a pause in fighting between Hezbollah and Israel to return to their villages and bury relatives at their local cemeteries.
In Qlaileh, a village about nine miles from the Lebanese-Israeli border, hundreds of families gathered for the funeral of 16 Hezbollah fighters and four civilians on Tuesday afternoon.
International oil prices approached $100 a barrel this afternoon after Vice President JD Vance’s trip to Pakistan was put on hold. The price has soared since the U.S.-Israeli strikes on Iran began in late February, only to come back down when the United States and Iran agreed to a two-week cease-fire that is set to expire soon.
Vice President JD Vance’s diplomatic trip to Islamabad, where he was expected to press Iranian negotiators for a nuclear deal, has been put on hold after Tehran failed to respond to American negotiating positions, according to a U.S. official with direct knowledge of the situation.
Mr. Vance had been scheduled to depart Tuesday morning for the Pakistani capital, where talks were set to resume on Wednesday — the same day the fragile cease-fire between the United States and Iran is set to expire. Without an Iranian response, the official said, the diplomatic process is in effect paused, though the trip has not been canceled.
Iran has not made a final decision on whether to participate in the proposed talks in Pakistan, its Foreign Ministry spokesman, Esmaeil Baghaei, said on Tuesday, according to the nation’s state broadcaster, IRIB. He blamed it on “contradictory messages, inconsistent behavior and unacceptable actions by the American side.”
Steve Witkoff, the president’s special envoy, and Jared Kushner, his son-in-law, have also not left the United States, according to a White House official. They were supposed to travel to Pakistan as part of the U.S. delegation with Vance, but all three men remain in the United States.
Financial markets are looking increasingly wobbly, as investors assess the uncertainty about when peace talks would resume.
Financial support for the U.A.E
President Trump said on Tuesday that the United States was considering offering financial support to the United Arab Emirates, an oil-rich ally that has been contending with economic fallout from the war in Iran.
The war has damaged oil and gas infrastructure throughout the Middle East, dealing a blow to economies that rely on the Strait of Hormuz to transport crude around the world. The Emirates is an unlikely recipient of economic support, and the fact that it has inquired about assistance demonstrates the cascading effects of the conflict.
U.S. military stops a tanker carrying Iranian oil
A photo released by the Defense Department appears to show the M/T Tifani.Credit…via Defense Department
The U.S. military on Tuesday stopped and boarded a sanctioned tanker in the Indian Ocean carrying oil from Iran, the Pentagon said in a statement.
It was the latest effort by the Trump administration to squeeze Iran’s oil-reliant economyThe U.S. military on Tuesday stopped and boarded a sanctioned tanker in the Indian Ocean carrying oil from Iran, the Pentagon said in a statement.
It was the latest effort by the Trump administration to squeeze Iran’s oil-reliant economy
Xi calls for Hormuz to reopen as China balances its Gulf interests.
China’s top leader, Xi Jinping, called this week for the Strait of Hormuz to reopen, his first such comments since Iran effectively closed the strategic waterway last month in response to U.S.-Israeli attacks on its territory.
Mr. Xi made the comments in a call with Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman of Saudi Arabia on Monday, according to China’s state-run Xinhua news agency.
THE NEW YORK TIMES
