TEHRAN: Iran, the United States and Israel agreed to a two-week ceasefire in an 11th-hour deal that headed off US President Donald Trump's threat to unleash a bombing campaign to destroy Iranian civilisation.
However, hours after the announcement, Iran and Gulf Arab countries reported new attacks on Wednesday (April 8).
It was not clear if the strikes would scuttle the deal, which US Vice President JD Vance called "fragile.”
Even before the new attacks, much about the agreement was unclear as the sides presented vastly different visions of the terms.
Iran said the deal would allow it to formalise its new practice of charging ships passing through the Strait of Hormuz, a crucial transit lane for oil.
But the details were not clear, nor was it known whether vessels would feel safe using the channel or whether ship traffic had resumed. It was also unclear whether any other country agreed to this condition.
Pakistan, which helped to mediate the deal, and others said fighting would pause in Lebanon, where Israel has launched a ground invasion against the Iran-backed Hezbollah militant group. Israel said it would not, and strikes hit Beirut on Wednesday.
The fate of Iran's missile and nuclear programs - the elimination of which was a major objective for the US and Israel in going to war - also remained unclear. Trump said the US would work with Iran to remove buried enriched uranium, though Iran did not confirm that.
In the streets of Tehran, pro-government demonstrators screamed: "Death to America, death to Israel, death to compromisers!” after the ceasefire announcement and burned American and Israeli flags.
The chants underscored the anger animating hard-liners, who have been preparing for what many assumed would be an apocalyptic battle with the United States.
Trump warned on Tuesday (April 7) that "a whole civilisation will die tonight,” if a deal wasn’t reached.
Trump initially said Iran proposed a "workable” 10-point plan that could help end the war the US launched with Israel on Feb 28.
But when a version in Farsi emerged that indicated Iran would be allowed to continue enriching uranium, which is key to building a nuclear weapon, Trump called it fraudulent without elaborating.
Vance later said the deal was being misrepresented within Iran, though he did not offer details.
Iran’s demands for ending the war include a withdrawal of US combat forces from the region, the lifting of sanctions, and the release of its frozen assets.
In his post on Wednesday, Trump said: "We are, and will be, talking Tariff and Sanctions relief with Iran.”
It was not clear if other Western nations would agree to that, and the other points are likely nonstarters.
Israel backed the US ceasefire with Iran, but Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the deal does not cover fighting against Hezbollah.
Israeli Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir said Israel will continue to "utilise every operational opportunity” to strike Hezbollah. The Israeli military said it struck more than 100 targets within 10 minutes on Wednesday across Lebanon, the largest wave of strikes since March 1.
Hezbollah has not confirmed if it will abide by the ceasefire, though the group has said it was open to giving mediators a chance to secure an agreement.
An official, speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not authorised to comment publicly, said the group would not stop firing at Israel unless Israel agreed to do the same.
News of the ceasefire sent stock markets surging worldwide, and oil prices plunged back toward US$90 per barrel.
U.S.-Israeli strikes have battered Iran and its leadership, but they have not eliminated the threats posed by Tehran's nuclear program, its ballistic missiles or its support for regional proxies, like Hezbollah. The US and Israel said addressing those threats was a key justification for going to war.
Trump said Wednesday that the U.S. would work with Iran to "dig up and remove” enriched uranium that was buried under joint US-Israeli strikes in June. There was no confirmation from Iran on that.
More than 1,900 people had been killed in Iran as of late March, but the government has not updated the war’s toll for days.
In Lebanon, where Israel is fighting Iran-backed Hezbollah militants, more than 1,500 people have been killed, and over 1 million displaced. — AP
