US and Iran Agree to Ceasefire
The US and Iran have agreed to a two-week ceasefire, as well as talks in Pakistan. But there is some skepticism about what this will achieve, plus questions about what players like US ally Israel will do going forward.
Ceasefire Negotiations in Iran and the US: A Tenuous Pause
REPORTER:
Iranians formed human chains around key sites like this power plant in the city of Semnan, standing in defiance of US President Donald Trump’s threats to take out Iran’s infrastructure and even end Iranian civilization if the country did not make a peace deal.
REPORTER:
Similar scenes played out across Iran as a month-and-a-half war looked set for a major escalation. Then, suddenly, a flurry of social media posts saying the US assault was off for now. Diplomacy, spearheaded by Pakistan, has hit pause to attacks on civil infrastructure some legal experts warned would amount to war crimes.
REPORTER:
US President Donald Trump says he’s agreed to stop attacking Iran for two weeks in exchange for fully lifting its blockade on the Strait of Hormuz.
REPORTER:
That’s a key conduit for the world’s oil and gas, whose closure has sent prices soaring and left countries not involved in the fight scrambling. Iran’s state TV confirms talks are back on — but with reservations.
These negotiations, with full distrust in the American counterpart, will begin in Islamabad on Friday, April 10, and Iran will dedicate two weeks to these negotiations. This time can be extended with the agreement of both sides.
REPORTER:
The prime minister of mediator Pakistan posts about the next steps. He says the ceasefire extends not just to Iran, but across the Middle East, where fighting has spread. And he’s inviting Iran and the US to send delegations to Pakistan’s capital Islamabad on the 10th for further talks aimed at ending the war.
REPORTER:
In Iran’s capital Tehran, people in traffic waved Iranian flags from their car windows. Some are skeptical of the ceasefire.
America has shown itself a hundred times till now. We have gone to the negotiation table twice when it attacked us and this [ceasefire] again for going and re-powering itself.
REPORTER:
In the US, polls show a majority oppose the war. And protesters, including Trump critics, have gathered at anti-war rallies in places like here in Washington, DC. For some here, the two-week pause doesn’t go far enough.
Stephanie Fox (PROTESTER):
The world cannot allow this crazy man to continue to be in power. He is a danger to all of us. Two weeks does nothing.
REPORTER:
The immediate, region-wide ceasefire, meanwhile, has proven to be neither quite so immediate nor as region-wide as promised. US ally Israel, in the war since the beginning, has not commented on the ceasefire. And missiles continue to rain down on Israeli cities like Tel Aviv.
REPORTER:
Israel continues deadly strikes in neighboring Lebanon, like this attack on the city of Sidon that killed at least eight. This, too, will be a test for diplomats in Islamabad as they try to bring weeks of fighting to a close.
