Donald Trump threatened to wipe out Iran’s civilization. Then, just 90 minutes before his own deadline, he agreed to a two-week ceasefire. Tehran did not let him forget it.
The dramatic reversal came on April 7, when Trump posted on Truth Social that he had agreed to suspend bombing and attacks on Iran for two weeks, calling the arrangement “a double sided CEASEFIRE.” According to NPR, Trump backed down roughly 90 minutes before his 8 p.m. ET deadline, which had come with an explicit threat that Iran’s “whole civilization will die tonight” if no deal was reached over the Strait of Hormuz.
Iran’s response was defiant and, by any measure, mocking. A spokesman for Iran’s president, Seyyed Mehdi Tabatabai, had already framed Trump’s ultimatum as “sheer desperation and anger” the day before the ceasefire was agreed. Once the ceasefire was announced, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi confirmed Iran would halt attacks, but added pointedly that the safe passage of ships through the strait would happen “in coordination with Iran’s armed forces” and “with due consideration to technical limitations.” In plain terms: Iran, not Washington, controls the waterway.
How Trump painted himself into a corner
Trump ultimately pulled back because he faced an uncomfortable reality: taking and holding the Strait of Hormuz would not be a quick military operation. Defense analyst Ben Connable, a retired Marine Corps intelligence officer, estimated that keeping the strait open by force would require roughly 30,000 to 45,000 US troops controlling about 600 kilometers of Iranian territory. “This would be an indefinite operation,” Connable told PBS. “Think: be ready to do this for 20 years.”
The deal that emerged, brokered primarily by Pakistan with support from Egypt and Turkey, allowed both Iran and Oman to collect fees from ships transiting the strait. That arrangement drew a sharp rebuke from Democratic Senator Chris Murphy of Connecticut, who said Trump had handed Tehran “control” of the waterway and delivered “a history-changing win for Iran.” Murphy added: “The level of incompetence is both stunning and heartbreaking.”
This is not the first time the Trump administration has accused Iran of making false claims in the middle of tense negotiations. Both sides have consistently offered contradictory accounts of the state of talks, and Tehran has made a habit of calling out what it considers misinformation from Washington.
A pattern of big threats and quiet retreats
PBS NewsHour noted that Trump has repeatedly followed maximalist threats with quiet step-backs across his second term. He reversed his sweeping “Liberation Day” tariffs after financial markets cratered. He walked away from his Greenland pressure campaign after claiming a vague “framework of a future deal.” In each case, the White House framed the retreat as a win.
This time was no different. Press secretary Karoline Leavitt declared that “the success of our military created maximum leverage,” crediting Trump’s approach for opening a path toward what she called “a diplomatic solution and long-term peace.”
Iran’s leadership entered the ceasefire talks signaling they had no illusions about their negotiating partner. Iran’s Supreme National Security Council confirmed the country would negotiate in Pakistan’s capital, Islamabad, but said the talks would proceed with “complete distrust.” The ceasefire deal also coincided with renewed pressure from UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer, who had been pushing back against calls to join US military pressure on Iran.
China, Iran’s biggest trading partner, also quietly worked to facilitate the ceasefire, according to officials who spoke anonymously. Pope Leo XIV publicly condemned Trump’s threats to bomb civilian infrastructure as “truly unacceptable,” while Democratic lawmakers called them a “moral failure.” The two-week pause was set to buy time for formal peace talks, though both sides acknowledged a permanent agreement remained far off.
