In a stark reversal, President Trump announces two-week ceasefire with Iran : NPR

AILSA CHANG, HOST:

President Trump announced a two-week ceasefire with Iran this evening, subject to Iran opening the Strait of Hormuz. This is a radical reversal from what he announced earlier today online, quote: “an entire civilization will die tonight, never to be brought back.” This is what he had threatened if a deal to reopen the strait was not reached by 8 p.m. Eastern time this evening. The United States and Iran have been holding indirect negotiations on ways to suspend or even end the war. We’re going to discuss all of that now with Tom Bowman, NPR’s Pentagon correspondent, and Deepa Shivaram, NPR’s White House correspondent. Hello to both of you.

TOM BOWMAN, BYLINE: Hello.

DEEPA SHIVARAM, BYLINE: Hey, Ailsa.

CHANG: All right, Deepa, that’s a big change from where we started today. What’s the latest from the White House at this point?

SHIVARAM: Yes, I mean, the president set the table for today with that very stern warning that you mentioned, referring to his 8 p.m. deadline to make a deal. He threatened dire consequences, as you mentioned, in his social media post. He said, quote, “An entire civilization will die tonight, never to be brought back.” » And after this very tense day, we did not see the president publicly. Very little was known about the ongoing negotiations. Around 6:30 p.m., Trump announced that there had been a breakthrough. He declared once again in a social media post that if Iran agrees to, quote, “a complete, immediate and safe opening of the Strait of Hormuz,” quote: “I agree to suspend bombings and attacks against Iran for a period of two weeks.”

Earlier today, the Prime Minister of Pakistan, who led this facilitation between the United States and Iran, posted a request to the president on social media to extend the deadline for Iran by two more weeks. He also called on Iran to open the Strait of Hormuz, which it had closed during the conflict. And I will say that the shutdown, of course, was very critical to the shift of oil globally, and it raised gas prices for countries around the world, including the United States.

CHANG: That’s right. OK, well, Tom, before this news developed, the United States had already carried out an attack today on a sensitive site. We are talking about the Iranian island of Kharg. What do we know about this attack?

BOWMAN: That’s true. There were attacks: the United States struck military targets, including radar installations, airstrips and bunkers on the island. And this is coming from a U.S. official who is not authorized to speak publicly. The official described them as new strikes, targets that the United States had already hit. The official said the United States had not touched the oil infrastructure, which is the most important part of the island. And of course, President Trump had already threatened to take control of the island and its oil facilities. There has been much speculation about a possible land operation to take the island. By the way, the Marines have been studying the capture of this island for decades.

CHANG: And can you briefly remind us of the importance of this island to Iran?

BOWMAN: Well, Kharg Island is a critical part of Iran’s oil industry. Iran pumps oil from the mainland and exports it to the island. It’s about 15 miles from the coast, in the northern Gulf. It is loaded onto tankers and then passes directly through the Strait of Hormuz, which Iran currently controls. The United States also struck Kharg Island on March 13, again targeting dozens of military sites. Trump said the military installations had suffered total destruction and described it as an example of what the United States could do to its oil facilities.

CHANG: And meanwhile, Tom, Israel also announced new military strikes, again, before the announcement of this agreement, the ceasefire agreement. What has Israel hit so far?

BOWMAN: Well, the Israeli strikes seem directly linked to President Trump’s threats. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said his country hit the railways and bridges because they were used to transport weapons and other military equipment. And also, you know, Trump said tonight in his Truth Social pokes (ph) that the United States has achieved most of its military objectives. He said this on Truth Social. But, you know, there’s still… Iran still has, you know, quite a large capacity with thousands of drones and missiles. It still owns its enriched uranium and still controls the Strait of Hormuz. So there is still a long way to go before all of this is resolved.

CHANG: Okay. Well, Deepa, President Trump, of course, set several deadlines and then postponed them for these attacks on Iranian power plants and bridges. So do you think we can trust this new calendar? What is your feeling?

SHIVARAM: Yeah, I mean, the president has been doing this for weeks – right? – by making these threats against civilian infrastructure or by increasing attacks against Iran. Then he pushes back or extends the deadlines. So we’ve already done this, right? At this point, it doesn’t appear he has any intention of turning around again. But of course, you know, it’s hard to tell what the president thinks. He has a habit of saying a lot of different things over the past month.

But in announcing the ceasefire, Trump also shared other details of the negotiations, and he was quite optimistic in his social media message. He said the United States had received a 10-point proposal from Iran and viewed that as a “feasible basis” on which to negotiate. And he said that almost all of the various past points of contention have been agreed upon between the United States and Iran. And so this two week period will finalize some of the agreements here. But of course, the process of negotiating anything over the last few weeks, you know, hasn’t gone smoothly, so that’s kind of something that we’ll have to continue to monitor.

CHANG: Indeed. And can you talk about President Trump’s domestic policies here? Like, what kind of pressure did he face, even from his fellow Republicans and supporters, to reach an agreement to end this war?

SHIVARAM: That’s true. I mean, polls show that the war has been very unpopular among Americans overall, and even among some Trump supporters, Republicans have felt less enthusiastic about Trump in recent weeks, according to polls. It’s quite rare. And so politically, that put a lot of pressure on the Republicans, on Trump, especially in this difficult time of the midterm election year. That’s coming in about seven months. And so, after all of that and considering how Americans are feeling this in their wallets, there’s been a lot of pressure on the Trump administration. And even today, in the last 24 hours, there has been criticism from some of the president’s Republican supporters who didn’t like his threats of attacks on civilian infrastructure – so there have been cracks.

CHANG: That’s right. Well, Tom, there are still thousands of U.S. ground troops in the region, and that U.S. military buildup remains. So, do you have any idea what happens next at this point?

BOWMAN: You know, we really don’t. There are 2,200 paratroopers from the 82nd Airborne in the region. You also have Marines afloat – 2,500 Marines, out of those 800 Marine infantrymen. An additional 2,500 Marines afloat are expected to arrive in the coming days. So, you know, it’s significant if you want to take over Kharg Island, as we were talking about, or certain areas along the coast. But we really have no idea, at this point, what’s going to happen in the next few weeks. Once again, Iran still controls the Strait of Hormuz. That’s the key thing, and it’s driving up oil prices. How can we ensure that this strait is open, not just for two weeks but for a very, very long time?

CHANG: Very good. They are NPR’s Tom Bowman and Deepa Shivaram. Thank you both very much.

BOWMAN: You’re welcome.

SHIVARAM: Thank you.

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