The U.S. naval blockade of the country’s ports will continue, the president says.
President Donald Trump on Tuesday announced he is extending a ceasefire with Iran, citing what he said are fractures in the regime.
“Based on the fact that the Government of Iran is seriously fractured, not unexpectedly so and, upon the request of Field Marshal Asim Munir, and Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, of Pakistan, we have been asked to hold our Attack on the Country of Iran until such time as their leaders and representatives can come up with a unified proposal,” Trump wrote in a post on Truth Social.
Trump also said he told the U.S. military to extend its more-than-week-long naval blockade of Iranian ports, saying it will, “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.”
Earlier this week, Trump said a U.S. delegation would head to Islamabad, Pakistan, to negotiate a deal ahead the end of a two-week-long ceasefire on Wednesday. Both countries have warned that, without a deal, they were prepared to resume fighting.
But an Iranian foreign ministry official on Tuesday said that no decision has been made yet on whether it will send officials to new talks in Pakistan.
Iran Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesman Esmaeil Baghaei said that “going to Islamabad must ensure our interests” and that “no final decision has been made yet to go to Islamabad,” according to Iran’s semi-official Mehr News.
Amid the uncertainty, Iran’s top diplomat posted on X saying that American forces boarding an Iranian oil tanker earlier Tuesday was an act of war. Earlier in the day, the Pentagon said it boarded a vessel that was evading sanctions in the India-Pacific region, adding that more Iran-linked vessels would be targeted.
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi also criticized a U.S. military decision on Sunday to fire at an Iran-flagged ship’s engine room and seize it during its enforcement of a naval blockade on the country’s ports.
“Striking a commercial vessel and taking its crew hostage is an even greater violation,” he wrote in the X post. “Iran knows how to neutralize restrictions, how to defend its interests, and how to resist bullying.”
In enforcing the blockade, U.S. Central Command wrote Tuesday that 28 ships have now been told by the U.S. military to “turn around or return to port.” The blockade went into effect on April 13 in a bid to ramp up economic pressure on Tehran amid the ceasefire.
