Trump Extends Iran Ceasefire, Blockade Amid Uncertainty Over Peace Negotiations

President Donald Trump said on Tuesday that he will not go forward with new strikes on Iran at the request of Pakistani officials, extending the ceasefire between the U.S. and Iran.

Trump said Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and Field Marshal Asim Munir asked the U.S. to “hold our Attack on the Country of Iran until such time as [Iranian] leaders and representatives can come up with a unified proposal” to end the war.

Trump added that the U.S. will continue to blockade Iranian shipping in the Strait of Hormuz, which has served as a key point of tension between the two countries.

“I have therefore directed our Military to continue the Blockade and, 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,” Trump said in a social media post.

POLITICO previously reported that talks between Iranian and American negotiators were on hold amid the blockade on the strait, with Iran refusing to send its negotiating team until Trump lifts the blockade.

Trump did not specify how long the ceasefire and the blockade would remain in place. But the announcement from Trump likely forestalls new attacks the president threatened to launch earlier Tuesday after the original ceasefire was set to expire on Wednesday.

“I expect to be bombing,” Trump said in a CNBC interview Tuesday morning.

The new ceasefire marks a stark reversal for Trump, who told CNBC he is unlikely to prolong the ceasefire regardless of the progress made on a deal.

It’s unclear how the extension of the blockade will affect negotiations with Iran. Vice President JD Vance and other American negotiators were set to depart for Islamabad on Tuesday, but the status of their trip remains murky and the vice president has not left the U.S. as of early Tuesday evening.

The new agreement is the latest turn in the tumultuous negotiations between the U.S. and Iran. On Friday, Trump and Iranian officials announced that the Strait of Hormuz would be reopened, signaling a major breakthrough toward ending the war.

But that agreement quickly collapsed after Trump maintained the U.S. blockade on the strait, and Iran resumed its own efforts to control traffic in the critical waterway, through which roughly 20 percent of the world’s oil travels.

The president’s latest announcement comes just days after he accused Iran of striking multiple European ships in the strait, and after the U.S. seized an Iranian-flagged cargo ship attempting to evade the American blockade.