 Iran says it has accepted a two-week ceasefire, with negotiations to begin on Friday in Pakistan’s Islamabad, after US President Donald Trump said he would suspend attacks subject to Tehran agreeing to fully reopen the Strait of Hormuz.

     Iran’s foreign minister says safe passage through the key waterway will be possible for a period of two weeks via coordination with Iran’s armed forces.

     Trump’s statement came after Pakistan’s Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif asked the US president to extend his deadline for a deal, and Iran to fully open the Strait of Hormuz.

     The office of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said ⁠Israel ⁠supports Trump’s two-week pause in attacks on Iran, but the ⁠”ceasefire does not ⁠include Lebanon”.

     Visit our live tracker for the latest casualty figures from across the region.

More details on Iran’s 10-point plan for ceasefire talks with US

    We’ve reported earlier that the US-Iran talks scheduled for Friday in the Pakistani capital Islamabad will be based on a 10-point plan Tehran had formulated and that Trump accepted.

    Now more details have emerged about the 10 points, according to Iran’s Fars news agency. The news agency quoted as informed source as saying that the proposals include:

• Iran’s commitment not to build nuclear weapons
• Provisions paving the way for a complete cessation of any aggression against Iran and allied groups
• Possible withdrawal of US combat forces from the region and a ban on any attacks on Iran from regional bases
•     Limited daily passage of ships through the Strait of Hormuz for two weeks, under a Safe Passage Protocol provision and specific rules of Iran.
• Lifting of all primary, secondary and UN sanctions against Iran
• Covering Iran’s losses from the war by creating an investment and financial fund for the country
• Acceptance by the US of Iran’s right to enrich nuclear materials and discussion on the level of enrichment
• Permission for Iran to negotiate bilateral and multilateral peace treaties with regional countries
• Extension of non-aggression policy towards all resistance groups in the region
• Ratification of all commitments through an official United Nations resolution

Celebrations in Iraq as US and Iran announce ceasefire deal

    Celebrations have erupted in Iraq’s capital, Baghdad, following the announcement of the two-week ceasefire between Iran and the US.

    Iraq had been pulled into the war, with pro-Iran armed groups and US forces carrying out attacks on each other inside the country’s borders.

    Shortly before the ceasefire deal was announced late on Tuesday, Iraqi officials said at least seven people, including two children, were killed in strikes across the country.

Israel bombs ambulance in south Lebanon

    Several Lebanese news outlets report that an Israeli air raid targeted an ambulance in the town of Qlaileh, near the coastal city of Tyre.

    Health officials in Lebanon have said that Israel has been regularly targeting medics and rescue crews across the country.

Next two weeks will be crucial

    Trita Parsi, vice president at the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft, says the US president needed a way out of the war because it had “ended up becoming an absolute disaster”.

    “Trump needed an exit, and he took it,” Parsi told Al Jazeera, adding that “the next two weeks are going to be crucial”.

    “I think you have the potential of becoming a genuine diplomatic opening, but we’re not quite there yet,” Parsi said.

    “Even if talks fail, I have a hard time seeing Trump going back into this war in the manner that he has done so far, because the Iranians would still have the ability to close the strait and put a tremendous amount of pressure on Trump and on the global economy.”

UN chief welcomes two-week ceasefire

    UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has welcomed the announcement of a two-week ceasefire between the United States and Iran, his spokesperson, Stephane Dujarric, said in a statement.

    Guterres called on all the parties “to comply with their obligations under international law and to abide by the terms of the ceasefire in order to pave the way toward a lasting and comprehensive peace in the region”.

    He added that “an end to hostilities is urgently needed to protect civilian lives and alleviate human suffering”.

    Dujarric also confirmed that the UN Secretary-General’s Personal Envoy Jean Arnault is “in the region to support efforts toward lasting peace”.

Leaders in Tehran say war is ending ‘on Iran’s terms’

By Mohamed Vall

    We have seen celebrations here in the streets more than ever before during the night.

    Maybe today we will see more celebrations.

    More people are going out in the street and expressing their happiness, not just because of the government’s decision, but also because Iran has been suffering tremendously in this war.

    It has borne the brunt of this war, considering the amount of damage and the number of schools and universities, [and] the civilian facilities that have been destroyed.

    So it must be a huge relief for the population in Iran to see an end, even if it is just a two-week truce.

    Tehran is almost empty. More than half the population is outside the city. You’ll see maybe more people come to check on their homes, more life in the streets in the next days.

    This is something everyone in Iran is happy with, of course, and also, there is this feeling of pride among the leaders in their statements.

    As they promised their people, this war is ending on Iran’s terms. That’s what they are saying.

Israeli attack reported in south Lebanon

    Al Jadeed TV reports that Israeli forces have shelled the town of Baraachit in southern Lebanon.

    The attack comes after the office of Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu said that the regional truce between the US and Iran does not include Lebanon.

    Pakistan’s Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, who mediated the deal, had said earlier that the parties agreed to an “immediate ceasefire everywhere including Lebanon and elsewhere”.

‘They want to buy time’: Some Iranians sceptical about US motives

    Some Iranians have cast doubt over the purpose of the ceasefire between the US and Israel, with one woman saying that Washington and Israel were seeking a pause to regroup.

    In Tehran’s Engelab Square, where hundreds of Iranians were celebrating the ceasefire announcement, one woman told the Reuters news agency: “America has shown itself a hundred times till now. We were at the negotiating table twice when it attacked. This [ceasefire] is also certainly so that it restores itself.”

    Another asked, “Does America’s nature even change ”

    She said she does not see why the two sides accepted a ceasefire, adding: “As always, they want to buy time for Israel.”

Israeli PM’s office confirms ceasefire does not include Lebanon

    The office of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said that Israel has agreed to “suspend strikes against Iran for two weeks subject to Iran immediately opening the straits and stopping all attacks on the US, Israel and countries in the region”.

    The office also said that the “two-weeks ceasefire does not include Lebanon”.

    It also said that Israel “supports the US effort to ensure that Iran no longer poses a nuclear, missile and terror threat”, even though Iran, unlike Israel, does not currently possess nuclear weapons.

Polymarket user makes big win with bet on timing of US–Iran ceasefire

    A social media account that monitors suspicious bets on Polymarket – an online prediction platform that lets users bet on the outcome of world events – has flagged two suspicious bets on the US ceasefire with Iran.

    A single user made $400,000 with two perfect bets predicting the exact start of the US “operation on Iran” and the date of the ceasefire, which was reached with Iran on Wednesday, according to the X account Polymarket History.

    Polymarket has come under scrutiny for potential insider trading due to a growing number of new anonymous accounts making suspiciously well-timed bets on US decision-making.

    An increase in suspicious bets was flagged by X users earlier this year when US President Donald Trump attacked Venezuela, and the pattern of well-timed bets has continued throughout the US-Israeli war with Iran.

Australia welcomes US-Iran ceasefire

    Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and Minister for Foreign Affairs Penny Wong have issued a joint statement welcoming the two-week truce to negotiate a resolution to the US-Israel war on Iran.

    “Iran’s de facto closure of the Strait of Hormuz, coupled with its attacks on commercial vessels, civilian infrastructure, and oil and gas facilities, is causing unprecedented energy supply shocks and impacting oil and fuel prices,” they said.

    “We have been clear the longer the war goes on, the more significant the impact on the global economy will be, and the greater the human cost.”

    Albanese and Wong thanked the mediators – including Pakistan, Egypt, Turkiye and Saudi Arabia – and said that Australia “wants to see the ceasefire upheld and a resolution to the conflict”.

US-Iran ceasefire deal unwelcome news in Israel

By Rob McBride

    Israel has reportedly accepted the ceasefire agreement between the US and Iran, but we are still waiting for an official response from the government.

    I think there are a lot of people in Israel, including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who are far from happy having to accept the ceasefire.

    Netanyahu was widely suspected of having derailed the last round of talks that was brokered by Oman, and then steering US President Donald Trump towards the path of the conflict, and in the intervening weeks, has been very wary of the word “ceasefire”.

    Apparently, as recently as this weekend, during Netanyahu’s phone call to Trump, congratulating him on the rescue of two airmen downed in Iran, the Israeli prime minister had an opportunity to remind him once again about the folly of getting into a ceasefire.

Netanyahu supports Trump’s decision, says truce ‘does not include Lebanon’

    The Israeli prime minister’s office has issued a statement on the ceasefire.

    According to Israeli media, it said that “Israel supports President Trump’s decision to suspend strikes against Iran for two weeks – subject to Iran immediately opening the straits and stopping all attacks on the US, Israel and countries in the region”.

    Netanyahu’s office also said that Israel supports US efforts to ensure Iran “no longer poses a nuclear, missile and terror threat” and that the US has told Israel it is committed to achieving these goals in the upcoming talks.

    However, “the two-weeks ceasefire does not include Lebanon”, the statement added.

    This comes despite Pakistani prime minister saying the ceasefire applies to Lebanon, too.