President Donald Trump said on social media Tuesday evening a two-week ceasefire was negotiated between the United States and Iran to finalize an agreement between the two parties.
“Based on conversations with Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and Field Marshal Asim Munir, of Pakistan, and wherein they requested that I hold off the destructive force being sent tonight to Iran, and subject to the Islamic Republic of Iran agreeing to the COMPLETE, IMMEDIATE, and SAFE OPENING of the Strait of Hormuz, I agree to suspend the bombing and attack of Iran for a period of two weeks,” Trump said on Truth Social Tuesday. “This will be a double sided CEASEFIRE!”
Trump said he agreed to the ceasefire because “we have already met and exceeded all Military objectives, and are very far along with a definitive Agreement concerning Longterm PEACE with Iran.” He said the two week period will give time to finalize the agreement, and gave no mention of either Israel’s involvement in the ceasefire or a ground operation to seize any remaining uranium as a military objective that was met or exceeded.
Sen. Jack Reed (D-R.I.), ranking member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, praised the ceasefire in a statement emailed out Wednesday morning, but said Trump should not have started the war to begin with.
“I remain deeply skeptical of President Trump’s self-proclaimed ‘wins’ from this war, and I have concerns about the long-term problems he has created,” Reed said. “A ceasefire is just the beginning, and the Administration should use these two weeks wisely and to pursue a comprehensive diplomatic agreement.”
Reed added a diplomatic agreement would mean “engaging in serious, structured negotiations with Iran to address nuclear weapons, ballistic missiles, proxy activity, sanctions relief, and security guarantees, conducted by diplomats with genuine expertise, not improvisers.”
“As many experts have long warned, military strikes buy time, but only a comprehensive agreement solves the problem,” Reed concluded.