President Donald Trump said on his social media platform at 18:32 Washington time that the United States and Iran were “very far along” with a “definitive” peace deal and that he had consented to a two-week truce so that talks could continue.
Although it wasn’t quite the final minute, it got very close given Trump’s impending deadline of 20:00 EDT (00:00 GMT on Wednesday) to reach an agreement or the US will unleash huge attacks against Iranian transportation and energy infrastructure.
All of this is dependent on Iran ceasing hostilities and allowing commercial ships to pass through the Strait of Hormuz, which the regime claims it will do but maintains its “dominion” over the waterway.
With the agreement, Trump was able to avoid making the potentially dangerous decision to either back down and damage his reputation or escalate with his declaration that a “whole civilization will die tonight.” But it’s possible that the US president just secured himself a short-term respite.
In an effort to gain time to try to negotiate a long-term agreement, the US and Iranians will now have talks for the next two weeks. The price of a barrel of oil fell below $100 for the first time in days during after-hours trade, and US stock futures surged. It will probably be a rough journey. There seems to be hope that the worst is behind us.