"A ceasefire is welcome, but if the terms Iran announced tonight are accurate, the United States and Israel are facing a truly humiliating defeat," one expert told Common Dreams.

Just hours after President Donald Trump issued a genocidal threat against the Iranian people, declaring that "a whole civilization will die tonight," the US leader announced that he's agreed to suspend his unconstitutional war for two weeks if Iran ends its blockade of the Strait of Hormuz.

Citing an unnamed senior White House official, CNN reported that Israel—which has joined the United States in bombing Iran, including civilian infrastructure, since February 28—"is part of the two-week ceasefire" and "has agreed to also suspend its bombing campaign while negotiations continue."

According to The Associated Press, Iran's Supreme National Security Council said in a statement that it accepted the ceasefire, which New York Times correspondent Farnaz Fassihi reported followed "frantic diplomatic efforts by Pakistan and last-minute intervention by China," a key Iranian ally.

"It is emphasized that this does not signify the termination of the war," the Iranian council said. "Our hands remain upon the trigger, and should the slightest error be committed by the enemy, it shall be met with full force."

Trump made the announcement on his Truth Social platform as he faced mounting global outrage over his "apocalyptic" morning comments—including calls for his removal from office—and as his 8:00 pm Eastern time deadline for Iran to reopen the crucial waterway to all ship traffic approached.

Specifically, Trump said:

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. This will be a double sided CEASEFIRE! The reason for doing so is that we have already met and exceeded all Military objectives, and are very far along with a definitive Agreement concerning Longterm PEACE with Iran, and PEACE in the Middle East. We received a 10 point proposal from Iran, and believe it is a workable basis on which to negotiate. Almost all of the various points of past contention have been agreed to between the United States and Iran, but a two week period will allow the Agreement to be finalized and consummated. On behalf of the United States of America, as President, and also representing the Countries of the Middle East, it is an Honor to have this Longterm problem close to resolution.

According to reports, Iran's 10-point peace plan could face stiff resistance from Israel and the Gulf monarchies that Iran has been attacking in retaliation for the US-Israeli onslaught.

The ten-point plan that is the basis of the ceasefire is literally just “Iran gets everything it could ever want, total US surrender, Iran now dominates the Middle East unopposed and controls Hormuz for its own enrichment” so uhh
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— Will Stancil (@whstancil.bsky.social) April 7, 2026 at 4:08 PM

"It’s hard to see how anyone else in the region could possibly agree to this," US lawyer and political commentator Will Stancil said on Bluesky.

Stancil added that it would be "extremely funny if the Gulf states that have funneled billions of dollars to Trump meet their ruin at his hand when he switches sides literally at the culmination of a war so he can pretend to have won, though. Maybe they’ll bonesaw him in retaliation."

Commenting on paying to use the Strait of Hormuz, CNBC's Carl Quintanilla said on Bluesky, "$2 million per ship—to cross a strait that was free six weeks ago."

In response to Trump's threats to take out Iran's bridges and power plants—clear war crimes—and more recent threat to wipe out the Middle Eastern country's "whole civilization," human rights advocates and political leaders across the globe had called on governments and world bodies, including the United Nations, to "urgently intervene."

While welcoming the ceasefire, some observers said Iran's repressive government—which Trump initially said was being targeted for regime change—will not only survive, but be able to claim victory, as Iranian state media was already doing after the truce was announced.

"A ceasefire is welcome, but if the terms Iran announced tonight are accurate, the United States and Israel are facing a truly humiliating defeat," Raed Jarrar, advocacy director at Democracy for the Arab World Now (DAWN), told Common Dreams.

"They launched a catastrophic war of aggression that killed thousands of civilians, wasted tens of billions of dollars, and triggered the worst global energy crisis in half a century," he said. "Iran kept its enrichment. Iran took over the Strait [of Hormuz]. The United States agreed to lift sanctions."

While oil prices plunged by more than 15% and US stock futures edged up on news of the ceasefire, Iranians continued clearing rubble and burying their dead. Iranian officials said around 2,000 people—including hundreds of women and children—have been killed by US and Israeli strikes since February 28, including around 175 children and staff massacred in a US cruise missile strike on a girls' elementary school in the southern city of Minab on the first day of the war.

"Congress should open an immediate investigation into how this war started, who authorized it, and who will be held accountable for every civilian killed," Jarrar told Common Dreams. "War criminals should be held accountable now."

While Republican politicians and pundits portrayed the truce as a major victory for Trump, some Democratic US lawmakers expressed skepticism over the deal, with Sen. Chris Murphy of Connecticut telling CNN that he doubts there is even any actual ceasefire in place amid reports of continued Iranian missile attacks on Israel and the United Arab Emirates.

“Who knows what’s going on," said Murphy. "Donald Trump lies every single day.”

Murphy pointed to Tehran's claim “that Trump has also agreed to Iran’s right to enrichment, to suspend all sanctions against Iran, and to allow Iran to keep their missile program, their drone program, and their nuclear program," saying "if, at the very least, this agreement gives Iran the right to control the strait, that is cataclysmic for the world, and it is just stunning that that’s where we have gotten to that Donald Trump took a military action that has apparently, at least for the time being, given Iran control over a critical waterway that they did not have control over, before the war began.”

As a sovereign nation, Iran has the right to enrich uranium and have nuclear, missile, and drone programs, and it is unclear how Iranian control of the strait would be "cataclysmic" for anyone.

After the genocidal threats on Tuesday, Trump critics, including members of Congress, urged the president's Cabinet to invoke the 25th Amendment to the Constitution and remove him from office, and reminded American service members of their duty to disobey any ordered war crimes.

Just because a President announces he’s agreed to a two week ceasefire moments before he threatened to commit war crimes, does not mean he is suddenly fit to serve. #25thAmendment
— Rep. Melanie Stansbury (NM-01) (@repstansbury.bsky.social) April 7, 2026 at 4:00 PM

Axios reported Tuesday that more than 80 congressional Democrats are supporting 25th Amendment action against Trump over his conduct in the war.