The war between the United States and Iran entered a new diplomatic phase Tuesday as President Donald Trump announced an indefinite extension of the ceasefire with Iran—one day before it was due to end. Trump said the move was made after Pakistan requested the change, and the announcement appeared intended to reduce fears that fighting would resume quickly.
In Pakistan, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif thanked Trump for what he called a “gracious acceptance,” and Sharif said the extension would create space for diplomacy to continue. U.S. officials said Pakistan had been pressing for a second round of peace talks, with officials describing intensive efforts to get both sides to agree—efforts that included coordination around plans for U.S. officials to travel.
The extension also came with signals that negotiations were not yet moving smoothly. Pakistan planned to host a second round of talks, but the White House put on hold Vice President JD Vance’s planned trip to Islamabad. Iran, according to the account, had rebuffed attempts to restart negotiations, and Iran had not yet responded to Trump’s ceasefire-extension announcement.
Iran’s position remained pointed at what it called U.S. actions. In comments broadcast on Iran’s state TV, Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmail Baghaei said there had been “no final decision” on whether Iran would agree to more talks because of “unacceptable actions” by the U.S., a reference that the story said appeared to point to the U.S. blockade of Iranian ports.
Trump’s announcement paired the extension with continued pressure at sea. In a Truth Social post announcing the ceasefire extension, Trump said the U.S. would continue the blockade, while a U.S. official said senior U.S. figures were expected in Washington for consultations on how to proceed after Vance’s trip was delayed. The official, speaking on condition of anonymity, cautioned that Trump could change his mind about negotiating with Iran at any time, and said there were options short of restarting airstrikes.
The verbal exchanges also underscored how far apart the sides appeared to be. Before the extension announcement, Trump warned that “lots of bombs” would “start going off” if there was no agreement before the Wednesday deadline, while Iran’s chief negotiator said Tehran had “new cards on the battlefield” that had not been revealed. Separately, an Iranian commander in the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps warned that the region’s oil industry would be targeted if the war with the U.S. resumed.
Diplomacy in the background, however, continued to revolve around the Strait of Hormuz. Iran’s envoy to the United Nations said Tuesday that Tehran had “received some sign” that the U.S. was ready to stop its blockade of Iranian ports, and that ending the blockade remained a condition for Iran to rejoin peace talks. The story also said the U.S. imposed the blockade to pressure Iran into ending its stranglehold on the Strait of Hormuz, through which about 20% of the world’s natural gas and crude oil transits in peacetime.
Energy markets and shipping risk have been tied to that leverage. The AP report said Brent crude was trading close to $95 per barrel on Tuesday, up more than 30% from Feb. 28—described as the day Israel and the U.S. attacked Iran to start the war—after the strait’s openness narrowed. Before the war began, the report said, the Strait of Hormuz had been fully open to international shipping, and Trump has demanded that vessels be allowed to transit unimpeded.
While ceasefire talks were in doubt, the U.S. also signaled enforcement activity at sea. The story said the Pentagon posted that U.S. forces boarded an oil tanker previously sanctioned for smuggling Iranian crude oil in Asia, saying the boarding of the M/T Tifani was “without incident.” The report said the U.S. did not specify where the vessel was boarded, and that ship-tracking data showed the Tifani in the Indian Ocean between Sri Lanka and Indonesia. The AP report also described that the U.S. had seized an Iranian container ship on Sunday as the first interception under the blockade, and that Iran’s joint military command called the armed boarding piracy and a violation of the ceasefire.
In Islamabad, officials expressed hope that the talks could still proceed. The AP report said Pakistani officials were confident Iran would also send a delegation to resume negotiations, which the story described as the highest-level talks between the U.S. and Iran since the 1979 Islamic Revolution, and that the first round on April 11 and 12 ended without agreement. Pakistani officials said Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar met separately Tuesday with the U.S. and China’s top diplomats in Islamabad, with China described as a key trading partner of Iran.
Outside the U.S.-Iran track, negotiations and military activity continued in parallel. In Lebanon, Hezbollah said it fired rockets and drones at Israeli forces for the first time since a 10-day truce took effect last Friday, saying it acted in response to what it called Israel’s “blatant and documented violations,” including attacks on civilians and destruction in southern Lebanon. The Israeli army said it responded by striking Hezbollah’s rocket launcher, and Israeli officials said they intended to maintain a buffer zone that includes dozens of villages where residents had not been allowed to return. The AP report also said historic diplomatic talks between Israel and Lebanon were to resume on Thursday in Washington, according to Israeli, Lebanese and U.S. officials speaking on condition of anonymity.