Hours before a self-imposed deadline during which President Donald Trump had threatened to launch military strikes against Iran, the United States agreed Tuesday night to a proposed two-week pause brokered by Pakistan — a development that sent financial markets sharply higher and temporarily halted what had been a rapidly escalating confrontation. Trump announced the agreement in a public statement, saying the pause was contingent on Iran’s immediate and complete opening of the Strait of Hormuz and that it would provide a window to finalize a broader long-term agreement he said was already close to completion. As of the time of the announcement, however, Iran had not publicly confirmed its acceptance of the terms, leaving the status of the proposed ceasefire at least partially unresolved.

Pakistan served as the primary mediator in the final hours of diplomacy, according to reporting from Reuters and Axios. Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and Field Marshal Asim Munir made direct appeals to Trump, asking him to hold off the strikes that had been set to launch Tuesday night. Trump’s public statement confirmed those conversations explicitly, writing that it was “based on conversations with Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and Field Marshal Asim Munir, of Pakistan” that he agreed to suspend the planned military action.

The Pakistani proposal centered on a mutual pause, which Trump described as a “double sided ceasefire,” with the two-week window intended to allow both sides to finalize a broader agreement. Trump stated in his announcement that his administration had received a “10 point proposal” from Iran, and characterized it as “a workable basis on which to negotiate,” adding that “almost all of the various points of past contention have been agreed to.” Reuters confirmed the existence of the 10-point Iranian proposal and the Hormuz condition as the central terms.

A significant open question surrounds Iran’s acceptance of the deal. Trump wrote in his statement that there would be a “double sided ceasefire,” but Iran had not publicly confirmed its agreement to the terms as of the announcement. Adding complexity, Reuters had reported earlier the same day that Iran was rejecting a merely temporary ceasefire and was instead seeking a lasting peace deal — with conditions that included a halt to strikes, guarantees against renewed attacks, and compensation. Whether the 10-point proposal that Trump cited as a basis for negotiation addressed those Iranian conditions, and whether Tehran’s position shifted in the final hours before the announcement, remained unclear from public reporting.

Note: The status of Iran’s formal acceptance of the ceasefire terms had not been publicly confirmed by Iranian officials at the time of this report. Readers should treat characterizations of a “settled” agreement with caution until Tehran makes an official statement.

The ceasefire announcement came less than twelve hours after Trump had issued some of his most extreme public threats toward Iran. Reuters reported that Trump warned “a whole civilization will die tonight” if Iran did not make a deal, and that his threatened targets included Iranian power plants and bridges, with Reuters also noting earlier threats that had referenced desalination plants. The specific combination of infrastructure targets described in some reporting varied across individual statements Trump made in the lead-up to the announcement.

Financial markets reacted sharply to the ceasefire announcement. Reuters market coverage reported that S&P 500 futures rose approximately 1.6% and that U.S. crude oil fell more than 10% in early trade — a significant unwinding of the risk premium that had built up during the day on fears of a direct U.S. military strike on Iran and a potential closure of the Strait of Hormuz. The strait carries roughly 20% of the world’s traded oil, and any sustained closure would represent a major disruption to global energy supply.

The two-week window, as described by Trump, is intended to allow both sides to finalize a broader agreement. Trump stated that “almost all of the various points of past contention have been agreed to,” suggesting the broad outlines of a longer-term deal are substantially in place — though that characterization came from Trump’s own statement rather than from independent verification. The Strait of Hormuz remains the immediate focal point: Iran’s commitment to keep it fully and immediately open is the stated condition on which the pause rests, and Reuters had previously reported on the strait’s disruption to oil and gas flows as a central concern throughout the conflict.

Whether the ceasefire holds will depend on several variables that remained unresolved at the time of this report. Iran had not publicly confirmed its acceptance of the terms — a significant uncertainty given that Reuters had reported earlier the same day that Tehran was rejecting a temporary ceasefire and seeking lasting guarantees. The path to formal in-person negotiations, the role of mediating parties going forward, and the specific content of Iran’s 10-point proposal that Trump described as a basis for talks had not been publicly disclosed in detail.

The last-minute Pakistani intervention and the proposed pause it produced represent a dramatic turn in a crisis that, earlier the same day, had appeared headed toward direct American military strikes on Iranian territory; whether it constitutes a genuine turning point toward regional stability, or a temporary and fragile halt whose terms one party has not yet formally accepted, remained an open and consequential question on the night the announcement was made.