On April 8 2026 the Islamic Republic of Iran and the United States had agreed on a ceasefire:
Pakistan’s Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, who has been mediating negotiations, said early on Wednesday that the ceasefire was effective immediately.
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Trump said he had agreed to “suspend the bombing and attack of Iran for a period of two weeks” if Tehran agrees to reopen the Strait of Hormuz, a vital shipping route for oil and other exports from the Gulf.
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Iran has agreed to allow vessels through the Hormuz Strait for two weeks, with their passage coordinated by the Iranian military.
Unfortunately there was one issue that had prevented the ceasefire from being implemented in full:
According to Sharif, the ceasefire will also take effect in Lebanon, where Israel has been fighting the Iranian-backed armed group Hezbollah.
Israel has backed the deal but says it “does not include Lebanon”, renewing strikes on Wednesday in the Tyre and Nabatieh areas in the south of the country. Trump’s press secretary Karoline Leavitt later also said that Lebanon was not included in the deal.
The Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) promised a “regret-inducing response” if strikes on Lebanon continue.
As USrael were unwilling to commit to the inclusion of Lebanon in the ceasefire, as negotiated, Iran kept the Strait of Hormuz closed.
The accumulating economic damage caused by the closure put pressure on the U.S. to rectify the issue. Yesterday, after increasing pressure from Washington DC, Israel finally agreed to temporarily cease its war in Lebanon:
Israel and Lebanon’s leaders have both welcomed the truce, with Netanyahu calling it an “opportunity to make a historic peace agreement”.
Lebanese Prime Minister Nawaf Salam said he hopes the agreement will allow those have been displaced by the conflict to return to their homes.
Hezbollah has also signalled a willingness to participate in the ceasefire but said it must include “a comprehensive halt to attacks” across Lebanon and “no freedom of movement for Israeli forces”.
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Iran’s foreign ministry welcomed the ceasefire, with spokesperson Esmail Baghaei expressing his “solidarity” with Lebanon. Tehran had insisted that its own two-week ceasefire with the US should include Lebanon while the US and Israel said it did not.
Following the ceasefire Iran’s Foreign Minister today announced the re-opening of the Strait of Hormuz:
Seyed Abbas Araghchi @araghchi – 12:45 UTC · Apr 17, 2026
In line with the ceasefire in Lebanon, the passage for all commercial vessels through Strait of Hormuz is declared completely open for the remaining period of ceasefire, on the coordinated route as already announced by Ports and Maritime Organisation of the Islamic Rep. of Iran.
The re-opening announcement gives some hope that further war can be avoided. It is a relief for commodity markets.
U.S. President Donald Trump confirmed the re-opening of what he now calls “the Strait of Iran”.
Talks between Iran and the U.S. mediated by Pakistan are continuing.
There are several issues which are still open.
The ceasefire in Lebanon is fragile and unlikely to hold:
Rather than creating a realistic mechanism for de-escalation, it embeds a framework of asymmetry that neither side can genuinely sustain. It does not resolve a single core dispute. It does not create balance. It does not oblige Israel to end its destruction of southern Lebanon. It does not remove the trigger that can restart the war in a matter of hours. It simply postpones the next collision.
The original April 8 ceasefire Tehran had agreed to was related to its closure of the Strait of Hormuz which had followed the unprovoked USreali attack on Iran. The re-opening of the Strait does not mean that Iran will refrain from asking for a reparation contribution, or ‘toll’, from all ships taking the ‘coordinated route’ near the Iranian island of Ladak.
After the announcement of the original ceasefire the U.S. announced a blockade of all shipping to, from, and related to Iran. Earlier today Iran had hinted that it will close the Bab-al Mandeb entry into the Red Sea should the U.S. blockade persist.
It is jet unknown if, how and when the issue of the blockade is to be solved. Should the U.S. be unwilling to lift it, the conflict is sure to re-escalate.
Iran has so far won the war that Trump had launched against it.
None of Trump’s four original war aims have been achieved. Iran continues to have enriched Uranium and a civil nuclear program. It continues to support its partners in Yemen, Iraq and Lebanon. It still has ballistic missiles and its IRGC Navy is still in good order.
At the same time Iran has gained additional leverage, now acknowledged by Trump, by controlling the Strait of Hormuz.
What it has no gained yet is a lifting of sanctions the U.S. and others had imposed on it.
It might need, at some point, to again increase its pressure on the U.S. to also achieve that goal.