US President Donald Trump speaks to members of the media on the South Garden of the White Home earlier than boarding Marine One in Washington, DC, US, on Thursday, April 16, 2026.
Graeme Sloan | Bloomberg | Getty Photographs
President Donald Trump on Tuesday prolonged the two-week U.S. ceasefire with Iran, saying the extension was warranted attributable to Tehran’s authorities being “critically fractured.”
Trump stated the ceasefire, which he earlier had stated would finish on Wednesday, would proceed “till such time as” Iran’s leaders and representatives submit a “unified proposal” to finish the struggle with the U.S. and Israel.
Trump’s announcement got here after stories that an anticipated journey by Vice President JD Vance to Pakistan for a second spherical of peace talks with Iranian officers had been placed on maintain, and after the Iranian state information outlet Tasnim reported that negotiators from Tehran had knowledgeable their U.S. counterparts via an middleman in Pakistan that they might not seem for additional talks.
“Iran in the end introduced as we speak that beneath these circumstances, attending the negotiations is a waste of time as a result of the US prevents reaching any appropriate settlement,” Tasnim reported.
Earlier on Tuesday, Trump, throughout an interview with CNBC’s “Squawk Box,” stated, “I do not wish to try this,” after being requested if he would lengthen the ceasefire to permit for peace talks to succeed in a deal.
“Based mostly on the truth that the Authorities of Iran is critically fractured, not unexpectedly so and, upon the request of Discipline Marshal Asim Munir, and Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, of Pakistan, we’ve got been requested to carry our Assault on the Nation of Iran till such time as their leaders and representatives can provide you with a unified proposal,” Trump stated in a press release.
“I’ve due to this fact directed our Army to proceed the Blockade and, in all different respects, stay prepared and ready, and can due to this fact lengthen the Ceasefire till such time as their proposal is submitted, and discussions are concluded, by some means,” the president stated.
Iranian officers have accused the U.S. of breaching its commitments beneath a 10-point framework that Iran provided initially of a fragile ceasefire.
A key level of battle stays the Strait of Hormuz, a significant route for world oil transit, which Iran successfully closed initially of the struggle.
Trump stated he had agreed to the ceasefire provided that the strait be totally reopened.
However site visitors via the passage stayed at a relative trickle, and after an preliminary spherical of peace talks failed, Trump ordered a U.S. Navy blockade of Iranian ports close to the strait.
