Overview
- The two-week pause, announced Tuesday night by Washington, Tehran and Jerusalem, was followed within hours by reported Iranian missile and drone launches across Gulf states and Israel, and by Israel’s largest strikes of the war on Hezbollah in Lebanon.
- Iran says passage through the Strait of Hormuz will run under its military management with potential transit fees, while President Trump conditions the pause on the strait’s complete, safe reopening and has floated a U.S.–Iran toll plan that the White House later downplayed.
- Israel insists the ceasefire does not cover its fight with Hezbollah in Lebanon, as Pakistan and Iran say Lebanon is included, and health officials in Beirut report dozens to hundreds killed and many more wounded after strikes on dense urban areas.
- Pakistan, which brokered the deal, plans talks in Islamabad this week, with the U.S. set to send a delegation that includes Vice President JD Vance, and Pakistani leaders acknowledge reported violations as they urge restraint to keep negotiations on track.
- The stakes are global: the Hormuz chokepoint carries about one-fifth of traded oil, a shift to paid transit would upend long-standing free passage norms, oil prices eased on the truce, and civilians across Lebanon and the Gulf face deaths, injuries and damaged energy facilities.