US PRESIDENT Donald Trump has indefinitely extended the ceasefire with Iran at the request of mediator Pakistan, saying the move was aimed at giving Tehran’s fractured leadership time to come up with a unified proposal to end the seven-week war. The dramatic announcement, which was welcomed by Pakistan’s top leadership, came just hours before the two-week ceasefire announced on April 8 was set to expire. The extension effectively delayed the planned visit of a US delegation led by Vice President J D Vance to Islamabad for peace talks with Iranian interlocutors. Vance and US special envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner were scheduled to travel to Islamabad on Tuesday, but the White House said the delegation’s “trip to Pakistan will not be happening today (Tuesday).” “Based on the fact that the Government of Iran is seriously fractured, not unexpectedly so and, upon the request of Field Marshal Asim Munir, and Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, of Pakistan, we have been asked to hold our attack on the country of Iran until such time as their leaders and representatives can come up with a unified proposal,” Trump said in a statement on Tuesday. However, Trump made it clear that the US will refrain from attacking Iran only until its leadership presents a unified proposal for negotiations.

 

He said the economic blockade of Iran’s ports will remain in place. The US President said he has therefore “directed the military to continue the blockade”. Slamming the US, Iranian Foreign Minister Seyed Abbas Araghchi said blockading Iranian ports is an “act of war and thus a violation of the ceasefire”. “Striking a commercial vessel and taking its crew hostage is an even greater violation. Iran knows how to neutralise restrictions, how to defend its interests, and how to resist bullying,” he said in a social media post. On Tuesday, the US said its forces boarded an oil tanker previously sanctioned for smuggling Iranian crude in Asia. The Pentagon said that US forces boarded the M/T Tifani without incident. The US military did not disclose the location of the boarding, though ship-tracking data showed the vessel in the Indian Ocean between Sri Lanka and Indonesia on Tuesday. The Pentagon added that international waters are not a refuge for sanctioned vessels. Trump’s ceasefire announcement capped days of intense diplomatic activity among officials in Washington, Islamabad and Tehran aimed at producing a draft proposal acceptable to all sides.

 

Iran holds rallies including ballistic missile launcher :

 

Iranian hard-liners rallied late on Tuesday night as possible talks in Islamabad with the United States broke down, with members of Iran’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard apparently bringing a ballistic missile on a mobile launcher to one event. Footage aired by Iranian state TV showed men carrying Kalashnikov-style assault rifles riding atop a missile that resembled a Qadr ballistic missile in Iran’s capital, Tehran. Such Qadr missiles can release individual bomblets known as cluster munitions, which Iran used widely when attacking Israel during the war.