Countdown to Iran ceasefire: The 90 minutes that stopped a war

It was 6.32 pm. Ninety minutes to the deadline. That was when the post went up, and the war paused, held in place by a 10-point document drafted by Tehran. This is the story of the race to the crease announced by Trump.

In Short

• Trump suspended attacks after Iran agreed to open the Strait of Hormuz
• Ceasefire led to market relief, but some missile launches continued
• Pakistan PM proposed two-week ceasefire, urging Trump and Iran to agree

It was nearing 6.30 pm. Washington DC. The clock was ticking. It was 90 minutes to President Donald Trump's deadline for an apocalyptic attack on Iran.

That morning, he had written the words on Truth Social, and the world had stopped to read them. “A whole civilisation will die tonight, never to be brought back again.” No diplomatic euphemism. No wiggle room. Just eleven words that described the erasure of a nation of 90 million people were posted on social media before breakfast.

The deadline was 8.00 pm Eastern Time. The target list was drawn up: bridges, power plants, water infrastructure. Trump had already touted the destruction of a large bridge near Tehran as a preview of what was coming.

The world held its breath. A senior US official, speaking to Fox News that afternoon, tried to sound measured: “We are absolutely in touch with them. Absolutely. The talks have been positive. If we get lucky, we will have something by the end of the day.”

If we get lucky. That was the state of diplomacy at 90 minutes to zero. The world was waiting for the hand of fate to deliver.

TEHRAN GETS READY

In Tehran, the regime had responded the only way it could–with shahadat. Iran's deputy minister of youth and sports called on young people to form a “human chain” around the country's power plants. In the tradition of Shia sacrifice, ordinary Iranians, students, workers and families were standing with their arms linked at fence lines, placing their bodies between Trump's deadline and the grid that kept their hospitals running and their water flowing.

Iranian state media broadcast it live: a human chain in front of the Kazerun combined cycle power plant in Fars province.

At the same time, US and Israeli strikes were still escalating ahead of the deadline. Israel was carrying out attacks on Iranian railways and bridges, and the US was launching fresh strikes on the oil export hub of Kharg Island.

The war was not pausing for diplomacy. It was accelerating toward the feared apocalyptic finish.

Iran's own foreign ministry spokesman had told reporters that US officials had been “trying to intimidate Iranians with such literature for 48 years” and that Iran would not be subdued by deadlines.

Every public signal pointed toward catastrophe.

THE RACE FOR CEASEFIRE

In Islamabad, something else was happening.

Pakistan's Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif had been working the phones. The idea of a two-week ceasefire was one he had proposed that Tuesday afternoon, on X, tagging Trump, Vance, Rubio, Witkoff, and Iranian leaders simultaneously. He wrote that diplomatic efforts were “progressing steadily, strongly and powerfully,” and made two requests in the same breath: that Trump extend his deadline by two weeks, and that Iran open the Strait of Hormuz as a goodwill gesture for the same period.

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told Axios: "The President has been made aware of the proposal, and a response will come.”

It gave Washington a reason to stop that wasn't called retreat. It gave Tehran a path to concede that wasn't called surrender.

BEHIND WHITE HOUSE DOORS

Behind closed doors, Iran had already passed its 10-point proposal through intermediaries. It was initially rejected. On Monday, Trump had called it “a significant step” but “not good enough.”

The document, according to the US, included maximalist demands: sanctions relief, frozen asset releases, US troop withdrawals from the region.

But it also contained the one concession that mattered: a commitment to allow passage through the Strait of Hormuz.

Inside the West Wing, the argument was real and fierce. Netanyahu, the leaders of Saudi Arabia and the UAE, and Senator Lindsey Graham had all urged Trump to reject any proposal that didn't extract maximum concessions. But Vance and Witkoff advised him simply: take a deal if you can get one.

THE ANNOUNCEMENT

At 6.32 pm Eastern Time — 90 minutes before his own deadline — Trump posted to Truth Social the words everyone was waiting to read.

“Based on conversations with Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and Field Marshal Asim Munir, of Pakistan, and wherein they requested that I hold off the destructive force being sent tonight to Iran, and subject to the Islamic Republic of Iran agreeing to the COMPLETE, IMMEDIATE, and SAFE OPENING of the Strait of Hormuz, I agree to suspend the bombing and attack of Iran for a period of two weeks.”

He called it a double-sided ceasefire. He said the US had already met and exceeded its military objectives. He called Iran's 10-point proposal a “workable basis on which to negotiate.”

Twelve hours after threatening to erase a civilisation, he had blinked, or won, depending on which side of the Middle East divide you were standing on.

THE IRANIAN RESPONSE

Iran's Foreign Minister, Abbas Araghchi, responded within minutes. “If attacks against Iran are halted, our Powerful Armed Forces will cease their defensive operations. For a period of two weeks, safe passage through the Strait of Hormuz will be possible via coordination with Iran's Armed Forces.”

Iran, for its part, immediately declared victory, claiming the US had accepted its 10-point peace plan, while Washington said Iran had agreed to reopen the Strait. Both sides were telling their own public what they needed to hear.

The markets told a simpler story. US crude oil fell more than 9% in half an hour. West Texas Intermediate dropped to around $96 a barrel. S&P futures surged 1.6%. Nasdaq futures jumped 1.8%.

The world had been holding its breath for weeks, and it exhaled all at once into the trading terminals.

THE AFTERMATH

Then the ceasefire held, slowly.

After the ceasefire came into force at 8 pm, missiles were still launched from Iran toward Israel and several Gulf states.

A US official noted what everyone already suspected: it might take time for the ceasefire order to filter down to the lower ranks of the Revolutionary Guards. Some commanders may not have received the order in time. Others may have had their own views on receiving it.

Reluctantly, Israel agreed to the ceasefire even as its own aircraft had been hitting Iranian railways hours before. Netanyahu wasn't ready. He wasn't happy. But he couldn't defy Trump.

In Islamabad, Sharif issued his own statement. “Both parties have displayed remarkable wisdom,” he said. He invited both delegations to the Pakistani capital on Friday, April 10th, to negotiate a conclusive settlement. It is already being called the Islamabad Talks.

The White House, as ever, had the last word in its own register.

“President Trump’s words speak for themselves: this is a workable basis to negotiate, and those negotiations will continue. The truth is that President Trump and our powerful military got Iran to agree to reopening the Strait of Hormuz, and negotiations will continue,” Leavitt said. “There are discussions about in-person talks, but nothing is final until announced by the President or the White House.”

THE SIGH OF RELIEF

At the power plant gates across Iran, word spread through phones, through family groups, through the informal networks of people who had learned long ago never to wait for the state broadcaster. The human chains held a little longer. Then, slowly, they dissolved. People stepped back from the fences. They looked at each other.

The bombers had not come. The clock, for now, had stopped. Annihilation had stepped back.

- Ends