Trump has extended his Iran war deadline again - so what's going on?

LAST UPDATE | 6 hrs ago

THE STATUS OF the ceasefire between the United States and Iran remains uncertain today after President Donald Trump unilaterally announced it would be extended indefinitely, following what he said was a request from negotiation mediator Pakistan. 

The ceasefire – the terms of which have been disputed by both sides since it came into effect – was due to expire overnight and Iran has not yet responded to Trump’s last minute declaration. 

It was not the first time Trump has pushed back a deadline during the war, having previously threatened to commit the war crime of destroying Iranian civilian infrastructure if Iran did not open the Strait of Hormuz to all marine traffic, only to relent at the eleventh hour. 

Trump has pulled back from the brink on many occasions during the war, making moves that many analysts have deemed reactions to the economic chaos unleashed by the war.

The pattern is clear. Trump threatens to escalate attacks on Iran, stock markets take a beating and the price of oil goes up. Then at the last possible moment, he announces a delay and markets rebound. 

The halting of commercial traffic through the Strait of Hormuz has led to fuel shortages around the world and impacted many other industries that rely on freight deliveries. 

Meanwhile, Trump also said last night that the US naval blockade of Iranian ports would continue, meaning the Strait of Hormuz remains all but shut and the economic impacts of the war are set to persist. 

Why the US blockade?

The aim of the blockade, which the US announced after Iran committed to opening the Strait for the duration of the ceasefire, is to stragle the already struggling Iranian economy and therefore the Islamic Republic’s ability to fund the war effort. 

Trump wrote on social media this morning: “They want the Strait of Hormuz opened immediately – Starving for cash! Losing 500 Million Dollars a day. Military and Police complaining that they are not getting paid. SOS!!!” 

The president’s statement about extending the ceasefire came at the end of a frantic day in Washington. 

What led to Trump’s latest extension? 

Vice President JD Vance was due to fly to Pakistan for another round of negotiations, while Trump’s envoy Steve Witkoff and his son-in-law Jared Kushner diverted to Washington from Florida, instead of travelling to Islamabad. 

To add to the confused situation, the talks in Pakistan had not officially been committed to by either side, even as the ceasefire deadline loomed. 

The episode was the latest example of the Trump administration’s sporadic approach to diplomacy and public messaging about the war it started alongside Israel at the end of February. 

Today, members of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) attacked a cargo vessel off the coast of Oman. 

The US Defense Department said yesterday that US forces had intercepted and boarded a “stateless sanctioned” vessel, which the AFP news agency has identified as one affiliated with Iranian activity.

What about the Israel-Labanon ‘ceasefire’?

In Lebanon, fighting between Israel and Hezbollah has continued in isolated bursts in spite of a separate ceasefire agreement. The “ceasefire” bears resemblence to the truce deal between Israel and Hamas in Palestine, where Israeli forces have killed hundreds of people since it came into effect. 

Lebanon was included in the US-Iranian ceasefire when it was first announced by Pakistan but Israel continued its bombing campaign and the US denied that the agreement covered that front in the war. 

The current ceasefire was negotiated in Washington between Israel and the Lebanese government, without the participation of Hezbollah. Israel has so far killed more than 2,000 people and displaced more than one million since it began its invasion and bombardment of Lebanon. 

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Today, an Israeli drone strike on Lebanon’s Bekaa region killed one person and wounded two others. The Israeli military said it was a response to rocket fire. 

Israel’s foreign minister today urged the Lebanese government to “work together” against Hezbollah, but also referred to the country as a “failed state” ahead of another round of negotiations set to take place in Washington tomorrow. 

“Let’s work together against the terror state that Hezbollah built in your territory,” Gideon Saar said.  

“This cooperation is needed by you even more than by us. It requires moral clarity and the courage to take risks. But there is no real alternative for ensuring a future of peace for you and for us.”

What is Israel doing in Lebanon?

Saar said there remained serious disagreements between Israel and Lebanon. 

“Unfortunately, Lebanon is a failed state, a state that is de facto under Iranian occupation through Hezbollah,” he said.

Israel’s finance minister has said that Israel should annex southern Lebanon in order to expand Israeli territory. 

Earlier today, the Israeli military said it killed two “terrorists” who had crossed its forward line in Lebanese territory. 

The pair had “crossed the forward defence line and approached soldiers, posing an immediate threat”, the military said, adding that its air force later struck and eliminated them.

Israel refers to this arbitrarily established frontier as the “Yellow Line”, the same name it has given to the line marking its so-called “buffer zone” inside Gaza. It has also destroyed bridges along the Litani River, cutting off much of the south from the rest of the country. 

Lebanese military expert Hassan Jouni told the AFP news agency that “the Yellow Line in Lebanon is a copy of the idea and philosophy of the Yellow Line in Gaza”, even bearing the same name.

In Gaza, however, the line was “the result of an agreement with Hamas. In Lebanon, there is no agreement… it was decided unilaterally” by Israel, he said, calling it “an aggressive decision”.

The line “will certainly be fortified” to protect northern Israel’s towns and villages, and potentially “a line for launching new offensive operations”, he added.

It creates “a so-called free-fire area, like in Gaza, where any activity… is considered suspicious and justifies opening fire”.

In addition to killing thousands of people in Lebanon, including many civilians and emergency service workers, Israel’s military has been systematically demolishing entire villages in the south of the country. 

Israel announced in late March that it would destroy Lebanese homes in order to prevent around 600,000 people from returning to them in the future. 

Defence Minister Israel Katz specifically referenced Gaza as a model to follow in Lebanon at the time. 

“At the end of the operation, the IDF would control the area up to the Litani River, including the remaining Litani bridges, while eliminating Radwan forces that infiltrated the area and destroying all weapons there,” Katz said, referring to the elite unit of the pro-Iran Hezbollah group.

He said all homes in the area would be destroyed “in accordance with the Rafah and Beit Hanoun model in Gaza”.

With reporting from AFP 

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