Iran War Day 39: Trump announces 2-week Iran ceasefire after deadline threat

After warning that “a whole civilization will die tonight” if Iran failed to meet his deadline, President Donald Trump hours later announced a two-week ceasefire with the country, pausing U.S. strikes as negotiations continue. Prominent Catholics, including the leaders of CatholicVote, had denounced Trump’s initial threat as immoral, with Pope Leo XIV calling it “truly unacceptable.”

Trump announces ceasefire

Trump announced the evening of April 7 that he has agreed to suspend military strikes against Iran for two weeks, after earlier threatening the country if it failed to meet his 8 p.m. ET deadline for a deal.

In a Truth Social statement posted the morning of April 7, Trump had warned Iran that "a whole civilization will die tonight, never to be brought back again" if the regime fails to meet his 8 p.m. ET deadline for a deal. “I don’t want that to happen, but it probably will.”

Vice President JD Vance, speaking at an April 7 news conference in Budapest, had also threatened that the U.S. has “tools in our toolkit that we so far haven’t decided to use.” He added that Trump “can decide to use them, and he will decide to use them if the Iranians can’t change their course of conduct.”

>> Trump warns ‘a whole civilization will die tonight’ if Iran doesn’t meet deal deadline <<

Hours later, in an evening Truth Social post, Trump announced a two-week suspension of U.S strikes against Iran, calling it a "double-sided ceasefire." He credited Pakistan's Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and Field Marshal Asim Munir, saying they had personally asked him to delay the strikes. 

The two-week pause, Trump said, is conditioned on Iran agreeing to the "complete, immediate, and safe opening" of the Strait of Hormuz. He said the U.S. had received a 10-point proposal from Tehran and claimed that "almost all of the various points of past contention have been agreed to between the United States and Iran."

"We have already met and exceeded all military objectives," Trump wrote, "and are very far along with a definitive Agreement concerning Longterm PEACE with Iran, and PEACE in the Middle East."

Iran's Foreign Minister Seyed Abbas Araghchi confirmed the arrangement in a statement posted to social media, expressing "gratitude and appreciation" for the Pakistani officials' mediation efforts.

"If attacks against Iran are halted, our Powerful Armed Forces will cease their defensive operations," Araghchi wrote, adding that safe passage through the Strait of Hormuz would be permitted for two weeks "via coordination with Iran's Armed Forces and with due consideration of technical limitations."

Araghchi said Iran was responding to both Pakistan's request and a U.S. request for negotiations, and said Trump had accepted "the general framework of Iran's 10-point proposal as a basis for negotiations."

Ceasefire follows weeks of US, Iran proposals

The two sides have reportedly been exchanging proposals through Pakistani intermediaries for weeks. The U.S. sent Iran a 15-point plan through Pakistan in late March, demanding that Tehran dismantle its nuclear sites, rein in its missile program, and cut ties with militant groups like Hezbollah and the Houthis in exchange for sanctions relief. Iran called the proposal "extremely maximalist and unreasonable" and rejected it.

Iran responded with its own 10-point plan. Its full contents have not yet been made public, but it is reported to include a ceasefire, safe passage through the Strait of Hormuz, and sanctions relief, according to Al Jazeera. On April 6, Trump called the Iranian plan "not good enough."

Announcing that both sides had agreed to a two-week pause, Trump said Iran's proposal was now "a workable basis on which to negotiate." 

Catholic leaders condemn Trump’s threat as Iranians express defiance

In an April 7 statement posted to social media, CatholicVote condemned Trump’s threat to destroy Iran’s “whole civilization.” 

“Catholics cannot stay silent when entire peoples are threatened with devastation, or, in the words of President Trump, that a ‘whole civilization will die tonight,’” the Catholic advocacy organization stated in part.

“Let’s be clear: every decent American wants an end to the brutal Iranian regime that has terrorized its own people and destabilized the Middle East for nearly half a century,” the statement concluded. “But we must seek that end with the moral authority of a people who, unlike the ayatollahs, do not believe the ends justify the means.”

As Zeale News reported, “Pope Leo XIV on April 7 sharply condemned President Donald Trump’s threat to destroy an entire civilization as ‘truly unacceptable,’ warning that the war’s escalation poses a moral threat to humanity’s well-being.” Archbishop Paul Coakley, president of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, also condemned Trump’s threat, Zeale reported.

>> Pope Leo calls Trump’s threat to destroy Iranian civilization ‘truly unacceptable’ << 

Meanwhile, Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baqaei said in an X post that his country “will undoubtedly prevail” ahead of Trump’s 8 p.m. deadline, with the hashtag #IranWillWin.

“The power of a ‘CIVILIZED’ nation’s culture, logic, and faith in its righteous cause will undoubtedly prevail over the logic of brute force,” Baqaei wrote. “A nation that has every faith in the righteousness of its path shall harness all its capacities and capabilities to safeguard its rights and legitimate interests.”