PODCAST:
April 8, 2026 ~ Chris Renwick and Lloyd Jackson discuss the Iran ceasefire with Joel Rayburn, a senior fellow at the Hudson Institute. They explore the deal’s future, the Strait of Hormuz, and regional alliances.
IRAN ~ The U.S. and Iran reached an agreement Tuesday night for a two-week ceasefire after Iran submitted a 10-point plan that President Donald Trump called “a workable basis on which to negotiate.”
Trump made the statement on Truth Social in a post announcing the ceasefire deal, a turnaround from a grim threat against Iran he made earlier in the day when he wrote, “A whole civilization will die tonight, never to be brought back again,” which drew massive backlash from activists and lawmakers. The deal was mediated by Pakistan, with Trump adding that the U.S. will stop its bombing when Iran reopens the Strait of Hormuz.
Iran previously closed the Strait to the U.S., Israel, and their allies after the former two nations began bombing Iran on Feb. 28, causing major distruptions in the global oil trade and driving up U.S. gas prices.
In response, Iran’s Minister of Foreign Affairs Seyed Abbas Araghchi said in a statement that. “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 and with due consideration of technical limitations.”
The 10-point plan put forward by Iran includes lifting sanctions on the nation, officially establishing Iran’s control of the Strait of Hormuz, the U.S. withdrawing its military presence from the region, unfreezing Iranian assets, and an end to attacks on Iran and its allies in the region, including Lebanon. However, Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has disputed that Lebanon is part of the ceasefire, and Israel continued to pound Lebanon following the ceasefire announcement.
So far, over 2,076 people in Iran have been killed by the U.S. and Israel, according to Iran’s Health Ministry. Nearly 1,500 people have been killed by Israel during the country’s military campaign in Lebanon. Iran’s retaliatory strikes have killed dozens across the Middle East, including Israel, Bahrain, Qatar, Jordan, and Iraq.
