Iran’s Supreme National Security Council declared near-total victory as a two-week ceasefire with the United States took effect even as US President Donald Trump cast the same development as the fulfilment
of American military objectives.
“Good news to the dear nation of Iran! Nearly all the objectives of the war have been achieved,” Iran’s Supreme National Security Council said in a statement, adding that “the enemy has been begging for a ceasefire for over a month” while Iran repeatedly rebuffed those overtures.
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The council said it had deliberately prolonged the war past multiple American deadlines which it said it “attaches no importance to” until Tehran judged its battlefield objectives met after bringing US to “historic helplessness and lasting defeat.”
Pakistan As Bridge
The ceasefire was brokered through Pakistan as Trump announced on his Truth Social platform that he had agreed to “suspend the bombing and attack of Iran for a period of two weeks” following direct appeals from Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and Field Marshal Asim Munir, Pakistan’s military chief.
Iran’s security council confirmed that Islamabad had served as the conduit, saying Pakistan’s prime minister had informed Tehran that “the American side, despite all its apparent threats, has accepted these principles as the basis for negotiations.”
Read more:Trump Suspends Iran Strikes For Two Weeks Subject To Hormuz Opening: ‘Double-Sided Ceasefire’
Negotiations between the two sides are now scheduled to begin in Islamabad on April 10.
Iran’s Ten-Point Plan
At the centre of the diplomatic effort is a ten-article framework Iran says it authored and transmitted to Washington through Pakistan. Iran’s conditions include: controlled passage through the Strait of Hormuz in coordination with Iranian armed forces; a full end to hostilities against all factions of the so-called Axis of Resistance; the withdrawal of US combat forces from all regional bases; full compensation for war damages; the lifting of all sanctions; the release of all frozen Iranian assets abroad; and the codification of all these terms in a binding UN Security Council resolution.
Iran’s security council was careful to draw a sharp distinction between the ceasefire and any final resolution, asserting, “This does not mean the end of the war.”
“Iran will only accept the end of the war once the details are finalized in the negotiations,” the council said, insisting the talks would be conducted “strictly based on” the principles laid out in its ten-point plan.
Trump, for his part, expressed optimism, saying the two-week window would allow a “definitive agreement” to be “finalised and consummated,” and that nearly all points of contention had already been resolved.
