Trump extends Iran ceasefire by 30 days after Tehran submits revised nuclear proposal

WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump on Tuesday extended the U.S.-Iran ceasefire by 30 days, pushing the expiration to May 28, after receiving a revised written nuclear proposal from Tehran delivered through Pakistani intermediaries.

The decision, announced from the Oval Office at 4:15 p.m. Eastern, follows nearly 14 weeks of shuttle diplomacy brokered by Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif's government. Pakistani Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar personally transmitted the sealed Iranian document to Secretary of State Marco Rubio at Blair House on Monday evening, two senior administration officials confirmed.

"Iran has come to the table with something serious this time, and I believe we can make a deal — a great deal — that prevents a war nobody wants," Trump told reporters. "We're giving them 30 more days. Not a day more if they play games."

National Security Adviser Michael Waltz, briefing reporters separately at the White House, said the new Iranian proposal includes a phased reduction of uranium enrichment from 60 percent to below 5 percent over nine months, unrestricted International Atomic Energy Agency access to the Natanz and Fordow facilities, and a freeze on deployment of IR-6 and IR-9 advanced centrifuges. In exchange, Tehran is seeking the unfreezing of roughly $6 billion in assets held in South Korean and Japanese banks and partial relief from secondary sanctions on its petrochemical sector.

Waltz said the Supreme National Security Council in Tehran had transmitted the document after two preliminary drafts were rejected by U.S. negotiators in early April. He added that U.S. Central Command would hold the Gerald R. Ford and Nimitz carrier strike groups in their current positions in the northern Arabian Sea pending the outcome of talks.

Pakistani Foreign Minister Dar confirmed the handoff in a statement issued from Islamabad. "Pakistan is honored to facilitate dialogue between two nations at a critical juncture," Dar said. "We urge both parties to seize this opening."

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, speaking to state broadcaster IRIB, described the proposal as "a final, good-faith effort" and warned that further military pressure would collapse the negotiating track.

Markets responded swiftly. Brent crude fell 3.8 percent to $74.20 a barrel in Tuesday trading, while the Tel Aviv 35 index rose 2.4 percent and the Tehran Stock Exchange's main index gained nearly 4 percent on Wednesday morning. Lloyd's of London said it would defer a planned reassessment of hull insurance premiums for tankers transiting the Strait of Hormuz.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, in a statement from Jerusalem, said his government would "study the framework carefully" but cautioned against "any agreement that leaves enrichment capability intact."

On Capitol Hill, Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Jim Risch (R-Idaho) said hearings on the proposal would begin next week, while Senator Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) called the extension "a narrow but real opening that Congress must scrutinize." Technical talks between U.S. envoy Steve Witkoff and Iranian negotiators led by Deputy Foreign Minister Majid Takht-Ravanchi are expected to resume in Muscat on Sunday.