Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif called on President Trump to extend the deadline again to delay the US mass bombing of Iran’s infrastructure.
Pakistan, which has been playing mediator between the US and Iran, said in a statement Tuesday afternoon that diplomacy is “progressing steadily” as the clock ticks closer to Trump’s 8 p.m. deadline for Iran to reopen the Strait of Hormuz.
“Diplomatic efforts for peaceful settlement of the ongoing war in the Middle East are progressing steadily, strongly and powerfully with the potential to lead to substantive results in near future,” the prime minister said. “To allow diplomacy to run its course, I earnestly request President Trump to extend the deadline for two weeks.”
Pakistan, which has been passing messages between Washington and Tehran throughout the weeks-long war, also asked Iran to “open Strait of Hormuz for a corresponding period of two weeks as a goodwill gesture.”
“We also urge all warring parties to observe a ceasefire everywhere for two weeks to allow diplomacy to achieve conclusive termination of war, in the interest of long-term peace and stability in the region,” Sharif added.
Iran has renewed its threat to take control of another key trade route in the Middle East, the Bab el-Mandeb Strait, if President Trump makes good on his promise to escalate the war on Tuesday night.
US officials used a personal question about an Air Force colonel’s father to confirm his identity after he sent strange messages while hiding in Iran, triggering fears that he could have been taken hostage.
US forces asked trapped airman key personal question to prove it wasn’t trap
Trump has already pushed the deadline three times — first to March 27, then April 6 and finally to April 7 to avoid bombing Iran on Easter Monday, he told reporters at the White House that day.
The White House is reviewing the offer.
“The president has been made aware of the proposal, and a response will come,” press secretary Karoline Leavitt said in a statement.
After the news broke, Trump declined to say how he was feeling about negotiations in a phone call with Fox News’ Jacqui Heinrich, noting that he was soon to be “briefed fully on it.”
“I can’t tell you, because right now we’re in heated negotiations,” he told Heinrich.
Iran has yet to issue a comment on the Pakistani proposal, but has repeatedly said it was unwilling to participate in a cease-fire.
Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baghaei on Monday claimed a pause in fighting would merely allow the US a chance to prepare for more attacks.
“A cease-fire means creating a pause to strengthen forces for a new crime. No sane person would do this,” he said in translated remarks. “Our demands, in addition to the absence of a cease-fire and war cycle, must be met.”
The proposal comes after Trump on Tuesday warned in a Truth Social post that “a whole civilization will die tonight, never to be brought back again” in Iran if Tehran does not meet his deadline.
“I don’t want that to happen, but it probably will. However, now that we have Complete and Total Regime Change, where different, smarter, and less radicalized minds prevail, maybe something revolutionarily wonderful can happen, WHO KNOWS?” he added.
With just hours until the deadline expires, the Iranian National Guard Corps threatened to retaliate against any attacks, stating its forces “will inflict such damage on the infrastructure of the US and its partners that they will be deprived of the region’s oil and gas for years to come,” Iran’s state-run Press TV reported.
New York Post
