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BBC News with Chris Barrow.
The U.S. and Iran have announced a two-week ceasefire, with Donald Trump calling off his threat of imminent massive strikes barely an hour before he said they would start. The Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi confirmed that safe passage through the Strait of Hormuz would be possible during this period with the coordination of Iran's armed forces. Reports say Israel will also adhere to the ceasefire. Our State Department correspondent Tom Bateman says this announcement has taken all sides back to the beginning of the conflict. We're sort of in a sense back to square one in that you've got a negotiation between Washington under Mr. Trump and the Tehran under the regime but with the implicit threat of American military force. If the Iranians don't do what Mr. Trump wants so I'm not sure where that gets us. You've got an extremely suspicious potentially more hardline regime in Tehran now although Mr. Trump is claiming that it's the reverse. Iran confirmed that a ten-point plan was sent to U.S. officials via Pakistani mediators. Mr. Trump said this was a workable basis for negotiations but with the proposals including compensation and an end to sanctions and Iran being able to enrich uranium. State media say the U.S. accepting talks on this basis amounts to a humiliating retreat. Our BBC Persian correspondent Khashayar Joneidi has more details. The U.S. says it's accepted a ceasefire under the condition that there will be free traffic, free flow of traffic, in the Strait of Hormuz. Iran is mentioning that it wants to have control because of its geographic locations. That's number one. There is going to be difficult negotiations over Iran's nuclear program. Iranian state media are saying that the U.S. has agreed to enrichment in Iran. The U.S. has said it wants no enrichment being done in Iran so they're going to be very difficult negotiations. It's going to be a very hard two weeks. Pakistan whose intense mediation efforts led to the two-week ceasefire says it's taking effect immediately and will encompass everywhere including Lebanon. The Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif posting on X said he was inviting U.S. and Iranian delegations to Islamabad on Friday this week to further negotiate for a conclusive agreement to settle as he put it all disputes. Lebanon's Health Ministry says Israel's latest strikes have killed eight people in the coastal city of Sidon. Earlier the IDF again told remaining residents in Tyre to flee their homes as it strikes targeting Hezbollah continued. Israel has yet to confirm it will cease operations in southern Lebanon. Oil prices have fallen sharply on news of the ceasefire. Stock markets in Asia have reacted positively in early trading, with South Korea's KOSPI index jumping almost 6 percent and Japan's Nikkei more than 4 percent. Both countries are heavily dependent on energy imports from the Middle East. BBC News. The Republican Clay Fuller has been projected as the winner of the U.S. congressional seat vacated by Marjorie Taylor Greene who resigned after falling out with Donald Trump. Mr. Fuller had faced a surprisingly strong challenge from the Democrat Shawn Harris who'd led in the first round in the normally solidly Republican district in Georgia. Mr. Fuller has the backing of Mr. Trump who described Ms. Green as a traitor after she began openly criticizing him over the Epstein files. Police in Brazil and the national health agency say they've started a crackdown on the growing production and trade of illegal weight-loss drugs. Operation heavy pen began on Tuesday with close to 70 searches across 11 Brazilian states. Jewish groups in Britain have welcomed the government's decision to block the American rapper Kanye West from entering the U.K. The move has led to the cancellation of the wireless music festival in London which had booked West as its headline act. He's been heavily criticized for making antisemitic and racist comments in recent years. Our music correspondent is Mark Savage. He released a song called Heil Hitler. He sold t-shirts with the swastika on them and in January just ahead of the release of a new album, he took out a full-page advert in the Washington Post and he said that he was incredibly sorry for all the hurt that he'd caused, that he had been diagnosed with bipolar disorder, that he had brain damage from a car accident that he was in in 2002 and that he had stopped taking his medication for some of the conditions he has and that had caused him to essentially say things that he didn't mean. FIFA has opened disciplinary proceedings against Spanish football's governing body over Islamophobic chants during the men's national sides match against Egypt last week. The chants by fans were condemned by Spain's coach and the team's star player Lamine Yamal who's Muslim. And that's the latest BBC news. |