Political leaders and many Americans breathed a sigh of relief on Tuesday evening, when Donald Trump announced a provisional ceasefire deal hours after threatening to destroy Iran’s “whole civilization” if Tehran failed to reopen the strait of Hormuz by the US president’s deadline.
The announcement of the agreement came roughly 90 minutes before the 8pm ET deadline by which Trump pledged to bomb Iran’s power plants and bridges in a move legal and military scholars said would be considered a war crime. But a last-minute intervention by Pakistan led Trump to back off, at least temporarily, his ultimatum for widespread destruction.
