Oman welcomes ceasefire between US and Iran

Oman welcomed on Wednesday (April 8) the ceasefire announcement between Iran and United States, its foreign ministry said in a statement released on X.

U.S. President Donald Trump agreed to a two-week ceasefire with Iran, less than two hours before his deadline for Tehran to reopen the strait or face attacks on its civilian infrastructure.

The announcement late on Tuesday (April 7) represented ​an abrupt turnaround from his extraordinary warning earlier in the day, when he said "a whole civilization will die tonight" if his demands were not met. Pakistan's military chief, Field Marshal Asim Munir, and its prime ‌minister, Shehbaz Sharif, helped mediate the ceasefire.

Sharif said in a post on X he had invited Iranian and U.S. delegations to meet in Islamabad on Friday (April 10).

The last-minute deal was subject to Iran's agreement to pause its blockade of oil and gas supplies through the strait, Trump said. The waterway typically handles about one-fifth of global oil shipments.

Iran's foreign minister, Abbas Araqchi, said in a statement Tehran would cease counter-attacks and provide safe passage through the waterway, if attacks against it stop.

-Abir Al Ahmar/Reuters