Political leaders and many Americans breathed a sigh of relief on Tuesday evening when Donald Trump announced a temporary ceasefire agreement, just hours after he had threatened to destroy Iran’s „entire civilization” if Tehran did not reopen the Strait of Hormuz by his self-imposed deadline.
The announcement of the agreement came about 90 minutes before the deadline Trump had set for himself to bomb Iran’s power plants and bridges, in an action that legal and military strategy experts said would be considered a war crime, according to The Guardian.
However, a last-minute intervention by Pakistan led Trump to temporarily abandon his ultimatum regarding widescale destruction.
"Subject to the Islamic Republic of Iran allowing the FULL, IMMEDIATE, and SAFE opening of the Strait of Hormuz, I am willing to suspend bombing and attacking Iran for a period of two weeks," Trump wrote in a post on Tuesday evening.
The Iranian Foreign Minister shortly issued a statement saying that passage through the Strait of Hormuz would be allowed in the next two weeks under the control of the Iranian army.
Trump had previously warned that "an entire civilization will die tonight, never to be brought back" if Iran did not allow safe passage for commercial shipping through the strait.
The president's comments were quickly condemned by Democrats, supporters who distanced themselves from Trump due to the war, and Pope Leon.
"I'm glad that Trump took a step back and desperately seeks any form of exit from his ridiculous bravado," said Chuck Schumer, the Senate Democratic leader, on Tuesday evening, reacting to the news of the two-week temporary armistice.
Previously, Schumer had called Trump "an extremely sick person" leading an "arbitrary, elected" war.
Following his increasingly bellicose threats of imminent destruction, dozens of Democrats in the House of Representatives, including former Speaker Nancy Pelosi, called for Trump's removal, either through impeachment or invoking the 25th Amendment, a constitutional process by which a sitting president can be declared unfit to perform his duties.
Former MAGA allies turned critics, including former congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene and far-right media personality Candace Owens, denounced Trump's threats as "evil" and "insane."
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, a progressive congresswoman from New York, said that the two-week agreement "changes nothing."
"The president has threatened genocide against the Iranian people and continues to use this threat as leverage," she wrote on social media, once again calling for his removal. "We can no longer afford to endanger the world or the well-being of our nation."
Hakeem Jeffries, the House minority leader, called Trump's behavior "unbalanced, unworthy of the presidential office, and inconceivable," in an interview given on Tuesday evening to CNN. "The American people strongly oppose this reckless, elected war," he said. "He has thrown America into this war without any plan, objective, or exit strategy."
Democrats will ask Mike Johnson to immediately reconvene the House to introduce a war powers resolution aimed at definitively ending this conflict, Jeffries said.
While Republican members of Congress were relatively restrained in their public reactions to Trump's previous threats, many welcomed the president's acceptance of a short-term armistice, presenting it as a skillful and tactical move.
"Great news," said Senator Rick Scott from Florida. "It's a strong first step towards holding Iran accountable and shows what happens when you have a leader who promotes peace through strength, instead of chaos and weak appeasement policies."