Trump Agrees to Iran Ceasefire After Threats

President Donald Trump agreed to a two-week ceasefire with Iran after setting a deadline for the country to open the Strait of Hormuz or face severe military strikes. The agreement, reached just hours before the deadline, includes the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz and a halt to bombing for two weeks, contingent on Iran's compliance.

According to Reuters, Trump proposed a $500 billion increase in the military budget for 2027, bringing it to $1.5 trillion. He suggested that negotiations must include an open Strait of Hormuz and hinted at potential U.S. involvement in rebuilding Iran if more intensive strikes are carried out.

The political landscape has shifted dramatically since last year, with many Republicans now privately conceding that the House is all but lost and Democrats have a realistic shot at taking the Senate. The Republican National Committee has largely avoided discussing the war in its talking points for surrogates over the past month. Veteran Republican pollster Neil Newhouse warned of an 'ugly November' due to the political backlash from the war.

Trump remains deeply popular with Republican voters, but his approval ratings have remained consistently weak, with about 4 in 10 Americans approving of his presidency throughout his second term. According to NPR, a Fox News poll found a 59% disapproval rating of President Trump.

The possibility of sending U.S. forces into Iran appears politically unpalatable, with about 6 in 10 adults opposing such deployment. About 6 in 10 U.S. adults say the military action in Iran has gone too far, according to AP-NORC polling from March.

Former Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, once among Trump's most vocal allies, criticized his Iran policy on social media: 'All I heard from his speech tonight was WAR WAR WAR.' According to HuffPost, Greene blasted President Donald Trump for issuing more threats against Iran, in what she called an “evil” social media post on Easter Sunday. She accused Israel of having nuclear weapons and claimed that the U.S. started an unprovoked war against Iran based on 'nuclear lies'.

Legal experts have raised concerns about Trump's threats to target civilian infrastructure, which could be considered war crimes under international law. Tess Bridgeman, who was a legal adviser to President Obama's National Security Council, stated that obliterating power plants and threatening coercive actions against the civilian population is 'flatly illegal.'

Elliott Abrams, who served as special representative for Iran in the first Trump administration, says punishing the Iranian population would undercut the American cause. 'We want the Iranian people on our side,' he said. 'I'd rather see us go after regime targets, assets they use to repress the Iranian people, not assets Iranians use to live their daily lives.'

General Dan Caine, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, stated that U.S. troops are prepared to resume combat operations against Iran if diplomatic efforts fail. President Trump pulled back from a threatened assault on Iran two hours before a deadline he had set for Tehran to open the Strait of Hormuz.

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth portrayed Iran as militarily defeated and without any option but to strike a deal. He declared that Iran knows 'this agreement means that they will never, ever possess a nuclear weapon.' Under the agreement, the U.S. and Israel would halt bombing for two weeks contingent on Iran reopening the Strait of Hormuz.

Oil prices plummeted by more than 13% to $94.74 after the announcement of the deal. Trump hailed the reopening of the Hormuz strait as a victorious dawn of a new golden age, causing oil prices to drop and global stocks showed signs of rallying.

Iran's Supreme National Security Council claimed that the U.S. has suffered an 'undeniable, historic and crushing defeat' in its war against Iran. The council emphasized that this does not signify the termination of the war and warned of full force retaliation for any enemy error.