The Latest: Iran says it has accepted a 2-week ceasefire in the war
Iran’s Supreme National Security Council said it has accepted a two-week ceasefire in the war. Its statement said it would negotiate with the United States in Islamabad beginning Friday.
“It is emphasized that this does not signify the termination of the war,” the statement said. “Our hands remain upon the trigger, and should the slightest error be committed by the enemy, it shall be met with full force.”
U.S. President Donald Trump said he’s pulling back on his threats to widen attacks on Iran. The president said that includes an array of bridges, power plants and other civilian targets — subject to Iran being ready for a two-week ceasefire and to reopen the Strait of Hormuz.
Trump’s latest threat over the Iran war hit a new extreme earlier Tuesday when he warned, “A whole civilization will die tonight, never to be brought back again,” if Iran fails to make a deal that includes reopening the vital Strait of Hormuz.
The Republican president’s earlier comments were swiftly met with condemnation from Democrats, some “Make America Great Again” supporters who have since broken with Trump, and the first American pope.
US and Iran agree to 2-week ceasefire but Israel says deal doesn't include fight against Hezbollah
TEL AVIV, Israel (AP) — Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel backed the U.S. ceasefire with Iran but that the deal doesn’t cover fighting against Hezbollah in Lebanon.
Netanyahu’s office said in the statement Wednesday that Israel supported U.S. President Donald Trump’s decision to suspend strikes against Iran for two weeks subject to Iran immediately opening the Strait of Hormuz and stopping all attacks on the U.S. Israel and countries in the region.
His office said Israel also supports U.S. efforts to ensure Iran no longer poses a nuclear or missile threat.
THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. AP’s earlier story follows below.
TEHRAN, Iran (AP) — U.S. President Donald Trump pulled back on his threats to launch devastating strikes on Iran late Tuesday, as the U.S. and Iran agreed to a two-week ceasefire that includes the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz.
How Trump's deadline delays and threats escalated leading up to 2-week ceasefire with Iran
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump said he would suspend his threatened attack against Iran less than two hours before the deadline the president set for Tehran Tuesday, which followed weeks of deadline delays and escalating threats, including Trump's earlier post that “a whole civilization will die tonight.”
On Truth Social, Trump posted that he would withhold “the bombing and attack of Iran” for two weeks, subject to Iran reopening the Strait of Hormuz. Iranian officials said they had accepted a two-week ceasefire and that passage through the strait would be allowed for that same period.
The temporary agreement comes after weeks of the Republican president posting a slew of heated threats, announcing deadline delays and proclamations that the negotiations were going well, sometimes in the same statement.
That was true in Trump's Truth Social post before his now-suspended Tuesday 8 p.m. ET deadline. After threatening a “whole civilization," Trump had said Iran's new leaders were more reasonable and “maybe something revolutionarily wonderful can happen, WHO KNOWS?”
Trumps posts earlier in the day had raised the ante from his threats Monday, in which he said: “They’ll have no bridges. They’ll have no power plants. They’ll have no anything.”
Russia and China veto watered-down UN resolution aimed at reopening the Strait of Hormuz
UNITED NATIONS (AP) — Russia and China on Tuesday vetoed a U.N. Security Council resolution aimed at reopening the Strait of Hormuz that had been repeatedly watered down in hopes those two countries would abstain.
The vote — 11-2, with two abstentions from Pakistan and Colombia — took place shortly after U.S. President Donald Trump issued an unprecedented threat that a “whole civilization will die tonight" if Iran does not open the strategic waterway and make a deal. But late Tuesday, less than two hours before the deadline he set, Trump pulled back his threat.
Trump said he would suspend the threatened attack for two weeks provided Iran agreed to a two-week ceasefire and the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz. One-fifth of the world’s oil typically passes through the strait, and Iran’s stranglehold during the war has sent energy prices soaring.
Iran accepted the two-week ceasefire and said passage through the strait during this period would be allowed under Iranian military management. Trump said Iran has proposed a “workable” 10-point plan for ending the war.
Russia and China strongly defended their opposition to the U.N. resolution, both citing Trump's threat to end Iran’s civilization as confirmation that the proposal would have given the U.S. and Israel “carte blanche for continued aggression," as Russian envoy Vassily Nebenzia put it.
Gunmen attack police near building housing Israeli Consulate in Istanbul
ISTANBUL (AP) — Three assailants opened fire at police outside a building housing the Israeli Consulate in Istanbul on Tuesday, sparking a gunfight that left one attacker dead, Turkish officials said. The two other assailants were wounded and captured.
Two police officers sustained slight injuries, Istanbul Gov. Davut Gul told reporters. The assailants were carrying long-barreled weapons.
The consulate is located in a high-rise building in Levent, one of the city’s main business districts. Officials said that there are no Israeli diplomats present in Israeli missions in Turkey. Israel withdrew its diplomats amid security concerns and deteriorating relations with Turkey during the war in Gaza.
Interior Minister Mustafa Cifti wrote on X that the attackers had traveled from the city of Izmit, about 100 kilometers (60 miles) east of Istanbul, in a rented car. One of the assailants was linked to a group he described as “exploiting religion,” without naming the organization.
The Islamic State group has carried out deadly attacks in Turkey in the past.
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On Hungary visit, Vance urges voters to support Orbán days before pivotal election
BUDAPEST, Hungary (AP) — U.S. Vice President JD Vance on Tuesday urged Hungarians to back Prime Minister Viktor Orbán in upcoming elections, dubbing the populist leader a defender of “Western civilization” during a visit to Hungary meant to help push Orbán over the finish line.
Vance's two-day visit to Budapest was the clearest sign yet that U.S. President Donald Trump's administration is going all-in for an Orbán victory when Hungarians go to the polls on Sunday. With only five days until the vote, Orbán, the European Union’s longest-serving leader and a close Trump ally, is trailing in the polls.
Speaking before over 1,000 Orbán supporters at an election rally at a sports arena in Budapest, Vance campaigned openly for the autocratic leader, telling the crowd: “We have got to get Viktor Orbán reelected as prime minister of Hungary, don’t we?”
Orbán is running for his fifth-straight term as prime minister. He and his nationalist-populist Fidesz party are facing their toughest race in two decades against a center-right challenger, the Tisza party led by Péter Magyar, that could bring an end to his 16 years in power.
Orbán has bristled at the slightest mention of the Hungarian election by any of his EU partners, decrying any expressions of support for his opponent as a grave breach of Hungary’s sovereignty and meddling in the election.
American journalist Shelly Kittleson has been released week after kidnapping in Iraq, Rubio says
BAGHDAD (AP) — American journalist Shelly Kittleson, who was kidnapped from a Baghdad streetcorner last week, was released Tuesday, U.S. and Iraqi officials said.
The development came after the powerful Iran-backed Iraqi militia Kataib Hezbollah said in a statement that it had decided to free Kittleson, who was abducted on March 31. Its condition was that Kittleson must “leave the country immediately” upon her release.
Two officials within the militia, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to comment publicly, told The Associated Press that in exchange for freeing Kittleson, several members of the group who had previously been detained by Iraqi authorities would be released.
U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio confirmed Kittleson's release in a statement early Wednesday. He said on X, “We are relieved that this American is now freed and are working to support her safe departure from Iraq.”
Rubio thanked Iraqi authorities, as well as the FBI and U.S. Defense Department and other U.S. agencies for their work toward securing Kittleson’s release.
Oil prices sink and US stock futures jump as US and Iran agree to 2-week ceasefire
NEW YORK (AP) — Oil prices plunged below $100 a barrel and Asia markets and U.S. stock futures jumped after the U.S. and Iran agreed to a two-week ceasefire that includes the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz.
Japan’s benchmark Nikkei 225 rose 4.8% and South Korea’s Kospi gained 5.6%. Futures for the S&P 500 advanced 2.3% as of 9:30 p.m. EDT, while Dow futures rose 2%.
Futures for U.S. crude oil sank 14.3% to $96.83 a barrel and Brent crude oil, the international standard, dropped 13.3% to $94.74. Oil prices had spiked because the war snarled the production and transportation of crude in the Persian Gulf. Much of that oil exits the gulf through the Strait of Hormuz to reach customers around the world, but Iran had blocked it to enemies.
Late Tuesday, Trump said he was holding off on his threatened attacks on Iranian bridges, power plants and other civilian targets. Iran’s foreign minister said passage through the strait would be allowed for the next two weeks under Iranian military management.
The dramatic moves in prices are just the latest swings to hit financial markets since late February because of constantly shifting signals about when the conflict may end. Even with word of a ceasefire, neither Iran nor the United States said when it would begin, and attacks took place in Israel, Iran and across the Gulf region early Wednesday.
Wireless Festival canceled after UK bars rapper Ye over antisemitic remarks
LONDON (AP) — The rapper formerly known as Kanye West was barred Tuesday from entering the U.K., where he was scheduled to headline the Wireless Festival in July, after a backlash over Ye's history of antisemitic remarks.
Festival organizers canceled the three-day outdoor event as a result of the travel ban and said those who had bought tickets would get refunds.
Ye applied for an electronic travel authorization to visit the U.K., but it was blocked by the government on the grounds that his presence in the country would not be “conducive to the public good.”
“Kanye West should never have been invited to headline Wireless,” Prime Minister Keir Starmer said in a statement posted on social media. “This government stands firmly with the Jewish community, and we will not stop in our fight to confront and defeat the poison of antisemitism. We will always take the action necessary to protect the public and uphold our values.”
The rapper, who changed his name in 2021, had been expected to play his first U.K. dates for more than a decade in front of around 150,000 revelers over three nights July 10-12 at the Wireless Festival, in London’s Finsbury Park. Other acts for the festival had not yet been announced.
Environmental groups urge appeals court panel to lift halt on closing Florida's 'Alligator Alcatraz'
ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) — Environmental groups on Tuesday asked a federal appellate court panel to drop its temporary halt of a lower court's order instructing state officials to close an immigration detention center in the heart of the Florida Everglades known as “Alligator Alcatraz.”
The Everglades facility remains open, still holding detainees, because the appellate court in early September relied on arguments by Florida and the Trump administration that the state had not yet applied for federal reimbursement, and therefore wasn’t required to follow federal environmental law. State officials opened the detention center last summer to support President Donald Trump’s immigration crackdown.
Questions by the three appellate judges during oral arguments in a Miami courtroom focused on how much control the federal government had over the state-built facility and under what circumstances an environmental review was required to be in compliance with federal law. The judges did not indicate when they would rule.
Jesse Panuccio, an attorney for the Florida Department of Emergency Management, told the judges federal funding and federal control of the facility were the two criteria for determining if the federal environmental law would apply and the federal agencies had no control over the state-run detention center.
Florida was notified in late September that FEMA had approved $608 million in federal funding to support the center’s construction and operation.
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