Trump extends ceasefire, says giving Iran time to negotiate • FRANCE 24 English

Added: 2026-05-05

[00:00:00]Donald Trump says the United States is extending its ceasefire with Iran at the request of Pakistan while awaiting a unified proposal from Thran even as the US military maintains its blockade of Iranian ports. He made the announcement as lastm minute peace talks looked increasingly uncertain and after the White House put on hold Vice President JD Vance's planned trip to Islamabad for a second round of negotiations with Iran which has balked at further discussions.

[00:00:30]Well, let's cross live now to our Washington correspondent Fraser Jackson has been following all the latest developments for us. Fraser, we are expecting to hear from Donald Trump at some point in the next little while. It seems though to be the latest instance of the US president backing down from repeated threats. Where exactly are we now? What are you expecting him to say now to the American people?

[00:01:01]>> Well, the term Taco Tuesday is trending once again on Twitter, which stands for Trump always chickens out. this now being the fifth time that Donald Trump has extended his self-imposed deadline to strike a deal with Iran or bomb their infrastructure. And Donald Trump, remember, has repeatedly said in the last few days that a deal was almost finalized with Iran and that he didn't want to extend a ceasefire. He said that as recently as this morning to Reuters and now that all appears not to be true.

[00:01:29]Now, citing a a fractured command structure, Donald Trump has announced this indefinite ceasefire with Iran. He says, "I've therefore directed our military to continue the blockade and in all other respects remain ready and able and will therefore extend the ceasefire until such time as their proposal is submitted." Of course talking about Iran there and he says and until discussions are concluded one way or the other. This then highlighting a key concern that the administration has had that there's a divide between Iran's negotiating team which is led by the parliamentary speaker Galabaf and the foreign minister Aragshi and Iran's military the IRGC which ultimately has led to questions in the administration of who can ultimately sign off on a deal. But this now though may put Iran in the driver's seat with them uh now not really got any impetus or incentive to get to the negotiating table as Donald Trump is planning to hold off military action uh as long as there isn't a proposal uh that they've discussed and rejected. So there is still many uh questions here as well. Uh but Donald Trump now trying to sell this to the American people as something which he has kind of foreseen. But of course, this goes against what he said for the last few days, especially when it comes to Iran now not being in this position to sign a kind of finalized deal and waiting for their proposals as it were.

[00:02:53]>> And Fraser, you mentioned the Iranian parliamentary speaker. One of his advisers has just responded by saying, "Donald Trump's ceasefire extension means nothing. The losing side cannot dictate terms." this ceasefire extension by Donald Trump. It's aimed at giving negotiators further time to get Iran to the negotiating table as it were. But given everything we've seen over the past few days, how hopeful can we possibly be that any kind of breakthrough is going to be made when and if we do get into that negotiating room?

[00:03:29]Well, the Iranians have said that their chief uh one of their chief uh concerns and chief requests is that this blockade that the US military and navy has on Iranian ships and uh vessels coming to and from Iranian ports uh that that is lifted before any talks resume. Now, of course, that blockade is still in effect and Donald Trump in that uh tweet himself said that the blockade is going to remain in effect as well while these talks continue. So there is still a standoff between the two sides on that and it also looks to be a bit of a difference of opinion when it comes to some of the key points of the deal as well. The enrichment of uranium, the what's going to happen with the stockpile of enriched uranium that Iran has. Donald Trump says that the Iranians have agreed to his demands that that uranium will be taken off their hands and that they'll put limits on their enrichment programs. But the Iranians are also uh counteracting that saying that that's not true as well. So the war of words is continuing here much uh much as much as anything. But I think the key thing really is that the US clearly does not have an appetite to restart kinetic action. Military strikes, air strikes, missile strikes on Iran. As much as Donald Trump says that plans are being drawn up as a kind of backup, it's clear that the US doesn't have any appetite for that at the moment. And some analysts that you are seeing online say that that may be a signal to markets that although a ceasefire h may still be on the cards in terms sorry deal may be still on the cards. There will be no strikes coming their way that could be a signal to the markets which of course have reacted negatively to this information of the uh talks being postponed. Uh but now uh there is a you know a slight hope that this ceasefire will mean that no further strikes will continue at least for the foreseeable future. Fer, we'll leave it there for now. As I say, we are expecting to hear from Donald Trump at some point. You'll be bringing us all the updates as soon as we have them.