Explainer: What is in Iran’s 10-point ceasefire plan and will the US agree to it?

What demands are in Iran’s 10-point plan?

According to state media, Iran will only accept the war’s conclusion once details are finalised in line with a 10-point peace plan reportedly submitted to the White House via Pakistani intermediaries.

The list of 10 points, published by Iranianstate media, include a number of conditions the US has rejected in the past. The plan requires:

• The lifting of all primary and secondary sanctions on Iran.

• Continued Iranian control over the strait of Hormuz.

• US military withdrawal from the Middle East.

• An end to attacks on Iran and its allies.

• The release of frozen Iranian assets.

• A UN security council resolution making any deal binding.

In the version released in Farsi, Iran also included the phrase “acceptance of enrichment” for its nuclear program. But for reasons that remain unclear, that phrase was missing in English versions shared by Iranian diplomats to journalists.

What does the ceasefire plan mean for the strait of Hormuz?

The Iranian foreign minister, Abbas Araghchi, said safe passage through the strait would be allowed under Iranian military management. It wasn’t immediately clear whether that meant Iran would completely loosen its hold on the waterway.

The plan allows Iran and Oman to charge fees on ships transiting through the strait, according to a regional official who spoke to the Associated Press on condition of anonymity to discuss negotiations they had been involved in. The official said Iran would use the money it raised for reconstruction.

If peace talks fail, Tehran may again seek to close the strait.

What will happen next?

Pakistan’s prime minister, Shehbaz Sharif, who helped mediate the ceasefire, said in a post on X that he had invited Iranian and US delegations to meet in Islamabad on Friday.

Tehran has said it will participate in the talks. As of 11pm ET on Tuesday, the US had yet to publicly state if it planned to attend the negotiations.

Will the US agree to this 10-point plan and Iran’s proposals?

Since negotiations began between the Trump administration and Iran over the status of Tehran’s nuclear programme almost a year ago, their vastly different demands and the limits to what each side would concede have proved a barrier to any lasting agreement.

The call for Iranian control over the strait of Hormuz has been highlighted as of particular concern, as Iran held no control over the strait before the conflict began. According to some initial reports, Iran would impose a fee of roughly $2m and use the proceeds to reconstruct the country after weeks of US and Israeli strikes.

The Democratic senator Chris Murphy leapt on the comments from Iran, telling CNN “who knows if any of that is true, but if this agreement gives Iran the right to control the strait that is cataclysmic for the world”. Experts and analysts have suggested that Iran’s maximalist demands are unlikely to be agreed to by the US, but will rather form the basis for talks.

What happened in the hours leading up to Trump pausing his deadline?

Late on Tuesday, Pakistan’s prime minister urged Trump to extend his deadline by two weeks to allow diplomacy to advance. In a post on X, Sharif, whose country has been leading negotiations, also asked Iran to open up for two weeks the strait of Hormuz.

China, which is Tehran’s biggest trade partner, encouraged the Iranians to find a way to a ceasefire as talks progressed, according to two officials who were not authorised to comment and spoke to AP on condition of anonymity. Trump told AFP on Tuesday he believed China had helped get Iran to the negotiating table.

With the US midterm election campaign ramping up, Trump’s approval ratings have hit their lowest level ever, leaving his Republican party at risk of losing its narrow majorities in Congress. Polls show sizeable majorities of Americans are opposed to the war and frustrated by the rising cost of petrol.