Trump extends ceasefire with Iran.

Workers stand near the graves of Hezbollah members as they take a break from digging in a damaged cemetery in the southern Lebanese village of Mansouri, on Tuesday, April 21, 2026. The U.S. State Department will host a second round of ambassador-level talks between Israel and Lebanon, which are in a cease fire, on Thursday, the department said. (David Guttenfelder/The New York Times)

By LUKE BROADWATER, JONATHAN SWAN, FARNAZ FASSIHI and SOMINI SENGUPTA

President Donald Trump said he was extending a ceasefire with Iran on Tuesday, just hours before it was set to expire. The announcement came after Vice President JD Vance’s trip to Pakistan for a second round of negotiations with Iran was put on hold because, according to a U.S. official, Tehran failed to respond to American positions.

The president made the announcement on Truth Social. He said he had received a request from Pakistan, which is attempting to mediate an end to the war, to hold off any attacks. Trump said a ceasefire would stay in effect until Iran’s “leaders and representatives can come up with a unified proposal.” Iran did not immediately respond to the news.

Trump’s announcement was a marked departure from his comments earlier in the day, when he told CNBC that if Iran did not agree to U.S. demand, “I expect to be bombing.”

He also said the blockade of the Strait of Hormuz would continue.

Iran, for its part, had earlier called for the United States to lift its naval blockade of the Strait of Hormuz. Iran’s Foreign Minister, Abbas Araghchi, called the blockade “an act of war.”

Even if the two sides return to the negotiating table, many sticking points remain, chiefly on Iran’s nuclear program and on the Strait of Hormuz, a strategic conduit for oil and gas. The threat of Iranian attacks has throttled shipping traffic through the strait, prompting an American blockade of Iranian ports that the U.S. Navy says has forced 28 ships to turn around.

Here’s what else we are covering:

— Energy: Oil prices approached $100 a barrel and stocks faded Tuesday as uncertainty clouded the possibility of peace talks.

— Lebanon: Even though a separate 10-day ceasefire between Israel and Lebanon has mostly held since it went into effect last week, Israel on Tuesday blamed Hezbollah, the Iran-backed militant group, for firing rockets toward Israeli troops in southern Lebanon. The Israeli military has kept up repeated strikes since the truce. Hezbollah later confirmed firing on Israel, saying it was in response to ceasefire violations.

— Tanker: The U.S. military stopped and boarded a sanctioned ship in the Indo-Pacific region that was carrying oil from Iran overnight, the Pentagon said Tuesday.

— China: Xi Jinping, China’s top leader, called for the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz — the first time he has done so — underscoring the war’s impact on Chinese economic interests.