Online Reporter
Gibson Nyikadzino
Zimpapers Politics Hub
Iran and the United States are both claiming victory following a Pakistan-negotiated two-weeks ceasefire to end 39 days of war since February 28.
The United States and Israel attacked Iran on February 28, starting a war that spread to neighbouring countries, threatening to become a regional war and rocking global markets.
The ceasefire halts a conflict that had sparked a historic oil crisis, impacting many regions, including Africa and disrupting energy supply chains. Markets have reacted positively to the news, with the price of a barrel of oil dropping below the $100 mark for the first time in days.
Pakistan’s Prime Minister Mr Shehbaz Sharif has invited Iran and the US to Islamabad for talks on Friday.
Ahead of the expected Friday talks, the US and Iran have provided peace points that will likely see a permanent cessation of hostilities and the opening of the Strait of Hormuz, a key global choke point where 20 percent of the global oil supplies pass.
President Donald Trump said Iran had proposed a “workable” 10-point peace plan. According to Iranian state media, the proposal includes a number of conditions that the US has in the past rejected.
World leaders have reacted differently to the ceasefire, with Spain’s Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez writing on X that his administration “will not applaud those who set the world on fire just because they show up with a bucket”.
Oman’s foreign minister, Badr Albusaidi, who mediated indirect nuclear talks between Iran and the US before the war, said the ceasefire meant “for now the world has stepped back from disaster”.
