US-Iran Ceasefire Holds Amid Disagreements on Terms and Strait of Hormuz Access

By Staff Reporter

*Published: 2026-04-09*

A ceasefire between the United States and Iran, reached through Pakistani mediation on April 8, 2026, showed signs of strain on Wednesday as the two sides offered conflicting accounts of its terms and the status of the Strait of Hormuz, a key oil shipping route.

During a White House press briefing, Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt stated that the strait had reopened following President Donald Trump's threats against Iran. However, Iranian state media reported that traffic through the waterway had closed again. Leavitt countered that Iranian officials had conveyed a different message in private channels and described the state media reports as inaccurate.

Ship-tracking firm Kpler reported that, since the ceasefire announcement, four dry cargo carriers but no oil tankers had navigated the strait. The developments highlighted ongoing discrepancies between U.S. and Iranian public statements as the truce entered its second day. The agreement called for a two-week pause in U.S. strikes, during which negotiations were to begin. Some outlets, including Fox News and PBS, described the ceasefire as largely holding despite these frictions.

The U.S. military paused offensive operations but maintained its deployment in the Middle East and Persian Gulf region to enforce the deal, with Trump stating he would keep troops in place ahead of talks. World leaders, including Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, who mediated the agreement, praised the pause as a step toward de-escalation.

The White House described the ceasefire as having met its military objectives, though negotiations would address pre-war U.S. demands, including limits on Iran's nuclear program. Iran, meanwhile, asserted new positions on control of the Strait of Hormuz.

Trump had referred to a 10-point Iranian proposal as a "workable basis" for talks. Iranian state media then released a version that diverged from stated U.S. positions, according to Leavitt, who noted it differed from the document Trump reviewed on Tuesday.

Iran's parliamentary speaker, Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, accused the U.S. of violating the ceasefire terms in a Wednesday statement. "The very ‘workable basis on which to negotiate’ has been openly and clearly violated," Ghalibaf said. "In such a situation, a bilateral ceasefire or negotiations is unreasonable."

The governments also differed on whether the ceasefire applied to Lebanon, where Israel — a U.S. partner in the conflict — conducted strikes on Wednesday. Vice President JD Vance described the issue as a "legitimate misunderstanding." Sharif, the mediator, had stated that the truce included Lebanon, though U.S. and Israeli officials said they had not agreed to that scope.

"I think the Iranians thought that the ceasefire included Lebanon, and it just didn’t," Vance said during a visit to Hungary.

Leavitt announced that Vance, special envoy Steve Witkoff, and Jared Kushner, Trump's son-in-law, would travel to Islamabad on Saturday for direct negotiations with Iranian representatives. The discussions are expected to focus on Iran's stockpile of enriched uranium, which could potentially be used for nuclear weapons.

Leavitt said Iran had signaled willingness to surrender the material. Iranian officials, however, maintained their right to enrich uranium for civilian purposes and showed no intention of relinquishing it.

Prior to the war, Witkoff said Trump had instructed him to secure a deal with "no enrichment whatsoever" and the transfer of all enriched material to the U.S. In earlier talks, Iran had proposed diluting its 60 percent enriched stockpile to levels suitable for research reactors.

Trump administration officials, including Leavitt, stated that the war's objectives — described as preventing "the world’s number one sponsor of terror" from obtaining a nuclear weapon — had been achieved. Leavitt added that U.S. "red lines," including the end of enrichment in Iran, remained unchanged, with diplomacy now the preferred path.

Iran's continued possession of enriched uranium drew criticism from Natan Eshel, a former chief of staff to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. "This is not a victory! This is a disgrace!" Eshel told reporters on Wednesday. "America doesn’t know how to finish the job. You didn’t destroy the weapons, you left the ballistic missiles, and you left the uranium."

Trump responded on social media, denouncing unspecified "total Fraudsters, Charlatans, and WORSE" and threatening a "Federal Investigation." He claimed Iran had agreed to several U.S. demands and that the two sides would collaborate to "dig up and remove all of the deeply buried (B-2 Bombers) Nuclear ‘Dust.’" Trump added, "There is only one group of meaningful ‘POINTS’ that are acceptable to the United States, and we will be discussing them behind closed doors during these Negotiations."

Trump also indicated openness to Iran collecting tolls from ships transiting the Strait of Hormuz, an idea previously rejected by Secretary of State Marco Rubio. On March 27, Rubio told Group of Seven counterparts, "Not only is this illegal, it’s unacceptable. It’s dangerous for the world, and it’s important that the world have a plan to confront it."

Leavitt said the toll proposal could be addressed during the two-week truce but emphasized that the immediate U.S. priority was fully reopening the strait "without any limitations, whether in the form of tolls or otherwise." Earlier in the briefing, she had referenced Trump's warning that failure to comply could end "a whole civilization."

The ceasefire followed weeks of escalating conflict, with the U.S. and its allies conducting strikes on Iranian targets. Pakistani mediation facilitated the agreement after backchannel communications. While public statements revealed differences, private channels remained active, per U.S. officials.

Analysts noted that initial post-agreement jockeying is common in such truces, and the deployment of high-level U.S. negotiators signaled commitment to advancing talks. The U.S. maintained that its military posture ensured leverage, with carriers and aircraft positioned in the region.

*Karen DeYoung in Washington and Lior Soroka in Tel Aviv contributed to this report.*

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