Hello, ABC Middle East correspondent Matthew Doran in Jerusalem here at the end of:<\/p>\n
Day 53 of the warDay 14 of the ceasefire between the US, Israel and IranDay five of the ceasefire in LebanonDay nine of the US blockade of Iran<\/p>\n
If You’re Listening podcast:<\/a> When will Australia run out of fuel?<\/p>\n Here’s what you need to know today:US President Donald Trump has announced an extension of the ceasefire<\/a> between the US, Iran and Israel. Iran’s immediate response has been to suggest he is merely trying to “buy time”.Iranian state media reported comments from foreign ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baghaei that the US blockade of Iranian ports and ships amounted to “piracy at sea and state terrorism”. That was a pointed reference to the US military boarding an oil tanker<\/a> in the Indian Ocean, which it said was subject to sanctions and had links to Iran.That’s the second ship the US Navy has intercepted in recent days, although this incident happened well outside the Strait of Hormuz<\/a> area where the US has been blockading Iranian ports and ships.The Israeli military has ordered two of its soldiers to serve 30 days in military detention after one took a photo of the other attacking a statue of Jesus<\/a> with a sledgehammer in the Lebanese town of Debel. A new sculpture has been installed at the site.Here’s what all that means<\/p>\n The world was potentially counting down the hours to the scheduled end of the pause in fighting when Donald Trump posted on Truth Social, beginning the wait again.<\/p>\n Mr Trump said due to the “fractured” government of Iran, Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and Field Marshal Asim Munir had asked him to “hold” attacks on Iran until “their leaders and representatives can come up with a unified proposal”.<\/p>\n “I have 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, and discussions are concluded, one way or the other,” Mr Trump said.<\/p>\n Earlier, before making this announcement, Mr Trump had said he did not want to extend the fragile truce, saying “I expect to be bombing” Iran the moment the pause in hostilities lapsed.<\/p>\n “We’re ready to go \u2026 the military is raring to go,” he told CNBC in an interview that aired just hours before his Truth Social post<\/a>.<\/p>\n His vice-president, JD Vance, who was due to lead the US delegation at talks in Islamabad, had also put his trip to Pakistan on hold<\/a>.<\/p>\n It’s not clear when the ceasefire now extends until. But nor was it clear precisely when it had been due to expire. Confused? Let me try to explain the differences, and why it’s part of the pressure being put on Iran to show its hand.<\/p>\n Mr Trump announced the two-week ceasefire in the very early hours of the morning on April 8, less than two hours before the deadline he had set for Iran to agree or face the obliteration of power plants and bridges across the country.<\/p>\n Roughly calculating the fortnight from the hour of Trump’s announcement seems to be the timing the Pakistani information minister was working to when he posted on X that the deadline was 4:50am on Wednesday in Pakistan \u2014 just before 10am Wednesday AEST. But \u2014 and it’s a very significant but \u2014 that directly contradicted what Mr Trump said in an interview with Bloomberg on Monday \u2014 that the truce wouldn’t have lapsed until Wednesday morning in Washington DC, which is Thursday morning AEST.<\/p>\n That may have been an example of the president freelancing, with some US news outlets reporting frustration in the White House about how he’s seemingly running these negotiations through social media posts and bite-sized interviews with a range of news outlets.<\/p>\n