by WorldTribune Staff, April 8, 2026 Non-AI Real World News
Hours before the April 7 deadline after which he had threatened, "A whole civilization will die tonight," President Donald Trump agreed to a two-week ceasefire with Iran after talks with Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, who urged Trump to delay any further U.S. military action amid ongoing negotiations.
Within hours, the Wall Street Journal reported on April 8 that "oil prices plunged, stocks rallied" as Trump hailed "A big day for World Peace: and "This could be the Golden Age of the Middle East."
Trump also said on April 8 that the U.S. would help manage traffic in the Strait of Hormuz, which was effectively shut down by Iran early in the conflict, disrupting a significant portion of the global energy supply.
While world leaders privately lauded Trump, the U.S. legacy media and Trump political foes on the Left and right were largely silent about what many hailed as a monumental achievement by the Trump Administration.
Related — Art of the apocalyptic deal: ‘A whole civilization will die tonight, never to be brought back again’,
April 7, 2026
Trump fired off a series of posts to Truth Social:
"A Country supplying Military Weapons to Iran will be immediately tariffed, on any and all goods sold to the United States of America, 50%, effective immediately. There will be no exclusions or exemptions! President DJT
...
"The United States will work closely with Iran, which we have determined has gone through what will be a very productive Regime Change! There will be no enrichment of Uranium, and the United States will, working with Iran, dig up and remove all of the deeply buried (B-2 Bombers) Nuclear “Dust.” It is now, and has been, under very exacting Satellite Surveillance (Space Force!). Nothing has been touched from the date of attack. We are, and will be, talking Tariff and Sanctions relief with Iran. Many of the 15 points have already been been agreed to. Thank you for your attention to this matter. President DONALD J. TRUMP
...
"A big day for World Peace! Iran wants it to happen, they’ve had enough! Likewise, so has everyone else! The United States of America will be helping with the traffic buildup in the Strait of Hormuz. There will be lots of positive action! Big money will be made. Iran can start the reconstruction process. We’ll be loading up with supplies of all kinds, and just “hangin’ around” in order to make sure that everything goes well. I feel confident that it will. Just like we are experiencing in the U.S., this could be the Golden Age of the Middle East!!! President DONALD J. TRUMP"
Trump on Wednesday said he was open to the idea of tolls in the Strait of Hormuz if the U.S. gets a cut of the action.
In an interview with ABC News, Trump suggested the concept of allowing Iran to charge tolls on vessels passing through the Strait of Hormuz is under consideration as both a security and economic measure.
“We’re thinking of doing it as a joint venture. It’s a way of securing it — also securing it from lots of other people,” Trump said. “It’s a beautiful thing.”
Iran has already begun demanding tolls via crypto to pass safely through the strait. Teheran also threatened to “destroy” any ships that attempt to cross the strait without Iran's approval.
Iran tightened its grip on the Strait of Hormuz on Wednesday after Israel carried out airstrikes in Lebanon. Iran accused Israel of upending a deal which the White House insists Trump never agreed to.
Vice President JD Vance urged Iran not to let a “legitimate misunderstanding” over whether Lebanon was part of the ceasefire deal derail the fragile agreement. Israel continued to attack Hizbullah in Lebanon, which Iran took as a violation of the ceasefire, but the U.S. disagrees.
“If Iran wants to let this negotiation fall apart in a conflict where they were getting hammered over Lebanon, which has nothing to do with them, and which the United States never once said was part of the cease-fire, that’s ultimately their choice,” Vance, who will lead U.S. negotiations, said Wednesday. “We think that would be dumb but that’s their choice.”
Iran’s parliament speaker on Wednesday said a cease-fire agreement to reopen the Strait of Hormuz and hold peace talks this weekend in Islamabad are “unreasonable” after he said the U.S. “violated” a 10-point agreement.
“The deep historical distrust we hold toward the United States stems from its repeated violations of all forms of commitments — a pattern that has regrettably been repeated once again,” Mohammad-Bagher Ghalibaf said in a statement posted to X. “As the President of the United States has clearly stated in his Truth, the Islamic Republic of Iran’s 10-Point Proposal is a ‘workable basis on which to negotiate’ and the main framework for these talks. However, 3 clauses of this proposal have been violated so far.”
Trump on Wednesday told PBS News Hour that “everyone knows” Israel’s fight with Hizbullah in Lebanon is a “separate skirmish” not included in the cease-fire deal with Iran.
White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt made clear that Trump trashed the initial 10-point plan ahead of the cease-fire agreement Tuesday night, insisting on a “more reasonable and entirely different and condensed plan to the president and his team.”
“The idea that President Trump would ever accept an Iranian wish list as a deal is completely absurd,” Leavitt said. “The president will only make a deal that serves in the best interest of United States of America.”
Secretary of War Pete Hegseth said the U.S. achieved “a historic and overwhelming victory on the battlefield” in the now-ended Operation Epic Fury.
“No other president has shown the courage and resolve of this commander in chief. President Trump forged this moment. Iran begged for this ceasefire, and we all know it,” Hegseth told reporters at the Pentagon on Wednesday.
“Operation Epic Fury was a historic and overwhelming victory on the battlefield. A capital V military victory. By any measure. Epic Fury decimated Iran’s military and rendered it combat-ineffective for years to come,” he added.
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