Iran ceasefire includes Lebanon, Pakistani prime minister says
The ceasefire that the US and Iran reached includes Lebanon, Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, who presented the plan to US President Donald Trump, said.
“With the greatest humility, I am pleased to announce that the Islamic Republic of Iran and the United States of America, along with their allies, have agreed to an immediate ceasefire everywhere including Lebanon and elsewhere, EFFECTIVE IMMEDIATELY,” Sharif said in a statement.
What’s in Iran’s 10-point plan
The Iranian National Security Council says talks with US will begin in Islamabad on April 11, based on a 10-point plan it has formulated. According to that statement, the plan includes:
- “controlled passage through the Strait of Hormuz in coordination with the Iranian armed forces, which would grant Iran a unique economic and geopolitical position,”
- “the necessity of ending the war against all elements of the axis of resistance,”
- “the withdrawal of US combat forces from all bases and deployment points in the region,”
- “the establishment of a safe transit protocol in the Strait of Hormuz in a way that guarantees Iran’s dominance according to the agreed protocol,”
- “full payment of Iran’s damages according to estimates,”
- “the lifting of all primary and secondary sanctions and resolutions of the Board of Governors and the Security Council,”
- “the release of all Iranian assets and properties frozen abroad,”
- “and finally the ratification of all these matters in a binding Security Council resolution.”
That is a long long way away from Trump's demands. I fear those two weeks are just there to restock interceptors...
Anyway market manipulation successful
- Crude prices have plunged, with both Brent and WTI crude down roughly 15 percent so far.
- Major US stocks including NVIDIA, Tesla, Intel and others are all up by multiple percentage points.
- The losers are US energy stocks, which have seen their share prices fall by as much as 3%.
- Japan’s stock market, the Nikkei 225, opened up over 5 percent. Korea’s stock market, KOSPI, opened up nearly 6 percent.
- The US dollar sank to its lowest level in two weeks at the start of trading in Asia, while the euro, British pound Japanese yen, Australian dollar and New Zealand dollar rallied.