One Salvadoran defense lawyer, who spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of reprisal, told AFP: 'There is a presumption of guilt, not innocence'

US President Donald Trump's ceasefire announcement has divided opinion among US lawmakers, with some hailing it as a positive step and others challenging the Republican president's fitness to lead.

Trump's earlier threat to wipe out Iranian civilization prompted some critics to call on his cabinet to invoke the 25th amendment, which provides for a transfer of power if a president is unable to govern, particularly in the event of illness.

Here are some reactions:

- Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez -

Democratic congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez said Trump's ceasefire announcement "changes nothing."

"The President has threatened a genocide against the Iranian people, and is continuing to leverage that threat," she wrote on X.

Trump's actions "have clearly driven our country past the threshold for impeachment or invocation of the 25th amendment," she added.

"Whether by his Cabinet or Congress, the President must be removed from office. We are playing with the brink."

- Lindsey Graham -

Republican senator Lindsey Graham, a close Trump ally and foreign policy hawk, said congressional oversight is needed to "kick the tires."

"At this early stage, I am extremely cautious regarding what is fact vs. fiction or misrepresentation," Graham wrote on X.

"That's why a congressional review process like the one the Senate followed to test the Obama Iranian deal is a sound way forward."

- Chuck Schumer -

Senate minority leader Chuck Schumer earlier called Trump "an extremely sick person" in response to the Republican president's threat that "a whole civilization will die tonight."

"I'm glad Trump backed off and is desperately searching for any sort of exit ramp from his ridiculous bluster," the Democrat posted on X after the ceasefire was announced.

- Kevin Kramer -

Kevin Kramer, a Republican senator from North Dakota, wrote that he was grateful for Trump's "unwavering dedication to defending our country and holding our adversaries accountable."

"Under his Peace Through Strength leadership, (Trump) is showing the world that the U.S. is the strongest nation, and we have the strongest military on Earth," he wrote on X.

- Yassamin Ansari -

House Representative Yassamin Ansari from Arizona wrote that she was "momentarily relieved" by the ceasefire but maintained that Trump's statements "confirm that he is mentally unstable, unhinged, and unfit for office or any position of authority."

"Whether through impeachment or by invoking the 25th Amendment, it is far past time Donald Trump and Pete Hegseth are removed from office," the Democrat wrote on X.

- Zach Nunn -

Republican congressman Zach Nunn wrote on X that he was "heartened by the ceasefire."

"A President must have the authority to act decisively in defense of the nation, consistent with the Constitution and the War Powers Resolution. This operation met that standard to stop Iran. This was achieved with overwhelming force," wrote the congressman from Iowa.

"Now the mission shifts to securing a lasting agreement that ensures Iran can never threaten the world with a nuclear weapon again."

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It will take months for jet fuel supplies and prices to normalise even with the Strait of Hormuz open, the head of the International Air Transport Association (IATA) said Wednesday.

The Strait of Hormuz, a vital shipping route for oil, has been virtually paralysed for weeks by the Middle East war, pushing up prices for crude and related products.

IATA director general Willie Walsh told reporters in Singapore it was difficult to say how long fuel supplies would take to recover, but "it's not going to happen quickly".

"It will still take a period of months to get back to where supply needs to be given the disruption to the refining capacity in the Middle East," he said.

"I don't think it's going to happen in weeks," Walsh added.

Oil prices plunged on Wednesday after the United States and Iran agreed to a two-week ceasefire that will see Tehran temporarily reopen the Strait of Hormuz.

The ceasefire was agreed barely an hour before US President Donald Trump's Wednesday deadline threat to obliterate Iran was set to expire.

Tehran later said it had agreed to safe passage in the Strait of Hormuz, through which a fifth of global oil and gas passes.

"Even if you have the flow of crude start again, if you've had disruptions in refining capacity, then the problem continues for some time," Walsh said.

"I don't think everybody fully appreciated how concentrated the capacity was in certain parts of the world," he added.

Past experience shows that the aviation industry will respond to higher oil prices by raising ticket prices, he said. "It's inevitable."

While some air traffic that would have passed through the Middle East has gone to airlines outside the region, this is "a temporary issue", Walsh said.

"There's no way they can replace the capacity that was provided by the Gulf carriers," he added.

"I think the Gulf hubs will recover and recover very quickly."

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Taiwan's opposition leader, a proponent of closer ties with Beijing, said on Wednesday she hoped to sow the "seeds of peace" during a rare visit to China.

Kuomintang (KMT) chairwoman Cheng Li-wun is the party's first leader to visit China in a decade but her trip -- during which she hopes to meet Chinese leader Xi Jinping -- has sparked debate in Taiwan.

Critics, including those within her own party which traditionally supports relations with China, have accused her of being too pro-Beijing.

China claims self-ruled Taiwan is part of its territory and has threatened to use force to seize it.

"I hope that today we plant the seeds of peace not only for Chinese people on both sides of the Strait, but for all humankind," Cheng said on Wednesday, in comments broadcast by Taiwanese media.

She spoke during a symbolic visit to the eastern city of Nanjing, where she visited the mausoleum of revolutionary leader Sun Yat-sen, one of the few Chinese historical figures revered in both Beijing and Taipei.

Beefed-up security at the mausoleum prevented foreigners from entering, AFP journalists saw.

China severed high-level contact with Taiwan in 2016 after Tsai Ing-wen of the Democratic Progressive Party won the presidency and rejected Beijing's claims to the island.

Cross-strait relations have worsened since then, with China ramping up military pressure with near daily deployments of fighter jets and warships near Taiwan and regular large-scale military drills.

However, Cheng said in a speech after her arrival on Tuesday evening that "the two sides of the Taiwan Strait are not doomed to war, as the international community has feared".

"Taiwan should not be reduced to a geopolitical pawn," she said in a Facebook post, in an apparent reference to tensions between China and the United States, Taiwan's main arms supplier.

Her visit, she added, would mark a "historic journey of peace".

In a park surrounding the mausoleum, 74-year-old Nanjing resident surnamed Fen told AFP on Wednesday that he had come to the area after hearing of Cheng's visit.

"I hope she will contribute to the reunification of the motherland," he said.

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The latest developments in the Middle East war:

- New Lebanon strikes - 

Israel renewed its strikes on southern Lebanon on Wednesday, state media reported, after the Israeli military warned residents of Tyre to evacuate.

Earlier, Israel said that it supported the two-week ceasefire deal between the United States and Iran but that it "does not include Lebanon", where it has been fighting Iran-backed Hezbollah.

- Gas prices plunge - 

European natural gas prices dropped 20 percent at the start of trading Wednesday in the wake of a two-week ceasefire agreed between the United States and Iran.

Oil prices also plunged after the deal to end the fighting, which has seen the strategic Strait of Hormuz effectively closed to tankers in the Gulf.

The dollar, a safe haven for investors during times of market turmoil,  fell around one percent against the euro and the pound in early European trading.

Stock markets surged in Asia on relief at the potential end to the war that has roiled the Middle East, with futures contracts pointing to similar strong gains at the European open.

- Starmer to Gulf - 

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer will travel to the Gulf on Wednesday to meet with regional leaders in an effort to bolster the ceasefire in the Middle East war, Downing Street said.

- Blasts in Bahrain - 

Explosions were heard in Bahrain's capital Manama on Wednesday morning, according to an AFP journalist, hours after the United States announced a ceasefire with Iran. 

- Talks Friday - 

Pakistan's Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif wrote on X that Islamabad would host delegations from the United States and Iran on Friday "to further negotiate for a conclusive agreement to settle all disputes".

- Traffic in Hormuz strait -

US President Donald Trump said the United States would help with the ship traffic buildup in the Strait of Hormuz, hours after Washington and Tehran agreed to a two-week ceasefire.

"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," Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform.

- Israel backs ceasefire, but not in Lebanon -

Israel said it supported the two-week ceasefire deal between the United States and Iran but maintained that the deal "does not include Lebanon", where it has been fighting Iran-backed group Hezbollah.

"Israel supports President Trump's decision to suspend strikes against Iran for two weeks subject to Iran immediately opening the straits and stopping all attacks on the US, Israel and countries in the region," Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office said in a statement.

But it said the ceasefire "does not include Lebanon", contradicting an earlier announcement by Pakistan's Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif that said the deal covered "everywhere including Lebanon".

- Trump says China got Iran to negotiate -

Trump told AFP he believed China had helped get Iran to the negotiating table to agree a two-week ceasefire deal.

"I hear yes," Trump said in a telephone interview when asked if Beijing was involved in getting key ally Tehran to negotiate on a truce.

- Trump says Iran uranium will be 'taken care of' - 

Trump told AFP that Iran's uranium would be "perfectly taken care of" under the two-week ceasefire with Tehran.

"That will be perfectly taken care of or I wouldn't have settled," Trump said. 

- Ceasefire deal a US 'victory' -

Trump told AFP that the United States had won a "total and complete victory" after agreeing a two-week ceasefire with Iran.

"Total and complete victory. 100 percent. No question about it," Trump said.

White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt also praised the deal. 

"The success of our military created maximum leverage, allowing President Trump and the team to engage in tough negotiations that have now created an opening for a diplomatic solution and long-term peace," Leavitt said on X. 

- NATO chief to meet with Trump -

NATO chief Mark Rutte will hold talks with Trump in Washington on Wednesday, one day after the United States and Iran agreed to a two-week ceasefire.

Rutte plans to "discuss current security dynamics including in the context of Iran as well as Russia's ongoing war against Ukraine" in his talks with Trump, according to a NATO official.

- US, Iran, Israel agree to truce -

The United States and Iran agreed to a two-week ceasefire Tuesday barely an hour before Trump's deadline to obliterate the rival country was set to expire, with Tehran agreeing to temporarily reopen the vital Strait of Hormuz.

Israel also agreed to the ceasefire, the White House said. The 11th-hour agreement came after Trump said he had spoken to Pakistan's leaders, who had requested a truce.

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Pakistan has emerged as a key intermediary between Iran and the United States to secure a temporary ceasefire and host negotiations to end the war in the Middle East. 

On Wednesday, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif said the United States and Iran -- and their allies had -- agreed to a ceasefire "everywhere" following mediation by his government.

Sharif said the two-week truce - which Trump and Tehran had announced earlier - would next lead to talks in the Pakistan capital.

"Pakistan achieved one of its biggest diplomatic wins in years," said South Asia expert Michael Kugelman in an X post. 

"It also defied many skeptics and naysayers that didn’t think it had the capacity to pull off such a complex, high stakes feat."

- What are Pakistan's ties to Iran? -

"Pakistan has strong credentials as the only country in the region enjoying good relations with the US and Iran," said the country's former ambassador to Tehran, Asif Durrani.

Pakistan shares a 900-kilometre (560-mile) border in its southwest with Iran, and also deep historical, cultural and religious links.

Pakistan is home to the world's second-biggest Shia Muslim population after Iran.

Iran was the first country to recognise Pakistan after independence in 1947. Pakistan returned the favour for the Islamic republic after the 1979 revolution.

Pakistan also represents some Iranian diplomatic interests in Washington, where Tehran has no embassy.

- How about the US? -

Pakistan's powerful army chief, Field Marshal Asim Munir, has built up a personal rapport with US President Donald Trump.

Munir -- in a Western business suit rather than army fatigues -- visited Washington with Sharif last year after a flare-up in hostilities between Pakistan and India in divided Kashmir. 

Sharif praised Trump's "bold and visionary" intervention, while Munir said the US leader deserved the Nobel Peace Prize for stopping an escalation between the nuclear-armed neighbours.

On Iran, Trump said Pakistan knows the country "better than most".

Personal relations have long helped boost bilateral ties shaped by shifting strategic interests that have at times been strained.

Even as a non-NATO ally in the post-9/11 "war on terror", Pakistan faced US claims that it was harbouring militants who were responsible for attacking coalition troops across the border in Afghanistan.

Relations strained further when US troops killed al-Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden on Pakistani soil in 2011 without telling Islamabad, and Pakistan faced accusations of complicity in harbouring the fugitive.

- How about other regional players? -

Pakistan and Saudi Arabia signed a strategic mutual defence agreement in 2025, cementing longstanding ties but also restricting how far Islamabad could go in supporting Tehran.

Sharif and his government have been quick to keep Riyadh on side, and the prime minister recently visited for talks with Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.

Pakistan also shares close ties with Beijing, which, Trump told AFP, helped get Iran across the line to the negotiating table.

Pakistan's Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar hosted a meeting with counterparts from Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Egypt last month for discussions on de-escalating the conflict and then flew to Beijing for further talks. 

China, which is Iran's largest trading partner, then joined its longstanding South Asian ally in calling for a plan to end the fighting engulfing the Middle East, saying it supported "Pakistan playing a unique and important role in easing the situation".

- What's in it for Pakistan? -

Neutrality makes economic sense for Pakistan, which relies on oil and gas imports through the Strait of Hormuz and wants to avoid getting dragged into further conflict on its doorstep.

Continued disruption would have worsened fuel supplies, driven up prices and forced further austerity measures for the cash-strapped government.

A permanent end to the war would not only boost regional stability but also Pakistan's international standing at a time when it is locked in armed conflict with neigbouring Afghanistan and less than a year after it traded strikes with arch-rival India.

- What role will Pakistan play next? -

The Pakistani premier said he would welcome US and Iranian delegations to the capital from April 10. 

"Iran will feel more comfortable in Islamabad which is why it accepted Pakistan's mediation," said Durrani, the former ambassador, adding Pakistan could help the two sides resolve outstanding differences.

If talks were direct, "then Pakistan may help the parties to fine-tune the language if there is a stalemate", he said, adding that Pakistan officials could also act as the go-between if the two sides would not meet face-to-face.

Pakistan does not formally recognise Israel, which said on Wednesday it supported Trump's decision to suspend bombing, but that the two-week ceasefire did not include Lebanon where it has carried out ground and aerial operations against Iran-backed Hezbollah.

That contradicted Sharif's earlier statement that the ceasefire covered "everywhere including Lebanon".

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Kevin Durant scored 24 points against his former team to help inspire the Houston Rockets to a come-from-behind 119-105 victory over the Phoenix Suns on Tuesday.

Durant, who was traded from Phoenix to Houston last year, received a mixed reception upon his return to Arizona, with sections of the Suns home crowd subjecting him to boos throughout a see-saw game.

Phoenix needed a victory to keep their faint hopes of bagging an automatic playoff spot in the Western Conference alive.

And the home side got off to a dream start after surging into a 21-point first-quarter lead against a stunned Rockets line-up.

But Houston recovered before outscoring Phoenix 38-21 in the fourth quarter to complete a victory that means the Suns will miss out on direct entry to the playoffs.

"They hit us with a good punch early on...I love how we weathered the storm and stayed together and took that first punch," Durant said.

"It's a great team win."

The Minnesota Timberwolves will instead be assured of the final playoff ticket from the Western Conference after cruising to a 124-104 defeat of the struggling Indiana Pacers.

After the Pacers led briefly in the first quarter, Minnesota quickly asserted their superiority and led by eight points heading into the second quarter.

The Timberwolves -- once again missing Anthony Edwards with a knee issue -- never looked like surrendering that advantage and led by as many as 31 points midway through the fourth quarter as they closed out a comfortable victory.

Ayo Dosunmu led the Minnesota scoring with 24 points from 10-of-17 shooting while Julius Randle and Bones Hyland added 19 points apiece.

The Toronto Raptors kept their automatic playoff hopes on track with a 121-95 blowout of the Miami Heat.

Miami had needed a win to keep their slim chances of securing a top-six finish alive in a razor-thin Eastern Conference playoff race.

But Toronto took the lead early in the second quarter and steadily pulled away for a victory which leaves them occupying the sixth and final direct entry playoff place in the Eastern Conference standings.

Scottie Barnes scored 25 points and Brandon Ingram 23 to guide Toronto to the win. The Raptors are now 44-35 with three games of the regular season remaining, one game ahead of the seventh-placed Philadelphia 76ers. 

Miami's loss locked them into the East's four-team play-in tournament next week which will determine the final two teams who advance to the playoffs.

The Boston Celtics closed in on securing the No.2 seed in the Eastern Conference after holding off the in-form Charlotte Hornets 113-102 at the TD Garden in Boston.

Back in the Western Conference, the injury-hit Los Angeles Lakers drifted further out of contention for the number three seed after suffering a 123-87 pummeling to the Oklahoma City Thunder at home.

The Lakers, whose hopes of mounting a postseason charge have been left in tatters after injuries to Luka Doncic and Austin Reaves, rested LeBron James as Oklahoma City cruised to a lopsided win.

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The world's largest stadium, Southeast Asia's biggest exhibition hall and hundreds of major road, aviation and energy projects -- Vietnam is building faster than ever in its self-proclaimed "era of national rise".

The country broke ground on more than 550 infrastructure projects last year alone in a staggering spree that will cost around $200 billion.

And it is planning hundreds more projects, including its first nuclear power plants and a 1,500-kilometre (930-mile) high-speed railway.

Overseeing the construction drive is the country's most powerful leader in decades, Communist Party General Secretary To Lam, who on Tuesday was named president as well.

He has staked his leadership on aggressive reforms that aim to deliver double-digit growth, slashing bureaucratic red tape, empowering the private sector and channelling vast resources into mega-projects.

"The party understands that legitimacy in Vietnam is ultimately built on delivered living standards," said Hanoi-based Dan Martin, from Asian business advisory firm Dezan Shira & Associates.

"The most consequential leaders in Vietnamese modern history are remembered for structural transformation," he added.

The building bonanza is likely to boost GDP, analysts say, but some caution that it comes with risks, while residents displaced in the name of progress complain of being left behind.

- Acceleration -

Once among the poorest and most isolated countries in Asia, Vietnam has transformed itself into a thriving export economy, supplying consumer electronics, machinery and clothing to Western nations. 

It aims to become an upper middle-income country by the end of the decade, a goal that will require raising GDP per capita by 70 percent from today's $5,000.

Leader Lam has turbocharged the development agenda, promoting a "new growth model" powered by major investments in both physical and digital infrastructure.

Elevated to party chief after his predecessor's death in 2024, he has scrapped whole layers of government and abolished ministries and agencies in a bid to speed up official decision-making.

"We cannot accept low economic growth," he said in a speech to senior Communist Party cadres last month.

Many mega-projects have been in the pipeline for years, but under Lam they have suddenly moved forward.

Others are being built on accelerated timelines, including a new $8.1 billion airport that will serve the capital region.

"This is a deliberate compression of what would normally take a decade into a three-year window," Martin said, referencing the country's mega-projetcs.  

The government is borrowing heavily to finance the construction , also courting private investors, such as mega-conglomerate Vingroup.

The strategy carries fiscal risks as well as the potential for graft in the authoritarian one-party state, according to analysts.

"Given the lack of financial transparency involved in these mega-projects, one cannot rule out the possibility that they are simply ways for government officials to steal from the state," said Tuong Vu, who leads the US-Vietnam Research Center at the University of Oregon.

Lam rose to power by pursuing an aggressive anti-corruption campaign, but under his rule , businesses seen as close to his security-dominated wing of the party have prospered, experts say.

Better infrastructure could boost long-term growth, Vietnam analyst Le Hong Hiep told AFP, but poor management of the projects "could overheat the economy, leading to inflation, higher public debt, fiscal strain, and ultimately macroeconomic instability". 

"Some of these projects may risk becoming 'white elephants,' draining public resources," he added.

Another Hanoi-based analyst, speaking on condition of anonymity, likened the government's pursuit of pricey projects to "a poor household trying to buy a luxurious Ferrari at all cost".

- Uprooted -

This concern resonates with 62-year-old Chung , who was forced to give up much of his farmland outside Hanoi to make way for a massive complex that will include a 135,000-capacity stadium.

"I don't think Vietnam can host a World Cup, so what's the use of the world's largest stadium here?" he said.

Developer Vingroup paid him almost two billion dong ($76,000) in compensation, a fortune for most farmers in Vietnam but not enough to ease his fears about what will happen to his community.

"We can never benefit from that huge stadium. There will be no jobs there for us," he told AFP.

About 40 kilometres southeast of Hanoi in Lam's native Hung Yen province, farmer Dong voiced similar complaints after being evicted to make way for a $1.5 billion golf course being developed by the Trump Organization.

A luxury resort for the super-rich cannot replace farmland that has sustained the community for generations, she said.

"In just over a year, they quickly took all our land."

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A dealer dubbed the "Ketamine Queen" who supplied the drugs that killed "Friends" actor Matthew Perry is set to be sentenced in a California court on Wednesday.

Jasveen Sangha could face over six decades in prison after admitting a bevy of charges, including one count of distributing ketamine resulting in death or serious bodily injury.

Sangha, who is a dual citizen of the United States and Britain, has been in federal custody since August 2024.

The 42-year-old is one of five people convicted of playing a part in the death of the beloved actor, who had openly struggled for decades with substance addiction.

Perry, 54, was found dead in the hot tub of his Los Angeles home in October 2023, with an autopsy determining he had high levels of ketamine in his system.

His death set off waves of grief among generations of "Friends" fans and sparked a police probe that uncovered a ring of suppliers and enablers, including medical doctors who were callously profiting from the pain of a man they should have been helping.

Dr. Salvador Plasencia, who admitted four counts of distribution of ketamine in the weeks before Perry's death, was ordered to serve 30 months in jail when he was sentenced last year.

Another doctor, Mark Chavez, was ordered to be confined at home and told to do hundreds of hours of community service.

Plasencia bought ketamine off Chavez and sold it to the American-Canadian actor at hugely inflated prices.

"I wonder how much this moron will pay," Plasencia wrote in one text message.

Prosecutors said addict Perry was paying over $2,000 per vial of ketamine; his dealers paid a fraction of that.

Sangha worked with a middleman, Erik Fleming, to sell 51 vials of ketamine to Perry's live-in personal assistant, Kenneth Iwamasa.

Iwamasa repeatedly injected Perry with the ketamine that she had supplied, including on October 28, 2023, when he administered at least three shots of Sangha's drugs, which killed the actor.

When Sangha heard news reports about Perry's sudden death, she tried to cover her tracks.

"Delete all our messages," she instructed Fleming.

When investigators raided Sangha's home in North Hollywood, they found methamphetamine, ketamine, ecstasy, cocaine, and counterfeit Xanax pills, as well as a money counting machine, a scale, and devices to detect wireless signals and hidden cameras.

Iwamasa and Fleming are scheduled to be sentenced later this month.

- 'Mostly sober' -

Sangha has admitted one count of maintaining a drug-involved premises, three counts of distribution of ketamine and one count of distribution of ketamine resulting in death or serious bodily injury.

Her plea acknowledges that she also sold four vials of ketamine to another man, 33-year-old Cody McLaury, in August 2019.

McLaury died hours later from an overdose.

"She's taking responsibility for her actions," her lawyer Mark Geragos told AFP earlier.

Perry had been taking ketamine as part of supervised therapy for depression.

But prosecutors say that before his death, he became addicted to the substance, which is used as an anesthetic, but also has psychedelic properties and is a popular party drug.

"Friends," which followed the lives of six New Yorkers navigating adulthood, dating and careers, drew a massive following and made megastars of previously unknown actors.

Perry's role as the sarcastic man-child Chandler brought him fabulous wealth, but hid a dark struggle with addiction to painkillers and alcohol.

In 2018, he suffered a drug-related burst colon and underwent multiple surgeries.

In his 2022 memoir "Friends, Lovers and the Big Terrible Thing," Perry described going through detox dozens of times.

"I have mostly been sober since 2001," he wrote, "save for about sixty or seventy little mishaps."

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Pakistan's Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif said on Wednesday that Islamabad would host delegations from the United States and Iran later this week following the Mideast ceasefire announcement.

"I... extend deepest gratitude to the leadership of both the countries and invite their delegations to Islamabad on Friday, 10th April 2026, to further negotiate for a conclusive agreement to settle all disputes," he said in a post on X.

Pakistan, which has forged a close relationship with President Donald Trump and is sensitive to developments in neighbouring Iran, emerged as a channel for messaging between Tehran and Washington in recent weeks.

"We earnestly hope, that the 'Islamabad Talks' succeed in achieving sustainable peace and wish to share more good news in coming days," Sharif said.

Both Tehran and Washington said they had agreed to a two-week ceasefire barely an hour before President Donald Trump's deadline to obliterate Iran was set to expire. 

The war began when Israel and the United States launched strikes on Iran that killed its supreme leader on February 28, sparking retaliatory attacks from Tehran on Gulf nations and Israel.  

Lebanon has also been drawn into the conflict after Iran-backed group Hezbollah launched attacks on Israel, which has since carried out strikes, including on the capital, and launched a ground operation in the south of the country.

Sharif said the ceasefire applied "everywhere", including Lebanon, though Israel later said it did not apply to that country, where it is carrying out aerial and ground operations against Iranian-backed Hezbollah, 

The temporary ceasefire came after a down-to-the-wire bid by Pakistan and other mediators to avert Trump's threat to destroy all power plants and bridges across Iran, a move that legal experts said could constitute a war crime.

Turkey and Egypt had also been helping mediate in recent days, while China helped get Iran to the negotiating table, Trump told AFP on Wednesday. 

Despite trading missile fire with Iran two years ago and holding an at-times rocky relationship with Washington, Islamabad currently shares warm ties with both capitals.

That helped boost its moderating credentials, burnished by its allyship with heavyweight regional players, including Saudi Arabia and Beijing.

Pakistan is home to the world's second-biggest Shia Muslim population after Iran -- with which it shares a 900-kilometre border -- and represents some Iranian diplomatic interests in Washington where Tehran has no embassy. 

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The United States and Iran agreed to a two-week ceasefire, with both sides claiming victory.

Here are reactions from across the globe:

- South Korea -

South Korea welcomed the ceasefire and hoped it would bring about the safe passage of all vessels, including its own, through the Hormuz strait. 

"The South Korean government hopes that negotiations between the two sides will be successfully concluded and that peace and stability in the Middle East will be restored at an early date," South Korea's Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement.

"The South Korean government hopes that the free and safe navigation of all vessels, including those of South Korea, through the Strait of Hormuz will be swiftly ensured, and will continue to engage in communication and consultations with relevant countries to this end," it added. 

- United Nations -

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres welcomed the ceasefire but urged all parties to work toward long-term peace in the Middle East. 

"The Secretary-General welcomes the announcement of a two-week ceasefire by the United States and Iran," his spokesperson said in a statement.

He added that the UN chief "calls on all the parties to the current conflict in the Middle East to comply with their obligations under international law and to abide by the terms of the ceasefire in order to pave the way toward a lasting and comprehensive peace in the region." 

- Australia -

Australia cautioned that the longer the war draws on "the more significant the impact on the global economy will be, and the greater the human cost". 

"Australia wants to see the ceasefire upheld and a resolution to the conflict," Prime Minister Anthony Albanese's office said in a statement.

"We continue to call on all parties to uphold international humanitarian law and protect civilian life," it added. 

- New Zealand -

New Zealand welcomed the ceasefire but warned that there remains "significant work" to be done to secure peace. 

"While this is encouraging news, there remains significant important work to be done in the coming days to secure a lasting ceasefire," Foreign Minister Winston Peters' spokesperson said. 

"In the coming days and weeks, New Zealand will stand in support of all efforts to bring about a lasting, durable end to this conflict," he added.

- Japan -

Japan said that "concrete steps" are needed to de-escalate the crisis, including ensuring the safe passage of vessels through the Strait of Hormuz.

The world's fourth-largest economy is the fifth biggest importer of oil, with around 70 percent coming through the vital waterway before the war.

"The most important thing is that concrete steps will be taken to de-escalate the situation, including ensuring the safety of navigation through the Strait of Hormuz," Japanese government spokesman Minoru Kihara said. 

"We hope the final agreement will be reached through diplomacy at an early date." 

- Iraq -

Iraq's foreign ministry said it "welcomes" the ceasefire but called for "serious and sustainable dialogue" between the US and Iran.

The ministry "calls for building upon this positive step by launching serious and sustainable dialogue tracks that address the root causes of the disputes and strengthen mutual trust," it said on X.

- Pakistan -

Pakistan's Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif said that the United States, Iran and their allies had agreed to a ceasefire "everywhere", including Lebanon.

"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 on X. 

Israel said later, however, that the two-week ceasefire "does not include Lebanon."

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