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You are listening to an art media podcast. It's Wednesday, April 8, 2026. This episode was recorded at midnight New York time. I'm Deborah Pardes and this is ARC News Daily. Last night, the United States and Iran announced a temporary ceasef. Here's how it happened and what it might actually mean. On Tuesday morning, President Donald Trump posted on Truth Social that if Iran didn't open the Strait of Hormuz by 8pm A quote, whole civilization will die. Many residents of Tehran took the threat seriously. Families packed up and left the capital. It was one of the largest civilian evacuations of the war, but the regime's response was defiant. The Revolutionary Guard called Trump delusional. One official called on young people to form human chains around power plants. Crowds of people gathered, waving Iranian flags and holding up banners. Meanwhile, Pakistan was pushing hard to broker a deal. Its army chief spent the day in direct contact with Vice President J.D. vance and Iran's foreign minister. China also pushed Iran at the last minute to show some flexibility. Then Pakistan's prime minister called for a two week ceasefire and eventually the two sides agreed. About 90 minutes before his deadline, Trump announced his endorsement of the deal. He called it a quote, double sided ceasefire. The US Would agree to stop attacking Iran and Iran would reopen the Strait of Hormuz. Oil prices fell more than 17% on the news. Asian markets surged overnight and Iranians took to the streets of Tehran to celebrate. But even with that initial agreement in place, Iran continued firing missiles for about two hours in the Gulf. Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Kuwait and Bahrain all activated air defenses. Fires broke out at major energy facilities in Abu Dhabi. In Israel, cluster munitions lightly wounded several people, including children, at around four in the morning, Israel time. Iranian state media reported that Iran's supreme leader ordered the military to stand down. The Israeli Air Force also continued to carry out attacks in Iran for hours after the ceasefire was announced. So what did the two sides actually agree to? In statements released last night, Iran's government claimed the United States had accepted its full a permanent end to the war, sanctions relief, reparations and control of the Strait of Hormuz. A White House official confirmed to Axios that the ceasefire won't officially begin until the Strait opens. And when it does, Iran will be able to charge ships for transit. That is a significant change from the free passage the world had before this war, and different from the unconditional reopening Trump had demanded. The ceasefire itself is at least one concession Iran made to the U.S. the regime had previously refused any temporary deal, insisting on a permanent end to the war, but it has now agreed to a two week pause. The administration celebrated that as a win. A senior Israeli official said the Trump administration had briefed Israel on the deal and privately committed to pursuing three goals in the coming 1 removing Iran's nuclear material 2 eliminating its missile threat and 3 ending its support for terror proxies. These have been the goals of the war all along, but the White House has not publicly commented on them since the ceasefire was announced. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office told CBS News that it supports the pause, but they also disputed a statement from Pakistan that the ceasefire covers Lebanon. According to Israeli media, Netanyahu had previously pushed back against Lebanon being included in any agreement. He said the two fronts should remain separate. It's unclear what will happen to Israeli ground forces already operating in southern Lebanon. The United States and Iran agreed to meet in Islamabad on Friday for their first face to face talks since the war began. Pretty much everything else appears to be up for negotiation. I'm Deborah Pardes and this is Ark News Daily. See you tomorrow. Sam.