Iran ceasefire deal a temporary win for Trump - but it comes at a cost

Iran ceasefire deal a temporary win for Trump - but it comes at a cost9 minutes agoShareSaveAdd as preferred on GoogleAnthony ZurcherNorth America correspondentEPAIn the end, cooler heads prevailed – at least for now.At 18:32 Washington time, President Donald Trump posted on his social media website that the US and Iran were "very far along" with a "definitive" peace agreement and that he had agreed to a two-week ceasefire to allow negotiations to proceed.It wasn't exactly the last minute, but with Trump's looming 20:00 EDT (00:00 GMT on Wednesday) deadline to reach a deal or the US would launch massive strikes against Iranian energy and transportation infrastructure, it came pretty close.All of this is contingent on Iran also suspending hostilities and fully opening the Strait of Hormuz to commercial shipping traffic, which it says it will do. But this is the kind of progress that was far from certain as early as Tuesday morning, when Trump threatened the death of Iranian civilisation, "never to be brought back again".Follow the latest developments liveWhether such a jaw-dropping threat from an American president pressured Iran to agree to the kind of ceasefire they had previously rejected is uncertain. What is clear is that Trump's astounding, inflammatory declaration – just two days after a similar obscenity-laced Truth Social demand – is unlike anything a modern American president has ever levelled or hinted at. And even if the two-week ceasefire does result in a permanent peace, the Iran war – and Trump's recent words – may have fundamentally altered the way the rest of the world views the US.Tracking recent US-Israeli strikes on Iranian infrastructureTrump condemned over threat that Iran's 'civilisation will die'A nation that once styled itself as force for stability around the globe is now shaking the foundations of the international order. A president who has seemingly relished shattering norms...