Pakistan PM seeks two-week extension to Trump's deadline on Iran

Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Wednesday requested that US President Donald Trump make a ‌two-week extension to a deadline he imposed on ​Iran to end ⁠its blockade of Gulf oil.

"To ‌allow diplomacy to run ‌its course, I earnestly request President Trump to extend the deadline for two weeks. Pakistan, in all ‌sincerity, requests the Iranian brothers to open Strait of Hormuz ⁠for a corresponding period of two weeks as a goodwill gesture," Sharif said in a post on X.

President Donald Trump is aware of a request by Pakistan's prime minister for a two-week extension to a US deadline for massive strikes on Iran, the White House said Tuesday.

"The President has been made been aware of the proposal, and a response will come," Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt told AFP in a statement hours before the deadline was due to expire.

Trump has given Iran until 8 pm EDT (0000 GMT) in Washington - 3:30 am in Tehran - to ​end its blockade of Gulf oil or see the ‌US destroy every bridge and power plant in Iran.

Sharif urged "all warring parties" to observe a ceasefire everywhere for ⁠two weeks "to allow diplomacy to achieve conclusive termination of war".

He added that diplomatic efforts to settle the war peacefully ​were "progressing ‌steadily, strongly and powerfully with the potential to lead ‌to substantive results in near future".

The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Sources told Reuters ‌on Tuesday ‌that talks between the ⁠US and Iran were at risk of ‌being derailed following Tehran's attacks on Saudi Arabian industrial facilities.

Pakistan has been the main go-between ⁠for proposals shared by Iran and the ​United States, but there has been no sign of a compromise.

Agencies