India, April 9 -- When President Donald Trump announced a two-week ceasefire with Iran on April 7, 2026 - barely 90 minutes before his own military strike deadline expired - the world heaved a sigh of relief. Oil prices plunged 14-16%. Equity markets from Tokyo to Frankfurt surged. For a planet that had spent five weeks watching the world's most critical energy chokepoint become a war zone, the pause felt like oxygen returning to a suffocating room.

The deal's bare bones are this: The US and Israel suspend strikes on Iran; Iran halts "defensive operations" and guarantees commercial transit through the Strait of Hormuz - under a fee-collection arrangement jointly administered with Oman. Formal negotiations begin in Islamabad on April 10. ...