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Political leaders and many Americans breathed a sigh of relief on Tuesday evening, after Donald Trump<\/a> announced a provisional ceasefire deal following threats to destroy Iran\u2019s \u201cwhole civilization\u201d if Tehran failed to reopen the strait of Hormuz by a self-imposed deadline.<\/p>\n The announcement of the agreement, mediated by Pakistan, came roughly 90 minutes before the 8pm ET deadline by which Trump pledged to bomb Iran\u2019s power plants and bridges in a move legal and military scholars said would be considered a war crime.<\/p>\n \u201cSubject to the Islamic Republic of Iran agreeing to the COMPLETE, IMMEDIATE, and SAFE OPENING of the Strait of Hormuz, I agree to suspend the bombing and attack of Iran for a period of two weeks,\u201d Trump wrote in a post on Tuesday evening.<\/p>\n Iran\u2019s foreign minister said the passage through the strait of Hormuz would be allowed for the next two weeks under Iranian military management.<\/p>\n Trump had earlier warned that \u201ca whole civilization will die tonight, never to be brought back again<\/a>\u201d if Iran failed to allow commercial shipping to pass safely through the strai. The president\u2019s comments were swiftly condemned by Democrats, longtime supporters who have broken with Trump over the war, and Pope Leo, the first American pontiff.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m glad Trump backed off and is desperately searching for any sort of exit ramp from his ridiculous bluster,\u201d Chuck Schumer, the Senate Democratic leader, said on Tuesday night, reacting to the news of a two-weak provisional ceasefire. Earlier, Schumer called Trump an \u201cextremely sick person\u201d waging a \u201cwanton war of choice\u201d.<\/p>\n Following his increasingly bellicose threats of imminent demolitions, dozens of House Democrats, including the former speaker Nancy Pelosi, had called for Trump\u2019s removal, either through impeachment or by invoking the 25th amendment, a constitutional process to declare a sitting president no longer capable of fulfilling his duties. Former Maga allies turned critics, including former congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene and the far-right media personality Candace Owens, denounced Trump\u2019s threats as \u201cevil\u201d and \u201cmadness\u201d.<\/p>\n