Relief as Trump pulls back at eleventh hour

The day started with a social media post that sent shockwaves around the world. Here was a sitting president of the most powerful country on earth threatening to wipe out Iran.

"A whole civilisation will die tonight," he wrote, "never to be brought back again".

In Washington, the condemnation came thick and fast.

"Unhinged," "deranged," "lunatic," "genocidal" were just some of the adjectives deployed by his political opponents, many of whom called for his ouster.

He was an "extremely sick person," according to the most senior Democrat in Congress, Chuck Schumer.

Many Republicans, on the other hand, played down the remarks, urging people not to take them too literally.

But it was too much for several politicians on Mr Trump's side of the aisle too.

Senator Ron Johnson said he didn't want to see the US "blowing up civilian infrastructure".

Another Republican, Texas Congressman Nathaniel Moran, wrote in a post on X: "That is not who we are, and it is not consistent with the principles that have long guided America."

Abroad, the incendiary rhetoric was met with disbelief and outrage.

Pope Leo XIV called it "truly unacceptable" and the UN chief António Guterres said he was "deeply troubled".

With just 90 minutes to go before the deadline Mr Trump had set to start blowing up Iran’s bridges and power plants, another social media post dropped.

It was announcing a two-week ceasefire if Iran opened the Strait of Hormuz.

This was a volte face as dramatic as the threat itself.

And it drew a sigh of relief from those who had been watching this countdown with bated breath, minute-by-minute.

Asian markets surged on opening, in reaction to the ceasefire news, while oil prices plummeted sharply.

It’s hardly the first time the US president has deployed full-throttle brinkmanship, only to pull back at the eleventh hour.

Think Greenland. And tariffs.

It is, after all, why the internet meme known as TACO (Trump Always Chickens Out) became so popular amongst his critics.

But it's hard to avoid the conclusion that this time it's different.

The rhetoric used over the past few days to pressure Iran to open this maritime chokepoint has, to borrow a Trumpism, never been seen before.

It was on Easter Sunday, the holiest day of the Christian calendar, that he wrote: "Open the F***in’ Strait, you crazy bastards, or you'll be living in Hell," drawing condemnation from many quarters, including former ally and right-wing commentator Tucker Carlson, who called it "vile on every level".

Amid frequent threats to bomb Iran back to the "stone ages", it was hard to imagine it could escalate further.

But it did, as we know.

And while there is relief this morning that the danger has subsided, at least for two weeks, there's also a sense that the world has changed.

The United States, long seen as the leader of the free world, appears to not only have thrown off established diplomatic norms but all semblance of adherence to international law as well, sowing distrust and wariness among friends and enemies alike.

As legal experts have repeatedly pointed out this week, deliberate bombing of a country’s civilian infrastructure is a violation of international law.

Infrastructure can lose its protected status if it is used for military purposes, but only if its targeting offers "a definite military advantage".

Given that US officials have said on a number of occasions - most recently in Mr Trump’s ceasefire announcement post last night - that military objectives have already been met, it's doubtful the administration could argue bombing power plants and bridges would offer any definite advantage.

But there's weariness too.

Weariness among world leaders kept guessing right to the last minute.

It wouldn't be surprising to see this episode usher in an era of new alliances being forged, as countries rush to seek out more reliable partners.

And it's hard to see the benefits of such a global shakeup flowing anywhere but towards China - the emerging, authoritarian superpower and the US's chief adversary.

Before the ceasefire was announced, Mr Trump had threatened death to Iranian civilisation with the following words: "We will find out tonight, one of the most important moments in the long and complex history of the world."

And it certainly feels like that.