United States President Donald Trump has agreed to suspend his planned bombing of Iran for two weeks, following his threat that “a whole civilization will die tonight” if Tehran did not comply with his demands.

On Tuesday evening, within hours of the planned attack, Trump took to his platform Truth Social to announce he had reversed course.

He credited Pakistan for mediating the settlement but warned it came with conditions — namely that Iran re-open the Strait of Hormuz.

“Based on conversations with Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and Field Marshal Asim Munir, of Pakistan, and wherein they requested that I hold off the destructive force being sent tonight to Iran, and subject 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,” Trump wrote.

The message was posted online at 6:32pm US Eastern time (22:00 GMT), just under one and a half hours before Trump’s 8pm (00:00 GMT) deadline for the attack.

Shortly after Trump’s message, Iran’s Foreign Minister Seyed Abbas Araghchi confirmed that a tentative agreement had been reached.

“If attacks against Iran are halted, our Powerful Armed Forces will cease their defensive operations,” Araghchi wrote.

“For a period of two weeks, safe passage through the Strait of Hormuz will be possible via coordination with Iran’s Armed Forces and with due consideration of technical limitations.”

Araghchi likewise thanked Pakistan for its last-minute appeal to suspend the US bombing campaign.

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In the lead-up to the Thursday evening announcement, there had been speculation throughout the day that Trump might extend the deadline, as he has multiple times in recent weeks.

But tensions had mushroomed on Tuesday as the deadline inched closer — and after Trump himself posted a menacing message on social media that morning.

“A whole civilization will die tonight, never to be brought back again,” Trump had written at the time. “I don’t want that to happen, but it probably will.”

He added that the evening deadline would mark “one of the most important moments in the long and complex history of the World”.

Still, it remains unclear to what extent Trump will be holding off on his all-out military offensive.

Trump had previously threatened to blow up power plants, bridges and other civilian infrastructure, actions that many legal experts said would amount to a war crime.

In his Tuesday evening message, the US president once again claimed victory over Iran and said that Tehran had delivered a feasible ceasefire proposal.

“This will be a double sided CEASEFIRE,” Trump wrote.

“The reason for doing so is that we have already met and exceeded all Military objectives, and are very far along with a definitive Agreement concerning Longterm PEACE with Iran, and PEACE in the Middle East. We received a 10 point proposal from Iran, and believe it is a workable basis on which to negotiate.”

Trump explained that the next two weeks would be spent finalising the agreement with Iran. But he voiced optimism that any past disagreements had been resolved.

“Almost all of the various points of past contention have been agreed to between the United States and Iran,” Trump said.

“It is an Honor to have this Longterm problem close to resolution,” he added.

Al Jazeera correspondent Osama Bin Javaid noted that Trump’s latest announcement was likely to be welcomed by allies in the Middle East, which had been bracing for a heavy attack on Iran and the possibility of counter-attacks.

“That is going to be a big sigh of relief, collectively from the region and beyond, because the alternative was so horrific,” Bin Javaid said.

“The level of anxiety around the region was extraordinary, and Donald Trump was the only person who could defuse it, because he’s the one who lit the fuse in the first place.”

Trump’s announcement was met with scepticism and confusion on the ground in Tehran, where some questioned if the war as a whole had been paused.

“It’s not clear, at least not to me, whether he’s suspending what is already going on since the beginning of the war entirely, or he’s extending the deadline for that ultimate destruction of the power plants,” Al Jazeera correspondent Mohamed Vall said from Tehran.

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The war has been raging for more than five weeks, since Israel and the US launched a joint military offensive against Iran on February 28.

Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu have argued that the offensive was necessary to eliminate Iran as a regional threat and to prevent it from obtaining a nuclear weapon.

But legal experts have described that offensive as an unprovoked attack, in violation of international law.

This is a breaking news story. More details to come.