Continued from P1

It was Iran's new Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei, the son of former supreme leader Ali Khamenei who was killed in an airstrike at the start of the war on February 28, who nudged his negotiators, for the first time since the war began, to move towards a deal. Iran's Foreign minister Araghchi said that under the two-week ceasefire agreement, maritime traffic through the vital Strait of Hormuz, through which a fifth of global oil and gas passes, would be guaranteed.

Kamenei, who is yet to appear in public since being named the Supreme Leader, was actively involved in the process to make a truce deal on Monday and Tuesday. Khamenei's blessing for his negotiators to cut a deal was a "breakthrough". Araghchi also played a key role both in handling the negotiations and in pushing commanders from the Revolutionary Guards, an elite force, to accept a deal. China too was advising Iran to seek an off ramp.