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Hello and welcome to NewsHour. It's coming to you live from the BBC World Service

Studios in London. I'm Tim Franks. We always approach our programmes, our additions of Newsare

with a simple question,

what is going on?

We ask out whatever the stories are.

But my goodness, given the last 24 hours, that question feels all the more necessary.

From President Trump's warning that he was about to destroy Iranian civilization

to the announcement of a two-week ceasefire? Is this really going to be

the end of the U.S.-Israeli war in Iran? Can the current, and it seems utterly divergent

American and Iranian views of an acceptable long-term deal, be resolved? What will be the

political fallout for Mr Trump in the US?

On what basis can global shipping resume through the Strait of Hormuz? Will it, in fact, resume?

And what about Israel continuing to pound Lebanon? Is that going to carry on?

So, lots of questions we'll try to answer in the course of the program. Let's begin, though,

with how some of the key protagonists are trying to frame events. First to the lectern today was the

U.S. Secretary of Defense, Pete Hagseth. President Trump forged this moment. Iran begged for this

ceasefire, and we all know it. By any measure, Epic Fury decimated Iran's military and rendered it combat ineffective for years to come.

You see, in less than 40 days, one of our combatant commands, Central Command, Sentcom, using less than 10% of America's total combat power,

dismantled one of the world's largest militaries.

The world's leading state sponsor of terrorism proved utterly incapable of defending itself, its people, or its territory.

And speaking in the past couple of hours, the White House Press Secretary Caroline Levit

...