The Financial Times reported shortly after the April 7 ceasefire that it was the White House that pushed Pakistan to broker the temporary truce with Iran. According to five people familiar with the diplomatic back channel, as summarized by The New Republic, the Trump administration had been asking for a ceasefire since as early as March 21, when Trump first threatened to bomb Iran's power plants.
The report runs against Trump's public line. At a televised Cabinet meeting on March 26, he said, “They are begging to make a deal. Not me. They're begging to make it.” He added, “I read a story today that I'm desperate to make a deal. I'm the opposite of desperate.”
According to the FT, the administration wanted the ceasefire to ease the economic strain caused by Iran's control of the Strait of Hormuz, and relied on Pakistan to carry it. Pakistani Army Chief Asim Munir was communicating with Iranian officials, special envoy Steve Witkoff, Vice President JD Vance, and Trump himself, even after Trump warned on April 7 that “a whole civilization will die tonight.”
The FT's central claim rests on unnamed sources and has not been independently confirmed. Al Jazeera's reconstruction of the Pakistani channel confirms that Munir spoke directly to Trump on March 22 and 23, and that the U.S. passed its 15-point proposal to Iran through Pakistan by March 26. It does not say which side first asked for a ceasefire, and it reports that Trump initially rejected Pakistan's two-phase ceasefire proposal before his deadline. Publicly, Trump said he agreed to the pause because Pakistan's prime minister and army chief “requested that I hold off.”