Trump’s truce after firestorm
US President Donald Trump on Tuesday said a ceasefire between Iran and Israel was in effect after the deal initially faltered and the American leader expressed deep frustration with both sides.
Israel had earlier accused Iran of launching missiles into its airspace after the truce was supposed to take effect and the Israeli finance minister vowed that “Tehran will tremble”.
The Iranian military denied firing on Israel, state media reported, but explosions boomed and sirens sounded across northern Israel in the morning.
Trump told reporters at the White House before departing for a NATO summit that, in his view, both sides had violated the nascent agreement. He had particularly strong words for Israel, a close ally, while suggesting Iran may have fired on the country by mistake. But later he said the deal was saved.
“Israel is not going to attack Iran. All planes will turn around and head home, while doing a friendly “plane wave” to Iran. Nobody will be hurt, the ceasefire is in effect,” Trump said in his Truth Social post.
Indeed, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said he held off on tougher strike against Iran after speaking to Trump.
The conflict, now in its 12th day, began with Israel targeting Iranian nuclear and military sites, saying it could not allow Tehran to develop atomic weapons. Iran has long maintained that its programme is peaceful.
Many worried the war might widen after the US joined the attacks by dropping bunker-buster bombs over the weekend. But after Tehran launched a limited retaliatory strike on a US military base in Qatar on Monday, Trump announced the ceasefire.
An Israeli military official who spoke on the condition of anonymity in line with military regulations said Iran launched two missiles at Israel hours into the tenuous ceasefire. Both were intercepted, the official said.
Iranian state television reported that the military denied firing missiles after the start of the ceasefire while condemning Israel for predawn strikes of its own. One of those attacks killed a high-profile nuclear scientist, Mohammad Reza Sedighi Saber, at his father-in-law’s residence in northern Iran, Iranian state TV reported.
It’s unclear what role Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Iran’s leader, played in the talks. He said earlier on social media that he would not surrender.
Trump, meanwhile, said he wasn’t seeking regime change in Iran, two days after floating the idea himself in a social media post. “I don’t want it,” Trump said. “Regime change takes chaos and, ideally, we don’t want to see much chaos.” Before the ceasefire was announced, Israel’s military said Iran launched 20 missiles towards Israel. The police said they damaged at least three densely packed residential buildings in the city of Beersheba. First responders said they retrieved four bodies from one building and were searching for more. At least 20 people were injured.
Outside, the shells of burned out cars littered the streets. Broken glass and rubble covered the area. The police said some people were injured while inside their apartments’ reinforced safe rooms, which are meant to withstand rockets but not direct hits from ballistic missiles.
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