US President Donald Trump announced a ceasefire between Iran and Israel on Monday evening. The two nations initially signaled they would stop targeting each other. However, on Tuesday morning only two hours after agreeing to the deal, Israel’s Defense Minister, Israel Katz, accused Iran of violating the ceasefire.
Iran denies firing missiles at Israel after the ceasefire began, state media reports. Katz vowed to “respond forcefully to Iran’s violation of the ceasefire with intense strikes against regime targets in the heart of Tehran.”
Earlier, the Israeli government said it agreed to the ceasefire proposal after “achieving the objectives” of its attacks on Iran. According to the statement, Israel has removed Iran’s “dual immediate existential threat” from nuclear weapons and ballistic missiles.
It was also said that Israel has “inflicted severe damage on the military leadership, and destroyed dozens of central Iranian government targets.”
According to the statement, in the last day, Israeli forces “severely struck government targets in the heart of Tehran, eliminating hundreds of Basij operatives,” a militia the Iranian government often uses to suppress protests, and “eliminating another senior nuclear scientist.”
“Israel thanks President Trump and the United States for their support in defense and their participation in eliminating the Iranian nuclear threat,” the statement added. Iran’s foreign minister, Seyed Abbas Araghchi, posted on X saying that if Israel stops its “illegal aggression” now, Iran has “no intention to continue [its] response afterwards.”
Araghchi said Israel must stop by 04:00 local time on Tuesday, which has just passed: “As Iran has repeatedly made clear, Israel launched war on Iran, not the other way around.”
“As of now, there is NO agreement on any ceasefire or cessation of military operations. However, provided that the Israeli regime stops its illegal aggression against the Iranian people no later than 4 am Tehran time,” Araghchi maintained, “we have no intention to continue our response afterwards. The final decision on the cessation of our military operations will be made later.”
Trump urges ceasefire in the Middle East
The US President said that Israel and Iran reached out to him almost simultaneously about peace. “I knew the time was now,” he wrote in a post on Truth Social.
In referring to the ceasefire that he declared, he added: “The world and the Middle East are the real winners. Both nations will see tremendous love, peace and prosperity in their futures.”
Only a few hours after he announced a ceasefire deal, Trump wrote in a post on Truth Social: “Israel & Iran came to me, almost simultaneously, and said, ‘PEACE!’ I knew the time was NOW. The World, and the Middle East, are the real WINNERS! Both Nations will see tremendous LOVE, PEACE, AND PROSPERITY in their futures.”
“They have so much to gain, and yet, so much to lose if they stray from the road of RIGHTEOUSNESS & TRUTH. The future for Israel & Iran is UNLIMITED, & filled with great PROMISE. GOD BLESS YOU BOTH!” the President wrote.
CNN reports that Trump and a group of his top diplomatic and security officials worked furiously behind the scenes to try to broker a peace deal to end the conflict between Iran and Israel in the hours after Iran launched a missile attack on a US base in Qatar.
Iran and Israel continue strikes after Trump’s announcement
Despite the ceasefire announcement, strikes resumed. Israel said it identified missiles launched from Iran early Tuesday morning, with one slamming into a residential building in the south that left three dead. Iranian state media reported Israel launched fresh attacks on Iran’s capital, Tehran, overnight.
Earlier, Trump thanked Iran for “early notice” of the missiles fired at the US base in Qatar. But what is Tehran’s reason for warning the US? Security and defence expert Stephan Fruehling told the BBC that Iran’s motivation for hitting back at the US is primarily “symbolic.”
“So this warning is likely to signal to the US that Iran is not interested in further conflict with the US,” he tells the BBC. Iran’s warning could have provided the timing and target of the strike so Qatar and the US could clear civilian airspace in time, says Fruehling, who teaches at the Australian National University.
The warning is a gesture to the US and Qatar that they want to “keep this limited to a conflict with Israel” as they could lose militarily if they were to escalate, he added.
See all the latest news from Greece and the world at Greekreporter.com. Contact our newsroom to report an update or send your story, photos and videos. Follow GR on Google News and subscribe here to our daily email!
