U.S. President Donald Trump said Tuesday that the cease-fire between Israel and Iran after 12 days of conflict remains “in effect,” though he slammed both sides for committing violations.
“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 wrote on his Truth Social platform.
Trump had just accused both Iran and Israel of violating the newly agreed cease-fire, in comments to journalists in Washington before his departure to attend a NATO summit in The Hague.
Earlier, Trump had urged Israel to refrain from responding to alleged Iranian attacks, posting on Truth Social: “DO NOT DROP THOSE BOMBS … BRING YOUR PILOTS HOME, NOW!”
He said that any more attacks after the agreed cease-fire would be a major violation.
Trump announced the cease-fire overnight, and both Iran and Israel later confirmed it. Soon afterward however, the two sides traded accusations of further attacks being carried out.
Israel had broken the cease-fire three times and attacked various locations in Iran, the Iranian armed forces were cited by the FARS news agency as saying.
Earlier statements from the Israeli military said that Tehran had fired at least one missile at northern Israel, with Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz vowing strong counterattacks.
Iran denied firing rockets at Israel after the cease-fire took effect, according to the Tasnim news agency, which is affiliated with the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.
Trump announced the cease-fire late Monday, specifying that it would be introduced in stages over the following hours.
“It has been fully agreed by and between Israel and Iran that there will be a Complete and Total CEASEFIRE,” the U.S. president posted on Truth Social.
Iranian media subsequently reported that a cease-fire with Israel came into force at 7:30 a.m. (12:30 a.m. GMT) on Tuesday, followed by a confirmation from the office of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
Israel had met its objectives and more, removing a “double existential threat – on both the nuclear issue and regarding ballistic missiles,” the Israeli government said, after Netanyahu informed his Security Cabinet of the cease-fire agreement.
Iran and Israel continued exchanging fire right up until the cease-fire, with casualties reported on both sides.
At least nine people were killed in the northern Iranian city of Rasht ahead of the cease-fire, according to Tasnim. A further 33 people were injured in the attack on a residential area, it wrote.
State media reported that a senior Iranian nuclear scientist was killed in Israeli attacks in the morning.
In a morning attack from Iran on Israel, at least five people were killed and 20 others injured, according to a local rescue service in Beersheba.
The Israeli air force attacked and destroyed missile launch pads in western Iran that had been used in the latest attacks on Israeli territory, the military announced.
If it holds, the cease-fire will be considered a success for Trump, after the United States joined the conflict at the weekend with surgical strikes on key Iranian nuclear facilities.
“On the assumption that everything works as it should, which it will, I would like to congratulate both Countries, Israel and Iran, on having the Stamina, Courage, and Intelligence to end, what should be called, ‘THE 12 DAY WAR,'” Trump wrote on Truth Social.
Early Sunday, the U.S. struck three key nuclear sites in Iran in support of Israel.
The U.S. intervention, which involved bunker-busting bombs dropped on the important uranium enrichment facility in Fordow and the nuclear plant in Natanz, as well as strikes on another facility in Isfahan, was seen as a sharp escalation in the war between Iran and Israel.
Israel launched large-scale attacks on Iranian targets on June 13, saying it aims to prevent the country from building a nuclear weapon, a charge Tehran has consistently denied.
Iran retaliated with waves of missile and drone strikes on Israel. There have been deaths and casualties on both sides.
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