It has been a confusing and chaotic 24 hours for those following the war betweenIsraelandIransince Tehran struck a US military base in Qatar on Monday.
That attack was seen by the US as being an attempt to respond to the US’s weekend bombing of Iran’s nuclear sites without escalating the situation.
Donald Trump, the US president, responded by calling the Iranian attack “very weak” and claimed to have intercepted 13 of 14 missiles fired.
He addedon his social media platform, Truth Social: “I am pleased to report that NO Americans were harmed, and hardly any damage was done … I want to thank Iran for giving us early notice, which made it possible for no lives to be lost, and nobody to be injured. Perhaps Iran can now proceed to Peace and Harmony in the Region, and I will enthusiastically encourage Israel to do the same.”
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A few minutes later,he posted: “I am pleased to report that, in addition to no Americans being killed or wounded, very importantly, there have also been no Qataris killed or wounded.”
That was followed bya postthat arguably seemed optimistic at the time: “CONGRATULATIONS WORLD, IT’S TIME FOR PEACE!”
But two hours after that, at about 6pm ET (11pm UK time), the US presidentannounced“a Complete and Total CEASEFIRE” between Israel and Iran. He gave a confusing timeline for the start of the ceasefire, which in some ways presaged the chaotic implementation of the suspension of hostilities the next morning.
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Later that night, at about 10pm ET, heset outhow he claimed the agreement had been reached: “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!”
Pausing only to repost a clip claiming to show a “deranged paid protester” and one that said “Trump was right about everything”, he praised the B2 pilots who bombed the Iranian sites, and then, just past midnight Washington time,declared: “THE CEASEFIRE IS NOW IN EFFECT. PLEASE DO NOT VIOLATE IT!”
Iranian state television reported that the ceasefire went into effect at 7.30am, although the Iranian foreign minister, Abbas Araghchi, wrote on X at about 2am UK time: “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 4am Tehran time, we have no intention to continue our response afterwards.”
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…
At about 7am UK time, Israel issued a statement agreeing to the ceasefire, reserving the right to respond “forcefully” to any breaches by Iran.
Despite this, there were reports of Israeli strikes killing nine people in the northern Iranian province of Gilan early on Tuesday morning local time, and five people killed in an Iranian strike on Beersheba in Israel.
And Israel’s military soon said it had detected another barrage of Iranian missiles. At about 9am UK time, the Israeli defence minister, Israel Katz, said: “In light of Iran’s blatant violation of the ceasefire declared by the President of the United States – through the launch of missiles toward Israel – and in accordance with the Israeli government’s policy to respond forcefully to any breach, I have instructed the IDF … to continue high-intensity operations targeting regime assets and terror infrastructure in Tehran.”
Iran denied firing missiles after the ceasefire had begun, and accused Israel of the same sort of breach.
At this point, at about 7am Washington time, Trump returned to the fray, telling reporters as he prepared to board a helicopter to head to the Nato summit in the Netherlands:
[Iran] violated it, but Israel violated it too. Israel, as soon as we made the deal, they came out and they dropped a load of bombs, the likes of which I’ve never seen before, the biggest load that we’ve seen. I’m not happy with Israel … I’m not happy with Iran either. But I’m really unhappy if Israel’s going out this morning because of one rocket that didn’t land, that was shot perhaps by mistake … You know what, we basically have two countries that have been fighting so long and so hard that they don’t know what the fuck they’re doing.
He expanded on the point on social media,posting: “ISRAEL. DO NOT DROP THOSE BOMBS. IF YOU DO IT IS A MAJOR VIOLATION. BRING YOUR PILOTS HOME, NOW!”
Following reports that he had immediately spoken to Benjamin Netanyahu on the phone,he added: “ISRAEL is not going to attack Iran … Nobody will be hurt, the Ceasefire is in effect!”
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But the well-informed Axios reporter Barak Ravidpostedthat Netanyahu had refused to completely cancel the planned strikes.
Senior Israeli official: Trump called Netanyahu on Tuesday and asked him not to carry out an attack in Iran at all. Netanyahu told Trump that he could not cancel the strike and that some response was needed to Iran’s violation of the ceasefire. In the end, it was decided to…
And indeed there were soon reports of explosions in Tehran and in northern Iran, and Iranian media reports that the deputy head of intelligence of Iran’s police had been killed.
Netanyahu’s office said that, in response to Iran’s violations, the Israeli air force had attacked an Iranian radar near Tehran. After Netanyahu’s conversation with Trump, his office said, Israel had refrained from further strikes.
Meanwhile, Iran’s Revolutionary Guards said they had taught Israel “an unforgettable lesson” with a strike just before the ceasefire deal took hold, and on Air Force One on the way to the Nato summit Trump repeated that he did not seek regime change in Iran.
It remains to be seen whether the ceasefire will hold as the day continues.