Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi said Tuesday that"there is no agreement on a ceasefire or cessation of operations" with Israel, but he affirmed that if Israel ends its"illegal aggression" against Iran before 4:00 a.m. local time, Iran will also pause its attacks.
Trump announced a"total" ceasefire
This statement came after US President Donald Trump announced that Israel and Iran had reached a 12-hour "total ceasefire," after which he said the war between the two countries would be considered "over."
"Congratulations everyone! Israel and Iran have fully agreed that there will be a complete ceasefire (in approximately six hours, when both countries have completed their final missions), for twelve hours, at which point the war will be considered over," he wrote on his social network, Truth Social.
The president explained that"officially, Iran will initiate the ceasefire" and twelve hours later Israel will begin it, so that in about 24 hours"the world will officially announce the end of the 12-day war."
Their calculations indicated that Tehran would adopt the armistice at midnight on Tuesday, Washington time.
( @realDonaldTrump - Truth Social Post )
— Donald J. Trump ????????? TRUTH POSTS (@TruthTrumpPosts) June 23, 2025
( Donald J. Trump - Jun 23, 2025, 6:02 PM ET )
CONGRATULATIONS TO EVERYONE! It has been fully agreed by and between Israel and Iran that there will be a Complete and Total CEASEFIRE (in approximately 6 hours from now, when Israel and Iran… pic.twitter.com/lWdRKVoZGI
"Assuming all goes as it should, and it will, I congratulate both countries, Israel and Iran, for their resilience , courage and intelligence in ending what should be called 'the 12-Day War,'" Trump added in his message.
"This is a war that could have lasted for years and destroyed the entire Middle East, but it didn't, and it never will! God bless Israel, God bless Iran, God bless the Middle East, God bless the United States of America, and God bless the world!" the statement concluded.
Israel decided to bomb Iran on June 13 with the aim of damaging its army and the ayatollahs' nuclear program.
Since then, Iran and Israel have regularly exchanged drone and missile attacks.
Trump's message was published just hours after Iran attacked US bases in Qatar and Iraq today in retaliation for the US bombing of three key sites in Iran's nuclear program over the weekend.
The Iranian counterattack is believed to have been designed to prevent further escalation of the war in the region, since, in addition to notifying the United States in advance of today's offensive, Iran had already warned days ago that it could bomb US bases in the Middle East if attacked by the United States.
"A week ago, Iran was close to having a nuclear weapon. Now, they're unable to do that with the equipment they have because we've destroyed it. So I think the Iranians are at a place where they don't want to fight anymore," US Vice President JD Vance said in an interview on Fox News.
