Trump says Israel, Iran violated ceasefire: 'They don't know what the f... they're doing'

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WASHINGTON - After hours of uncertainty over the future of the ceasefire between Iran and Israel, US President Donald Trump pressed Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu in a tough phone call to prevent further attacks on Tehran. The Israeli government agreed to respect the truce and announced that its military focus would return to the confrontation with Hamas in Gaza.

The Israeli prime minister celebrated what he called a historic victory in an address to the nation in which he also praised President Trump. “Israel has never had a friend like President Trump in the White House,” he said hours after the American harshly criticized both countries.

“Now the focus is on Gaza, bringing the hostages home and dismantling the Hamas regime,” said Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir, the Israeli army chief of staff.

On the Iranian side, President Masud Pezeshkian said in a message to the nation carried by the official IRNA news agency that the war is over."After the heroic resistance of our great nation (...) we see the establishment of a truce and the end of this 12-day war imposed by Israel," Pezeshkian said.

On his way to the NATO summit in the Netherlands, Trump said he had asked Netanyahu to bring back Israeli aircraft that were on the verge of attacking Iran. The Republican said the “last thing” Iran wants right now is a nuclear weapon.

“Israel, as soon as we made the deal, went out and dropped a bomb load, the likes of which I’ve never seen before. The biggest load we’ve ever seen. I’m not happy with Israel,” he said, adding that he would be “really unhappy” if Israel attacked Iran in retaliation for what the president described as “a rocket that missed its target.”

The US president also said it was a “great honor to destroy all of Iran’s capabilities.” “Both Israel and Iran wanted to stop the War, equally! It was my great honor to Destroy All Nuclear Facilities and Capabilities, and then STOP THE WAR!”

Attacks and conversation with Netanyahu

Israeli jets carried out a small strike on an Iranian radar north of Tehran on Tuesday morning, the Israeli military said, backing away from a threat to launch a strong response to missiles fired by Iran that killed four people in the southern Israeli city of Beersheba on Monday night.

The renewed hostilities have thrown the ceasefire into doubt. Israel has vowed to respond forcefully to Iran's strikes, but scaled back its offensive at the last minute after Netanyahu spoke to Trump, according to the American news outlet Axios. In the call, the American president expressed his disapproval of the planned retaliation in"an exceptionally firm and direct manner."

Trump called on Israel to call off the strike altogether, but the prime minister refused, arguing that Israel should respond in some way to Iran's violation. The two agreed that the Israeli response would be"symbolic," and Netanyahu called off a number of other planned strikes.

“The president told Netanyahu what needed to happen to sustain the ceasefire. The prime minister understood the gravity of the situation and the concerns that President Trump expressed,” a White House source told Axios.

Accusations

In a statement, Netanyahu said the ceasefire was scheduled to take effect at 7 a.m. Israeli time. Four hours earlier, at 3 a.m., Israel struck targets “in the heart of Tehran,” and Iran responded with a barrage of missiles shortly after 7 a.m. At 7:06 a.m. in Israel, Iran fired another missile, and then two more at 10:25 a.m., according to Israel.

Netanyahu's office said those missiles were either intercepted or landed in open areas.

Tehran says its strikes were in retaliation for Israel’s strike before the ceasefire was due to take effect. The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps said that in retaliation for “savage” Israeli attacks on Iran overnight, Iran launched 14 missiles at military and logistics centers in Israel in the “final minutes” before the truce took effect, according to a statement published on the Telegram channel of Press TV, an Iranian state news channel.

The statement made no mention of any missile launches after the ceasefire began, as Trump and Israel have accused. Additionally, an Iranian military spokesman, Lt. Col. Ebrahim Zolfaqari, said Israel launched “three waves of strikes” against Iran on Tuesday morning after the ceasefire was scheduled to begin, with the last one ending at 9 a.m. Iranian time, according to a report by Press TV, citing a report by Defa Press, another Iranian news agency.

After the exchange of attacks and accusations, Trump said that the ceasefire between Israel and Iran was “in effect”.

Iranian airspace has partially reopened today, according to aviation tracking firm FlightRadar24. “Iranian airspace is now open for international arrivals and departures to/from Tehran with prior permission,” Flightradar24 said on X. Iraqi airspace has also reopened, it added.

Meanwhile, the Israeli military said it was lifting emergency restrictions imposed during the war with Iran that closed schools and workplaces. Israel's Civil Aviation Authority announced that Ben Gurion Airport near Tel Aviv would be fully reopened.

According to the Chief of Staff of the Israeli Army, Eyal Zamir, Tel Aviv returns its focus to the fight against the Hamas terrorist group in the Gaza Strip after 12 days of war with Iran.

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“Attention now turns to Gaza, to bring the hostages home and dismantle the Hamas regime,” Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir said in a statement.

A number of key regional countries welcomed the start of the ceasefire. China said it supports Iran in safeguarding its sovereignty and security and “achieving a real ceasefire.”