US President Donald Trump announced that Israel and Iran had agreed to a complete and total ceasefire.
Trump’s announcement came soon after Iran launched a limited missile attack Monday on a US military base in Qatar, retaliating for the American bombing of its nuclear sites.
The Iranian state-run media said that the ceasefire with Israel came into effect following five waves of Iranian attacks on Israeli-occupied territories. Per the truce agreement announced by US President Donald Trump late Monday night, the ceasefire for Iran would come into effect at around 4:00 am GMT Tuesday. Israel would follow suit 12 hours later.
At least seven people were killed in the Southern Israeli city of Be’er Sheva on Tuesday morning after an Iranian missile hit a residential building. The launches came after Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said Iran would stop its attacks if Israel ended their airstrikes.
A video has emerged from Be’er Sheva, which shows the residential complex being completely destroyed by the Iranian missile. The clip shows remains of burnt cars and trees outside the building where the warhead had hit.
“THE CEASEFIRE IS NOW IN EFFECT. PLEASE DO NOT VIOLATE IT,” Trump wrote in a post on his Truth Social platform.
A senior White House official said that Trump had brokered a ceasefire deal in a call with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, and Israel had agreed so long as Iran did not launch further attacks.
Iran also confirmed that Tehran had agreed to a ceasefire, but the country’s foreign minister said there would be no cessation of hostilities unless Israel stopped its attacks.
Iran and Israel have exchanged wave after wave of air strikes since Israel unleashed a major military offensive on June 13. Israel, joined by the United States on the weekend, has carried out attacks on Iran’s nuclear facilities, after alleging Tehran was getting close to obtaining a nuclear weapon.
Iran denies ever having a nuclear weapons program, but Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei has said that if it wanted to, world leaders “wouldn’t be able to stop us”.
The ceasefire in the Middle East is welcome and relieves world powers, who were concerned about the economic and geopolitical fallout of a long-drawn-out war in the region. But this is a fragile peace. While the US claims Iran’s nuclear facilities have taken a severe hit, Tehran has denied this.
This conflict has also given Tehran more reasons to boost its nuclear power. And Western powers have admitted that they are not sure what has happened to Iran’s uranium stockpile. So while the ceasefire is a relief, many questions remain and the world hopes that the players come back to the negotiation table and diplomacy establishes lasting peace.
