[WASHINGTON/TEL AVIV/ISTANBUL] Iranian and Israeli media reported new Israeli airstrikes on Iran on Tuesday (Jun 24), despite US President Donald Trump having said Israel had called them off at his command to preserve an hours-old ceasefire.
Two explosions were heard in the capital, the judiciary news outlet Mizan reported. Israeli army radio said Israel had struck an Iranian radar site near Teheran.
The strikes took place minutes after Trump said Israel had called off its attack in response to his command.
“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 said in a post on Truth Social.
Trump had earlier accused both Israel and Iran of violating the ceasefire, while expressing particular frustration with Israel which had announced major new strikes on Teheran.
“Israel. Do not drop those bombs. If you do it, it is a major violation. Bring your pilots home, now!” Trump wrote on Truth Social shortly after he left the White House for a trip to a Nato summit in The Hague.
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Before boarding, Trump told reporters he was “not happy” with either side for violating the truce, but particularly with Israel, which he said had launched huge strikes in response to a single missile launch which might have been unintentional.
“I’ve got to get Israel to calm down now,” Trump said as he left the White House.
Iran and Israel had been fighting “so long and so hard that they don’t know what the f*** they’re doing,” he said before turning away from cameras and heading to his helicopter.
Israeli media reported that Trump spoke to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu by phone. A reporter for Axios said that Netanyahu had told Trump that Israel would scale back the bombing mission rather than cancel it. There was no immediate word from Netanyahu’s office.
Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz had said earlier on Tuesday that he had ordered the military to mount new strikes on targets in Teheran in response to what he said were Iranian missiles fired in a “blatant violation” of the ceasefire.
Iran denied launching any missiles and said Israel’s attacks had continued for an hour and a half beyond the time the ceasefire was meant to start.
Since the war started on June 13, 606 people have been killed in Iran, according to the government. In Israel, emergency services said 28 people have been killed by Iranian missile strikes, including four on Tuesday morning.
Oil prices plunged late on Monday when it became clear Iran’s strikes on Qatar caused no fatalities or major damage.
Traders took it as a sign that Iran had no intention of escalating tensions with Washington, let alone drag other countries in the petroleum-rich region into a wider war. REUTERS
