Earlier, Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said there’s no agreement on a ceasefire with Israel, but that Tehran will halt attacks if Israel stops its “illegal aggression” by 4am local time (00:30 GMT)
NEW YORK — Iran and Israel have agreed to a ceasefire, US President Donald Trump announced. He said Monday evening on Truth Social, “It has been fully agreed by and between Israel and Iran that there will be a Complete and Total CEASEFIRE”.
The ceasefire will start in six hours – around midnight Washington time and 9:30 am in India — “when Israel and Iran have wound down and completed their in progress, final missions”, he said.
In a dramatic end to the missile war between Iran and Israel into which the US was drawn in with both missiles and B2 stealth bombers, Trump, who had showered invectives on Tehran for years, wrote, “I want to thank Iran”.
“On the assumption that everything works as it should, which it will, I would like to congratulate both Countries, Israel and Iran, on having the Stamina, Courage, and Intelligence to end, what should be called, ‘THE 12 DAY WAR’”, he wrote.
Israel has agreed to US President Donald Trump’s proposal for a ceasefire with Iran, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in a statement, after US President Donald Trump said the truce is now in effect and urged both sides not to violate it, reports Al Jazeera.
The announcements came after Iran launched several volleys of missiles at Israel, killing at least four people in the southern city of Beersheba.
Iran also fired a salvo of missiles at a military base in Qatar that houses American troops on Monday evening, in retaliation for the US’s attacks on its nuclear sites a day earlier.
Earlier, Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said there’s no agreement on a ceasefire with Israel, but that Tehran will halt attacks if Israel stops its “illegal aggression” by 4am local time (00:30 GMT). Israel is yet to comment publicly.
The United Nations Security Council was scheduled to meet on Tuesday on that agreement known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action which was signed by the five permanent members of the Council and Germany and the European Union.
It is to be seen if the peace will hold as Israel disrupted the negotiations between Iran and the US by starting to bomb Iran two days before a scheduled meeting between representatives of Tehran and Washington.
How the ceasefire will work is complicated as set out in Trump’s Truth Social post.
He indicated that first Iran is to hold a ceasefire, which Israel will respect, and that will be followed by an Israeli ceasefire for another 12 hours, at which point it will become permanent.
After the two ceasefires, “upon the 24th Hour, an Official END to THE 12 DAY WAR will be saluted by the World”, Trump said.
Former US Ambassador to Iraq James Jeffrey says that while there has been confusion surrounding the details of the Trump-declared truce between Israel and Iran, ceasefires are typically “messy”.
“Over the past 50 years … I’ve seen a dozen ceasefires. They’re all messy,” Jeffrey told Al Jazeera. “Not all the troops get the orders … The timelines are [often] wrong.”
“This confusion is normal confusion, but it’s clear that it’s moving in a very, very positive direction given what the Iranian foreign minister has said [on halting attacks if Israel does],” he said.
More than 400 people, including 13 children, have been killed and at least 3,056 others wounded since Israel launched its attack on June 13. In Israel, at least 24 people have been killed in Iranian strikes. — With Inputs from agencies
