Shaky ceasefire takes hold after Trump rebukes Israel and Iran
- The San Juan Daily Star
- 2 days ago
- 3 min read
By Patrick Kingsley, Isabel Kershner, Aaron Boxerman and Michael D. Shear
A fragile ceasefire between Israel and Iran appeared to be holding Tuesday, as Israel’s military lifted emergency restrictions imposed during the conflict and Iran’s president hailed “the end of a 12-day war that was imposed on the Iranian people.”
The nascent truce came hours after President Donald Trump lashed out at Iran and Israel for launching attacks after he had announced an end to their brief war. Trump later took credit for bringing an end to the fighting in a post on social media, as a preliminary U.S. report cast doubt on one of his big claims: that U.S. airstrikes had destroyed key Iranian nuclear facilities and crippled the country’s efforts to develop an atomic weapon.
“Both Israel and Iran wanted to stop the War, equally!” Trump wrote Tuesday morning as he flew to a NATO summit in the Netherlands. Referring to the U.S. military strikes over the weekend, he added, “It was my great honor to Destroy All Nuclear facilities & capability, and then, STOP THE WAR!”
The classified report, compiled by the Defense Intelligence Agency, suggested otherwise. It said the American bombing of Iran’s nuclear sites sealed off the entrances to two of the facilities but did not collapse their underground buildings, according to officials familiar with the findings. The early findings concluded that the strikes set back Iran’s nuclear program by only a few months, the officials said.
Earlier, in remarks to reporters punctuated by an expletive, Trump criticized Israel for retaliating for an Iranian missile attack “right after we made the deal.”
On Air Force One, Trump said he had spoken with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel on Tuesday morning and was “firm and direct” about what needed to happen to sustain the ceasefire.
Netanyahu’s office said that Iran had fired missiles after the ceasefire took effect and that the Israeli military had retaliated by striking a radar system near Tehran. Iran’s military denied violating the ceasefire, and Netanyahu’s statement indicated that Israel’s retaliation was limited.
Even as Iran and Israel offered competing versions of the timing of strikes after Trump’s ceasefire was announced, their explanations and comments throughout the day suggested that the sides — both of which claim to have prevailed in the conflict — want the ceasefire to hold.
Here’s what else to know:
— Global reaction: World leaders greeted the ceasefire announcement with cautious optimism. “If a ceasefire has indeed been achieved, then that can only be welcomed,” said Dmitry Peskov, the Kremlin spokesperson. President Emmanuel Macron of France praised the announcement but warned that “the situation remains volatile and unstable.”
— Trading fire: Iran and Israel both mounted attacks overnight and then presented competing narratives about who was at fault for the back-and-forth. At least four people were killed when a missile fired from Iran hit an apartment building in the southern Israeli city of Beersheba. In Tehran, residents said they endured a night of the heaviest airstrikes since the war began June 13.
— War powers: Several top Senate Democrats are pushing for a vote to require congressional approval for any further military action against Iran and are even proposing to narrow the measure to draw maximum support from a divided party. With Republicans holding majorities in both chambers of Congress, no measure restricting Trump’s military authority is likely to succeed, but the Democrats’ efforts have reinvigorated a long-dormant debate over Congress’ role in matters of war.
— Diplomacy: As Qatar and the other Gulf nations watched the war unfold over the past two weeks, they worried that an escalation could result in a widening conflict in which Iran might target their strategic energy resources. So even before Iran fired missiles at a U.S. military installation on its territory Monday, Qatar engaged quietly with the United States and with the Iranian government to lay the groundwork for a truce.
— Markets rise: A second day of declining oil prices helped lift stocks Tuesday as the ceasefire between Israel and Iran began to take hold. The S&P 500 had risen more than 1% heading into afternoon trading and now sits less than 1% away from its February record high.
A fragile ceasefire between Israel and Iran appeared to be holding Tuesday, as Israel’s military lifted emergency restrictions imposed during the conflict and Iran’s president hailed “the end of a 12-day war that was imposed Speed Stars on the Iranian people.”