Washington/Jerusalem/Tehran – Israel and Iran accused each other of ceasefire violations on Tuesday, warning of retaliation just hours after the truce was announced.
The Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) claimed to have detected missiles fired from Iran after the ceasefire went into effect, saying defense systems were working to intercept them.
“In light of the severe violation of the ceasefire carried out by the Iranian regime, we will respond with force,” IDF Chief of the General Staff Eyal Zamir said.
Iran’s general staff of the armed forces denied the accusation, while a spokesperson for the armed forces’ main operational command accused Israel of firing three waves of attacks on targets inside Iran in a truce violation, warning it would “pay a heavy price,” according to Iranian media.
Just hours earlier, US President Donald Trump announced on his Truth Social platform that “THE CEASEFIRE IS NOW IN EFFECT. PLEASE DO NOT VIOLATE IT!”
The Israeli government said it had agreed to a ceasefire after achieving all the objectives of its military operation, and thanked Washington for its support.
“In light of achieving the objectives of the operation, and in full coordination with President Trump, Israel has agreed to the president’s proposal for a bilateral cease-fire,” it said, adding it would respond forcefully to any violation of the truce.
Trump declared that the ceasefire had been “fully agreed by and between Israel and Iran,” however, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi asserted that no such agreement existed, but that the state had no intention of continuing its attacks if Israel also stopped.
Iran’s state National News Network later said its military efforts had “imposed a ceasefire on the enemy,” followed by Iranian state media reporting the government’s first official reaction to the halt in hostilities.
The Secretariat of the Supreme National Security Council released a statement, published by state media Tasnim, on “imposing a cessation of war on the Zionist enemy,” in which it claimed the “strategizing and struggle of the warriors and the wise leadership … forced the enemy to regret and accept defeat and unilaterally halt its invasion.”
The Council also warned that “any further aggression will be met with a decisive, firm, and timely response.”
Early Tuesday morning, following the US’ ceasefire announcement but before its scheduled implementation, Tehran launched volleys of missiles at Israel, killing at least four people and injuring 22 in southern Beersheba, and killing at least nine and injuring 33 in the northern province of Gilan.
The IDF said “about twenty missiles were fired from Iran toward various locations across the country, most of which were intercepted.”
Israel and Iran have exchanged daily missile and drone attacks since the early hours of Friday the 13th, when Iran launched airstrikes against Iran.
Over 12 days, the attacks killed around 430 people and injured some 3,500 in Iran, according to authorities, while more than 28 were killed in Israel.
Tensions escalated further in the region when the US bombed three key facilities of Iran’s nuclear program on Sunday, and Iran responded Monday, with an attack on US military bases in Qatar and Iraq, which had already been evacuated.
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