Iran and Israel exchange fire as ceasefire comes into effect
Israel and Iran continued to fire at each other into Tuesday morning, just as a ceasefire appeared to come into effect.
US President Donald Trump announced hours earlier that the warring parties had agreed to a “complete and total” ceasefire. He said that Iran was scheduled to end hostilities at 5am GMT, and Israel at 11am GMT.
But in an extraordinary tirade delivered to reporters just before he stepped onto the presidential helicopter to go to the Nato summit in the Netherlands, Trump said both Iran and Israel had violated this ceasefire.
The US president said the two countries "have been fighting so long and so hard that they don't know what the fuck they're doing".
Reserving his harshest criticism for Israel, he said: "Israel, as soon as we made the deal, they came out and dropped a load of bombs the likes of which I've never seen before, the biggest load we've seen.
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"I'm not happy with Israel. When I say 'OK now you have 12 hours', you don't go out in the first hour and drop everything you have on them. So I'm not happy with them. I'm not happy with Iran either."
Israel Katz, the Israeli defence minister, said that Tehran had violated its side of the agreement and launched missiles towards Israeli territory.
Katz said Israel would “respond forcefully” to any breach, and Israel struck a radar site near the Iranian capital.
Iran denied reports that it had breached the ceasefire, according to state media.
Trump gave Israel's claims short shrift. "I'm really unhappy if Israel is going out this morning because of one rocket that didn't land that was shot - perhaps by mistake - that didn't land. I'm not happy with that," he told reporters.
"Israel unloaded a lot and now I hear Israel just went out because they felt they were violated by one rocket that didn't land anywhere... I'm not happy about... I've got to get Israel to calm down now."
This calming process appears to have taken place, with Netanyahu's office saying that following a call with Trump, the Israeli prime minister refrained from ordering any further strikes on Iran.
Earlier on Tuesday morning, before the ceasefire came into effect, five people were killed and at least 20 wounded in the southern Israeli city of Bersheeba, as two Iranian ballistic missiles struck the area.
One was shot down by Israeli air defences, while the other hit a residential building.
Meanwhile, Israeli air raids on residential areas in Iran’s northern Gilan province killed nine people early on Tuesday, according to a local official.
'Israel unloaded a lot and now I hear Israel just went out because they felt they were violated by one rocket that didn't land anywhere'
- US President Donald Trump
The deputy governor of Gilan told Tasnim news agency that the attacks had struck homes, causing multiple fatalities.
An Iranian judicial official also said on Tuesday that Israeli strikes a day earlier on Evin Prison, a notorious facility in northern Tehran, had killed staff and visiting family members.
Israel began attacking Iran on 13 June, and repeatedly targeted the country's military and nuclear facilities, as well as assassinating high-profile security, intelligence and military commanders as well as scientists.
In response, Iran fired barrages of missiles towards Haifa, Tel Aviv and other major Israeli cities, striking several sensitive areas.
More than 439 Iranians have been killed by Israeli forces since Israel began its surprise assault. At least 28 people were killed in Israel by Iranian strikes over that same period.
Both sides claim victory
Iran and Israel both confirmed on Tuesday that a ceasefire had been agreed.
Benjamin Netanyahu, Israel’s prime minister, declared that the country had achieved "all of the objectives" in its military campaign against Iran before agreeing to the ceasefire.
'Now, with all our might to Gaza, to complete the job'
- Bezalel Smotrich, Israeli finance minister
The premier convened a late-night meeting with his cabinet, the defence minister, and the head of Mossad, in which he reported that "Operation Rising Lion" had achieved even more than its intended goals.
"Israel has removed a dual immediate existential threat - both in the nuclear and ballistic missile fields," the statement said.
The Israeli military, Netanyahu claimed, "achieved full air control over Tehran’s skies, inflicted severe damage on the military leadership, and destroyed dozens of central Iranian government targets".
Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich said he was pleased with Israel's achievements in Iran and that "now, with all our might to Gaza, to complete the job".
Israeli opposition leader Yair Lapid said: “And now Gaza. This is the moment to close there as well. To return the hostages, to end the war. Israel needs to start rebuilding.”
The level of damage Israeli, and later US strikes, inflicted on Iran’s nuclear programme is not fully clear.
In his remarks to reporters, Trump claimed that they were a complete success and branded American broadcasters CNN and MSNBC "scum" for doubting this.
Iran’s Supreme National Security Council confirmed a halt to the conflict, issuing a stark warning against further aggression.
The country’s top security body vowed that “any further aggression will be met with a decisive, firm, and timely response by Iran.”
It praised the Iranian people’s “awareness, resilience and unity,” attributing the “enemy’s defeat” to their “firm resolve, strategic patience, and refusal to accept humiliation or one-sided compromise.”
Iran’s nuclear chief, Mohammad Eslami, has said that an assessment is being carried out to determine the extent of the damage to the country’s nuclear facilities, following joint Israeli and US strikes.
Over the weekend, the US attacked Iranian territory for the first time, targeting the Fordow, Natanz and Isfahan nuclear sites.
On Monday, Iran fired several missiles as part of a choreographed retaliatory strike against the American Al-Udeid base in Qatar. Trump thanked Tehran for what he termed a “very weak response” and said he would renew efforts to negotiate a peace between Israel and Iran.
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