US President Donald Trump on Friday said Iran and Israel “don't know what they are doing” after accusing both countries of breaking a ceasefire he had announced hours earlier.
Israel accused Iran of breaking the truce shortly after it took effect, while Tehran denied it had launched any missiles following the agreement. Israeli officials were quick to threaten a heavy response to the attack they claimed Iran had launched.
Mr Trump said both had breached the ceasefire and he was not happy with the two regional foes, who have been engaged in an air war for 12 days.
“[Iran] violated it, but Israel violated it, too,” he said. “I’m not happy with Israel,” he told reporters at the White House before leaving for the Nato summit in the Netherlands.
His remarks came after he warned Israel against breaking the truce. “Israel. do not drop those bombs. if you do it is a major violation. bring your pilots home, now!” he wrote on Truth Social.
“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!” he wrote in a different post.
Mr Trump also said he had to “get Israel to calm down now”.
Iranian state media had announced that a truce was in place and although Iranian officials had not formally accepted the proposal, Tehran denied breaking the truce. “No missiles were launched towards Israel after the ceasefire took effect,” the semi-official Tasnim news agency said.
Iran had indicated it was willing to enter an agreement but would only accept a deal that would end the war “forever” and would not be forced upon them.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office said he had agreed to Mr Trump's proposal and that Israel had achieved its military objectives. “In addition, the Israeli military achieved full air control over Tehran's skies, inflicted severe damage on the military leadership, and destroyed dozens of central Iranian government targets,” the statement added.
“In the past 24 hours, the [military] has also struck hard at government targets in the heart of Tehran, eliminating hundreds of Basij operatives – the terrorist regime's repression mechanism – and eliminating another senior nuclear scientist.”
Earlier, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi wrote in a post on X that “as of now, there is no ‘agreement’ on any ceasefire or cessation of military operations”.
“However, provided that the Israeli regime stops its illegal aggression against the Iranian people no later than 4am Tehran time, we have no intention to continue our response afterwards,” he added. “The final decision on the cessation of our military operations will be made later.”
Just before Mr Netanyahu accepted the proposal, Iran fired six waves of missiles towards Israel, killing at least four people.
The region was on edge ahead of the ceasefire announcement after Qatar thwarted Iranian missiles fired at a major US military base on Monday.
