• US president lashes out at ceasefire violations, slams Israel for continuing bombing campaign after his announcement
• Iran to uphold ceasefire if Israel does the same; Pezeshkian vows to defend peaceful use of nuclear energy, hints at return to talks
• Both countries assert triumph, fulfilment of their objectives • World reacts with cautious optimism; end to Gaza war urged

WASHINGTON / TEHRAN: A fragile ceasefire — announced by President Donald Trump in the early hours of Tuesday — appeared to be holding after 12 days of strikes that saw Israel and the US pummel various targets across Iran, including some of its key nuclear sites.

After initial hesitation, Iran announced it would respect the truce if Israel did, and both appeared to claim victory following the announcement.

The US leader had said the truce would be a phased 24-hour process beginning at around 0400 GMT on Tuesday, with Iran unilaterally halting all operations first. He said Israel would follow suit 12 hours later.

Trump also angrily berated Israel for continuing to bomb targets in Iran following his announcement.

En route to a Nato summit in Europe, the president admonished Israel with an obscenity in an extraordinary outburst.

“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!” Trump said in a post on Truth Social.

That followed a post in which he had said: “Israel. Do not drop those bombs. If you do it is a major violation. Bring your pilots home, now!”

Before departing the White House, Trump told reporters he was unhappy with both sides for breaching the ceasefire, but particularly frustrated with Israel, which he said had “unloaded” shortly after agreeing to the deal.

“I’ve got to get Israel to calm down now,” Trump said. Iran and Israel had been fighting “so long and so hard that they don’t know what the f*** they’re doing”.

Later, speaking to reporters on board Air Force One, Trump said he did not want to see Iran’s ruling system toppled.

“I don’t want it. I’d like to see everything calm down as quickly as possible. Regime change takes chaos and ideally we don’t want to see so much chaos,” he said.

“Iran’s not going to have a nuclear weapon, by the way, I think it’s the last thing on their mind right now.”

Claims of victory

For its part, Tehran denied launching any missiles and said Israel’s attacks had continued for an hour-and-a-half beyond the time the truce was meant to start.

Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian said later Tehran would not violate the ceasefire unless Israel did so, and that it was prepared to return to the negotiating table, without elaborating, according to state-run Nournews.

He said his country was not seeking nuclear weapons but would continue to defend its “legitimate rights” in the peaceful use of nuclear energy.

Iran’s top security body, meanwhile, said the Islamic republic’s forces had “compelled” Israel to “unilaterally” stand down.

Its Revolutionary Guards also hailed a missile salvo fired at Israel “in the final moments before the ceasefire”, saying it taught “a historic and unforgettable lesson to the Zionist enemy”.

Meanwhile, the Israeli government said Netanyahu had convened his cabinet “to announce that Israel had achieved all the objectives of Operation Rising Lion and much more”.

It added that it had removed “an immediate dual existential threat: nuclear and ballistic”, while vowing to respond forcefully to any violations of the ceasefire.

PM Benjamin Netanyahu’s office acknowledged that Israel had bombed a radar site near Tehran, three-and-a-half hours after the ceasefire had been due to begin.

It said Israel had decided to refrain from further attacks following a call between Netanyahu and Trump, but did not explicitly say whether the strike on the radar site took place before or after they spoke.

Despite the initial reports of violations, there was a palpable sense of relief in both countries that a path out of war had been charted, 12 days after Israel launched the surprise attack, and two days after Trump joined in with strikes on Iranian nuclear targets.

Relief around the world

The international community reacted with cautious optimism to news of the truce.

Saudi Arabia and the European Union welcomed Trump’s announcement, while Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Russia hoped “that this will be a sustainable ceasefire”.

China’s foreign ministry said it supported Iran in “achieving a genuine ceasefire so that people can return to normal life”.

But French President Emmanuel Macron warned there was an “increased” risk that Iran would attempt to enrich uranium secretly following the US and Israeli strikes on nuclear sites.

Some turned their sights to Israel’s brutal actions in the Gaza Strip, arguing it was time to put an end to it.

The Palestinian Authority, Israel’s opposition leader and the main group representing the families of Israeli hostages, have all called for a Gaza ceasefire.

The soaring death toll in the Palestinian territory has prompted months of international criticism of Israel’s conduct of the war, even from staunch allies.

German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said Tuesday that “the moment has come to conclude a ceasefire for Gaza”, adding that his country supported Israel but reserved the right to “critically question what Israel wants to achieve in the Gaza Strip”.

Published in Dawn, June 25th, 2025