JERUSALEM, Israel – President Donald Trump announced a ceasefire Monday night between Israel and Iran, and called on both sides to respect it. However, after a deadly barrage of missiles aimed at southern Israel, the Netanyahu government argued Iran had already violated the agreement.
Trump had announced on Truth Social, "CONGRATULATIONS TO EVERYONE! It has been fully agreed by and between Israel and Iran that there will be a Complete and Total CEASEFIRE."
He followed that with another post that said, "Israel and Iran approached me, almost simultaneously, and said: 'Peace!' I knew the moment had come – now. The world, and the Middle East, are the real winners!”
Yet, Iran's missile firings on Tuesday cast doubt on the ceasefire, and Israeli Defense Minister Yisrael Katz ordered the Israel Defense Forces to strike back. He said in a statement, "I have instructed the IDF to respond forcefully to Iran's violation of the ceasefire with intense strikes against regime targets in the heart of Tehran."
Trump then encouraged Israel to call off any retaliatory strikes, and he posted on social media, “ISRAEL is not going to attack Iran. All planes will turn around and head home, while doing a friendly ‘Plane Wave’ to Iran... Nobody will be hurt."
Iranian Missile Killed Israelis in Beersheva
Just minutes before the ceasefire was to begin, Iran's deadly missile slammed into the southern Israeli town of Beersheva, killing four people and injuring at least 20.
The Iranian military denied firing on Israel, but on Tuesday morning, explosions boomed and sirens sounded across northern Israel as well, and an Israeli military official reported that two Iranian missiles had been intercepted.
Israel Says Its Goals Have Been Achieved
Following Trump's ceasefire announcement, the Israeli government announced it had achieved the main goals of Operation Rising Lion, the 12-day military action inside Iran.
A statement noted, "Israel has removed a dual immediate existential threat – both in the nuclear field and in the field of ballistic missiles. In addition, the IDF achieved complete air control over the skies of Tehran, inflicted severe damage on the military leadership, and destroyed dozens of central Iranian government targets."
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In the past two days, the IDF also hit Iran's notorious Evin Prison, the headquarters of the Basij, the internal security force of Iran's Revolutionary Guard. Israel also struck a "doomsday" clock in Tehran that was counting down the time toward Iran's goal of Israel's destruction.
Middle East Historian Michael Oren, a former Israeli ambassador to the U.S., told CBN News, "These are not sites that have strategic significance, but they have immense political significance. They are the pillars, if you will, of this horrendous regime, and by bombing them, Israel has weakened that regime. And so, ultimately, the greatest guarantee we have for a non-nuclear, non-dangerous, nonthreatening Iran is by the removal of the regime.”
A New Leader for Iran?
At a Paris press conference on Monday, Reza Pahlavi, the son of the late Shah of Iran, presented himself as a figure who can unify the country after a regime fall. He contends that the Islamists who have ruled Iran for nearly half a century are on their last legs.
“The Islamic regime is collapsing," Pahlavi declared. "Credible reports that (Ayatollah) Ali Khamenei’s family and the families of senior regime officials are making preparations to leave Iran.”
It is yet to be determined whether the ceasefire will provide an unintended lifeline to the Islamic regime or whether the 12-day war has so weakened its leadership that the Iranian people could rise up to overthrow the government. In an ominous statement, the head of Iran's Atomic Energy Organization announced plans to restart the country's nuclear program.
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