In-focus

Trump says Israel and Iran agree to 'complete and total ceasefire'

World

Iran denies ceasefire proposal; views truce calls as hoax

Topline

  • Iran says no reason to end the war with Israel and the United States; threatens that the war could last up to two years

  • The Iranian official says US leaders would be viewed as a 'deception' to justify continued attacks on Iran

  • US President Donald Trump announced that Iran and Israel had agreed to a staggered ceasefire

Follow on
Follow us on Google News
Advertisement
0 seconds of 0 secondsVolume 0%
Press shift question mark to access a list of keyboard shortcuts
00:00
00:00
00:00
 

WASHINGTON (Web Desk) - The US president has just announced that Israel and Iran have agreed to a complete and total ceasefire which would eventually lead to an end to the war.

US President Donald Trump announced that Iran and Israel had agreed to a staggered ceasefire beginning at approximately 4 am GMT Tuesday that would bring about an 'official end' to the 12-day conflict.

"It has been fully agreed by and between Israel and Iran that there will be a Complete and Total CEASEFIRE," Trump wrote Monday on his Truth Social platform.

On the other hand, an Iranian official claimed that Tehran never received a ceasefire proposal from the United States and saw no reason to end the war with Israel and the United States, the official told CNN on Monday night.

The official claimed that Tehran would continue the war and that remarks from Israeli and US leaders would be viewed as a "deception" to justify continued attacks on Iran.

“At this very moment, the enemy is committing aggression against Iran, and Iran is on the verge of intensifying its retaliatory strikes, with no ear to listen to the lies of its enemies,” the official said.

The comments came shortly before US President Donald Trump announced a ceasefire between Israel and Iran.

Washington is preparing for an Iranian retaliatory attack within 48 hours. Calls for a ceasefire are a hoax, the Iranian official tells CNN.
He threatened that the war could last up to two years: "We are ready for that."

 QATAR PM SECURED IRAN'S AGREEMENT TO US CEASEFIRE PROPOSAL AFTER CALL WITH TRUMP

Qatar's Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani secured Tehran's agreement to the US proposal for a ceasefire in the conflict between Israel and Iran during a call with Iranian officials held after Iran's strikes on a US air base in Qatar on Monday, an official briefed on the negotiations told Reuters early on Tuesday.

The phone call came after US President Donald Trump told Qatar's emir that Israel had agreed to the ceasefire and asked for Doha's help persuading Tehran to also agree to the ceasefire deal, the official said.

 President Donald Trump on Monday dismissed Iran's retaliatory strikes that targeted a US base in Qatar as "very weak," while welcoming "early notice" given by Tehran.

"Iran has officially responded to our Obliteration of their Nuclear Facilities with a very weak response, which we expected, and have very effectively countered," Trump posted on his Truth Social platform, after multiple missiles were launched toward the Al Udeid base in Qatar.

 

"I want to thank Iran for giving us early notice, which made it possible for no lives to be lost, and nobody to be injured," he added.

In a separate post on Truth Social, Trump has written: “CONGRATULATIONS WORLD, IT’S TIME FOR PEACE!”

 

Earlier, explosions were heard over Qatar's capital Doha on Monday after Iran fired missiles on the US-run al Udeid air base in the Gulf state.

Qatar condemned the attack on the Al Udeid Air Base, but said it had successfully intercepted the missiles.

Qatar said Iran fired 19 missiles at US air base and one hit but caused no casualties

Qatar announced it had closed its air space temporarily to ensure the safety of residents and visitors.

One missile was also launched towards the US base in Iraq, Iran said. The missiles were launched after the US strikes on the Iranian soil which targeted three nuclear installations.

The operation named “Annunciation of victory” and it involved launching missiles in US bases in Iraq and Qatar.

'WE WILL NOT ACCEPT ANY AGGRESSION FROM ANYONE' SAYS KHAMENEI

"We didn't aggress anyone. And we will not accept any aggression from anyone under any circumstances," said Iran's 86-year-old Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei:
 

IRAN’S REVOLUTIONARY GUARDS CONFIRM ATTACK ON US BASE

Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps has officially confirmed that it launched a retaliatory missile attack targeting the American al-Udeid Air Base in Qatar, Iran’s Tasnim news agency said.

QATAR CONSIDERS IRANIAN ATTACK A 'SURPRISE,' SAYS FOREIGN MINISTRY

The Qatari foreign ministry has confirmed Iranian missile attacks on a US military base in Qatar, describing the strikes as a “surprise.”

In a press briefing, Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Majed Al-Ansari stated that Qatar’s regional mediation role will continue despite provocations, and any response to Iran’s actions remains a “sovereign” decision.

Al-Ansari added that communication is ongoing with multiple parties, including the United States, amid rising regional tensions.

A Qatari defence ministry official reported that seven missiles were launched by Iran in the initial strike, followed by twelve more in a second wave, eleven of which were intercepted.

An interior ministry official confirmed that missile debris fell in residential areas, but no casualties were reported and the situation was swiftly managed.

PM SHEHBAZ TALKS TO QATARI, SAUDI AMBASSADORS, EXPRESSES SOLIDARITY

Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has spoken with Qatari Ambassador Ali Mubarak Ali Essa Al-Khater, and Saudi envoy over the phone, state broadcaster PTV News reports.

The PM expressed “serious concern” over the Iranian missile attacks on a US base in Qatar, expressing solidarity with the Qatari government and people.

“The Prime Minister urged that all efforts must be made to de-escalate tensions and restore peace in the region,” PTV News reports. “The Qatari Ambassador thanked the Prime Minister for immediately reaching out to him after this most unfortunate development as well as for the expression of solidarity with the leadership and people of Qatar at this critical time.”

BAHRAIN, KUWAIT AND DUBAI REOPEN AIRSPACE AFTER A BRIEF SUSPENSION

The Dubai Media Office also said flights could see some delays or cancellations.

 

ISRAELI MILITARY SAYS IRAN THREAT 'TO WHOLE WORLD' AFTER QATAR ATTACK

The Israeli military said Monday that Iran's retaliatory attack on US military bases proved that the country was a threat to "the entire world".

"I want to say that this is further proof of hostility and violence and of the fact that Iran is a terrorist state, which threatens not only Israel, but the entire Middle East, including its neighbours and the entire world," military spokesman Effie Defrin told reporters in a televised press conference.

Israel has been attacking Iran from the air since launching a surprise operation on June 13.

SAUDI ARABIA CONDEMNS IRAN'S ATTACK ON QATAR

Saudi Arabia has condemned Iran’s retaliatory attack on the Al Udeid military base in Qatar “in the strongest terms”.

In a statement from the foreign ministry, Saudi Arabia called Iran’s retaliatory attack on US forces in Qatar “a flagrant violation of international law and the principles of good neighborliness”.

“The Kingdom affirms its solidarity and full support for the sisterly State of Qatar and is deploying all its capabilities to support the sisterly State of Qatar in all the measures it takes,” the ministry said.

 

WHITE HOUSE OFFICIALS GATHER IN SITUATION ROOM AFTER IRAN ATTACKS US BASE

Senior US national security aides convened in the White House Situation Room after news that Iran had launched missiles at the U.S. base in Qatar.

"The White House and the Department of Defense are aware of, and closely monitoring, potential threats to Al Udeid Air Base in Qatar," a senior White House official said.

White House officials were keeping an eye on TV monitors as cable news channels reported on the Iranian attacks, and they seemed to be taking the news in stride.

The attack came at about the same time President Donald Trump was supposed to be meeting his team about the U.S. bombing of Iranian nuclear facilities. There has been no further word yet on this meeting.

Trump was due to fly to The Hague on Tuesday to attend the annual NATO summit.

RUSSIAN FOREIGN MINISTRY CALLS FOR HALT TO ESCALATION OVER IRAN

Russia's foreign ministry issued a new call on Monday for a halt to "escalation of armed conflict" and "provocative actions" in the conflict pitting Iran against the United States and Israel.

"We once again call for a halt to the unleashing of armed escalation and an end to provocative actions and rhetoric," the ministry said in a statement on Telegram. "Today, more than ever, it is vital to return to political and diplomatic efforts and compliance with international law."

The statement also called for an immediate end to the "unprovoked aggression of the U.S. and Israel against Iran, open attempts at regime change and encroachment on the sovereignty of nations."

IRAN ARMED FORCES CHIEF VOWS 'FIRM ACTION' AFTER US STRIKES

Earlier, Iran's armed forces chief of staff Abdolrahim Mousavi vowed the country would take "firm action" in response to US strikes on key nuclear sites.

"This crime and desecration will not go unanswered," said Mousavi in a video statement published on state TV, adding that "we will take firm action against the American mistake".

Fighting intensified on Monday as Israel and Iran engaged in a rapid exchange of military strikes — including an Israeli strike on Iran’s Fordo nuclear site, according to a local official.

Earlier, sirens sounded in several areas across Israel after a barrage of missiles was launched from Iran as the war between the two foes continued for an 11th day.

Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz said the military was carrying out strikes on Tehran, including on the Evin Prison, which he said holds political prisoners and opponents of the Islamic Republic.

Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar had earlier shared footage of the prison being targeted on his X account and wrote "long live freedom" in Spanish.

 

IRAN SAYS 2 PREGNANT WOMEN, 13 CHILDREN KILLED IN ISRAEL’S AIR ATTACKS SO FAR

Hossein Kermanpour, the head of the public relations at Iran’s Health Ministry has said at least 13 children have been killed since Israel started attacking Iran on June 13, with the youngest being “just two months old”.

He added that 44 women have also been killed in the Israeli attacks, including two who were pregnant.

Kermanpour’s update did not provide an overall death toll but in another post on Saturday, he had said that more than 400 people had been killed since the start of the conflict, with at least 3,056 others wounded.

“The majority of casualties and the injured have been civilians,” he had said.

TRUMP 'STILL INTERESTED' IN IRAN DIPLOMACY: WHITE HOUSE

Donald Trump thinks Iranians should overthrow their government if it refuses to negotiate on its nuclear program, but the US president is "still interested" in diplomacy, the White House said Monday.

"If the Iranian regime refuses to come to a peaceful diplomatic solution, which the president is still interested and engaging in, by the way, why shouldn't the Iranian people take away the power of this incredibly violent regime that has been suppressing them for decades?" Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said on Fox News.

TRUMP TELLS 'EVERYONE' TO KEEP OIL PRICES DOWN

US President Donald Trump on Monday expressed a desire to see oil prices kept down amid fears that ongoing fighting in the Middle East could cause them to spike.

"Everyone, keep oil prices down, I'm watching! You're playing into the hands of the enemy, don't do it," he wrote in all caps on his Truth Social platform.

Trump followed up with another post addressed to the U.S. Department of Energy, encouraging it to "drill, baby, drill" and saying "I mean now."

IRAN'S CROWN PRINCE OFFERS TO LEAD A 'DEMOCRATIC TRANSITION'

Iran's last shah, Mohammed Reza Pahlavi, fled in 1979 as the revolution took hold and died in Egypt in 1980.

His son, Reza Pahlavi, was heir to the Peacock Throne when the dynasty was ousted.

Now based in the United States, he has called for regime change through non-violent civil disobedience and a referendum on a new government.

"I am here today to submit myself to my compatriots, to lead them down this road of peace and democratic transition. I do not seek political power, but rather to help our great nation navigate through this critical hour towards stability, freedom and justice," he said.

"To those of you who are loyal to the Iranian nation and not the Islamic Republic, there is a future for you in a democratic Iran. If you join the people now. The choice is yours to make."

PUTIN SAYS 'UNPROVOKED AGGRESSION' ON TEHRAN 'UNJUSTIFIED'

Russian President Vladimir Putin slammed strikes on Tehran as "unprovoked aggression" and said Moscow was trying to help the Iranian people as he hosted Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi in Moscow.

"This is an absolutely unprovoked aggression against Iran," Putin told Araghchi, calling the strikes "unjustified" and adding that Russia was "making efforts to provide assistance to the Iranian people."

IRAN ISSUES WARNING TO 'GAMBLER' TRUMP

Iran said on Monday that the US attack on its nuclear sites expanded the range of legitimate targets for its armed forces and called US President Donald Trump a "gambler" for joining Israel's military campaign against the Islamic Republic.

Since Trump joined Israel's campaign by dropping massive bunker-buster bombs on Iranian nuclear sites on Sunday morning, Iran has repeatedly threatened to retaliate.

But while it has continued to fire missiles at Israel, it has yet to take action against the United States itself, either by firing at U.S. bases or by targeting the 20% of global oil shipments that pass near its coast at the mouth of the Gulf.

"Mr Trump, the gambler, you may start this war, but we will be the ones to end it," Ebrahim Zolfaqari, spokesperson for Iran's Khatam al-Anbiya central military headquarters, said on Monday in English at the end of a recorded video statement.

Iran and Israel traded another wave of air and missile strikes on Monday as the world braced for Tehran's response.

Trump's administration has repeatedly said that its aim is solely to destroy Iran's nuclear programme, not to open a wider war.

But in a social media post on Sunday, Trump openly spoke of toppling the hardline clerical rulers who have been Washington's principal foes in the Middle East since Iran's 1979 revolution.

"It’s not politically correct to use the term, 'Regime Change,' but if the current Iranian Regime is unable to MAKE IRAN GREAT AGAIN, why wouldn’t there be a Regime change??? MIGA!!!" he wrote.

Experts surveying commercial satellite imagery said it appeared that the U.S. attack had severely damaged the site of Iran's Fordow nuclear plant, built inside a mountain, and possibly destroyed it and the uranium-enriching centrifuges it housed, although there was no independent confirmation.

Trump wrote on True Social Sunday afternoon that 'It's not politically correct to use the term "Regime Change", but if the current Iranian Regime is unable to MAKE IRAN GREAT AGAIN, why wouldn't there be a Regime change??? MIGA!!!'

Trump called the strike a "Bullseye!!!".

"Monumental Damage was done to all Nuclear sites in Iran," he wrote. "The biggest damage took place far below ground level."

MORE ISRAELI STRIKES

Israel's airstrikes on Iran have met little resistance from Iranian defences since Israel launched its surprise attack on June 13, killing many of Iran's top commanders.

The Israeli military said on Monday that about 20 jets had conducted a wave of strikes against military targets in western Iran and Tehran overnight. ⁠In Kermanshah, in western Iran, missile and radar infrastructure was targeted, and in Tehran a surface-to-air missile launcher was struck, it said.

Iranian news agencies reported air defences had been activated in central Tehran districts, and Israeli air strikes had hit Parchin, the location of a military complex southeast of the capital.

Iran says more than 400 people have been killed in the Israeli attacks, mostly civilians, but has released few images of the damage since the initial days of the bombing. Tehran, a city of 10 million people, has largely emptied, with residents fleeing to the countryside to escape attacks.

Iran's retaliatory missile strikes on Israel have killed 24 people, all civilians, and injured hundreds, the first time a significant number of Iranian missiles have ever penetrated Israeli defences.

The Israeli military said a missile launched from Iran in the early hours of Monday had been intercepted by Israeli defences. Air raid sirens blared overnight in Tel Aviv and other parts of central Israel.

SIRENS BLARE ACROSS ISRAEL AFTER IRANIAN MISSILE ATTACK

Sirens wailed across Israel for over 30 minutes on Monday, as the military warned of multiple missile barrages launched from arch-foe Iran.

After the extended alert period in several areas of the country, the Israeli military later said civilians could leave shelters.

"Search and rescue forces are operating in several locations across the country in which reports of fallen projectiles were received," it added.

LIMITED RETALIATION

Beyond those missiles, Iran's ability to retaliate is far more limited than a few months ago, since Israel inflicted defeat on Iran's most feared regional proxy force, Hezbollah in Lebanon, whose downfall was swiftly followed by that of Iran's most powerful client ruler, Syria's Bashar al-Assad.

Iran's most effective threat to hurt the West would probably be to restrict global oil flows from the Gulf. Oil prices spiked on Monday at their highest since January. But they have not yet shot up to crisis levels, indicating that traders see a path out of the conflict that avoids serious disruption.

Brent crude futures were down 0.5% to $76.64 a barrel as of 0830 GMT, after briefly jumping above $80 at the opening.

Iran's parliament has approved a move to close the Strait of Hormuz that leads into the Gulf, which would require approval from the Supreme National Security Council, a body led by an appointee of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

Attempting to strangle the strait could send global oil prices skyrocketing, derail the world economy and invite conflict with the U.S. Navy's massive Fifth Fleet that patrols the Gulf from its base in Bahrain.

"It's economic suicide for them if they do it. And we retain options to deal with that," U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said.

As Tehran weighed its options, Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi was expected to hold talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow on Monday. The Kremlin has a strategic partnership with Iran, but also close links with Israel.

Speaking in Istanbul on Sunday, Araqchi said his country would consider all possible responses and there would be no return to diplomacy until it had retaliated. TASS news agency later quoted him as saying Iran and Russia were coordinating their positions.

KHAMENEI ASKS PUTIN TO DO MORE AFTER US STRIKES

Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei sent his foreign minister to Moscow on Monday to ask President Vladimir Putin for more help from Russia after the biggest US military action against the Islamic Republic since the 1979 revolution over the weekend.

US President Donald Trump and Israel have publicly speculated about killing Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and about regime change, a step Russia fears could sink the Middle East into the abyss.

While Putin has condemned the Israeli strikes, he has yet to comment on the U.S. attacks on Iranian nuclear sites though he last week called for calm and offered Moscow's services as a mediator over the nuclear programme.

A senior source told Reuters that Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi was due to deliver a letter from Khamenei to Putin, seeking the latter's support.

Iran has not been impressed with Russia's support so far, Iranian sources told Reuters, and the country wants Putin to do more to back it against Israel and the United States. The sources did not elaborate on what assistance Tehran wanted.

The Kremlin said that Putin would receive Araqchi but did not say what would be discussed.

Araqchi was quoted by the state TASS news agency as saying that Iran and Russia were coordinating their positions on the current escalation in the Middle East.

Putin has repeatedly offered to mediate between the United States and Iran, and said that he had conveyed Moscow's ideas on resolving the conflict to them while ensuring Iran's continued access to civil nuclear energy.

The Kremlin chief last week refused to discuss the possibility that Israel and the United States would kill Khamenei.

Putin said that Israel had given Moscow assurances that Russian specialists helping to build two more reactors at the Bushehr nuclear power plant in Iran would not be hurt in air strikes.

Russia, a longstanding ally of Tehran, plays a role in Iran's nuclear negotiations with the West as a veto-wielding U.N. Security Council member and a signatory to an earlier nuclear deal Trump abandoned during his first term in 2018.

We believe that de-escalation as soon as possible is more important than anything.

But Putin, whose army is fighting a major war of attrition in Ukraine for the fourth year, has so far shown little appetite in public for diving into a confrontation with the United States over Iran just as Trump seeks to repair ties with Moscow.

AUSTRALIA BACKS US STRIKES ON IRAN NUCLEAR SITES

Australia backs the US air strikes on Iran's nuclear facilities but wants to avert a spiral into "full-scale war" in the Middle East, the government said Monday.

"The world has long agreed that Iran cannot be allowed to get a nuclear weapon, and we support action to prevent that. That is what this is," Prime Minister Anthony Albanese told a news conference.

"We don't want escalation and a full-scale war. We continue to call for dialogue and for diplomacy."

The prime minister stressed that the US attacks had targeted sites specific to Iran's nuclear program.

NORTH KOREA 'STRONGLY DENOUNCES' US STRIKES ON IRAN

North Korea condemned on Monday US strikes on Iran, calling it violation of the United Nations charter and blaming the tension in the Middle East on the "reckless valor of Israel".

"The Democratic People's Republic of Korea strongly denounces the attack on Iran by the US which severely violated the UN Charter with respect for sovereignty," said a spokesperson for the North's foreign ministry, according to a statement carried by the state news agency.
 


 

RUBIO URGES CHINA TO HELP DETER IRAN FROM CLOSING STRAIT OF HORMUZ

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio urged China to help deter Iran from shutting down the Strait of Hormuz, a crucial trade route, following American strikes on Iranian nuclear sites.

"I encourage the Chinese government in Beijing to call them about that because they heavily depend on the Strait of Hormuz for their oil," Rubio said on Fox News.

Analysts have said Iran may opt to retaliate to Washington's early Sunday attack by shutting the Strait, a waterway through which one-fifth of global oil output passes.

"If they do that, it will be another terrible mistake. It's economic suicide for them if they do it, and we retain options to deal with that," Rubio added. "But other countries should be looking at that as well, it would hurt other countries' economies a lot worse than ours. It would be, I think, a massive escalation that would merit a response. Not just by us but from others," he said.

 

 

Related Topics
Iran-Israel Tensions
Middle East
International



Related News


Dunya News on YouTube
Install Dunya News Android App