US President Donald Trump announced in a Truth Social post that a “complete and absolute” ceasefire has been reached in the conflict between Israel and Iran, which is set to take effect in stages, ending the “12-day war”.
On the night of 24 June (Kiev time), Trump announced that the ceasefire would begin “in about six hours” and would be phased in over 24 hours, “after which the war will be considered over”.
Despite the announcement, Israel reported several waves of Iranian rocket attacks minutes before the ceasefire was scheduled to begin at 7: 00 (Kiev time). Israeli officials said at least three people were killed in the city of Be’er Sheva around 6am in a strike on a high-rise building.
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi appeared to acknowledge that a pause in attacks had begun in the conflict, but his comments caused some confusion after Trump’s announcement.
“At the moment there is no agreement on a ceasefire or operations,” he wrote in a cable.
“However, provided that the Israeli regime stops its illegal aggression against the Iranian people before 4: 00 am today, we do not intend to continue responding,” the Iranian minister added.
Why he was referring to the fourth morning is unclear.
Israel has not yet commented on the situation. It has not said whether Iran has agreed to conditions set by the United States requiring it to stop enriching uranium.
Reuters, citing an official with knowledge of the talks, reported that Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al-Thani secured Tehran’s agreement to the U.S. cease-fire proposal during a phone call following Iranian airstrikes on a U.S. airbase in Qatar.
According to Reuters, the Emir spoke with Trump, who told him that Israel had agreed to the ceasefire and asked Qatar to help secure Tehran’s agreement.
On 23 June, Iran launched missile strikes on the U.S. Al-Udeid air base in Qatar in response to U.S. strikes on Iranian nuclear facilities the previous day.
Trump stated that no Americans were injured and almost no damage was done as a result of this Iranian strike. He also called it” a very weak response “to the” US destruction ” of Iran’s nuclear facilities during last weekend’s attack and thanked Iran for the United States’ early communication, which he said prevented loss of life and injuries.
Many experts saw this as a sign that Iran did not want to escalate the crisis, given the limited strike against US interests and the fact that Tehran had warned Washington.
The US Defence Department also confirmed earlier that Iran launched several short- and medium-range ballistic missiles during the attack and said there were no reports of US casualties.
Qatar said its air defences prevented an attack targeting a US airbase.
Israel began striking Iran on the night of 13 June, the US launched several strikes on the night of 22 June. They justified their actions on the threat of Tehran building nuclear weapons.
Iran has repeatedly claimed that its nuclear programme is peaceful.
At the same time, according to the IAEA, Iran had more than 400 kilograms of uranium enriched to 60%, which is close to the level sufficient to create several nuclear warheads in a short time.