Announcing the ceasefire brokered by the US after 12 days of fighting, Israeli prime minister Binyamin Netanyahu thanked Donald Trump and the United States for their support in eliminating the Iranian nuclear threat.
In a statement before Trump accused Israel and Iran of ceasefire breaches, Netanyahu said: “In light of achieving the objectives of the operation, and in full co-ordination with president Trump, Israel has agreed to the president’s proposal for a bilateral ceasefire.”
The statement said Israel had achieved all of its objectives, removing “a dual immediate existential threat from itself – both in the nuclear and ballistic missile fields”, but warned that it would respond forcefully to any Iranian violations.
Overnight on Monday and early on Tuesday Israeli jets launched their heaviest salvos to date on Tehran and other areas, striking missile production sites, military command posts and air defence systems and killing another senior nuclear scientist.
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Just before the ceasefire went into effect on Tuesday morning four Israelis were killed and more than 20 injured when an Iranian ballistic missile hit a residential building in the southern city of Beer Sheva. All four were in a safe room but it was destroyed by a direct hit from the powerful projectile.
Less than four hours into the ceasefire Israel said it intercepted two more missiles from Iran aimed at northern Israel, vowing a forceful response to the “ceasefire violation”.
The ceasefire, providing it holds, leaves a number of key questions unanswered. It remains to be seen whether the Iranian nuclear programme was completely obliterated or whether it was merely set back. Iran probably still possesses some uranium that has been enriched to 60 per cent, but it will now will face difficulty enriching it to 90 per cent, the grade needed for a nuclear bomb.
Israel will almost certainly act militarily if it receives intelligence that Iran is trying to produce a nuclear bomb in the future. It may also act if Iran tries to replenish its stocks of ballistic missiles and rocket launchers or positions new air defence batteries.
Israel’s top priority will be to renew efforts to clinch a ceasefire and hostage release deal in Gaza. National security council director Tzahi Hanegbi also promised a new regional diplomatic initiative. “Israel is very close to expanding the Abraham Accords,” he said. “Immediately with the end of the war, a significant diplomatic effort will be made to achieve agreements with Lebanon and Syria. If this will happen, it will spell the practical end of the Iranian axis.”
