On Tuesday, President Trump accused both Israel and Iran of breaching a ceasefire agreement he had announced just hours earlier. He urged the two countries to comply with the truce and put an end to the conflict, News.Az reports citing The New York Times.
Trump expresses dissatisfaction with both Israel and Iran
President Trump speaking to reporters outside of the White House.Credit...Allison Robbert for The New York Times
Using an expletive in remarks to reporters, Mr. Trump said that the two adversaries did not know what they were doing, and sharply criticized Israel for firing on Iran “right after we made the deal.” Israel’s military earlier accused Tehran of firing missiles after the deal went into effect on Tuesday and vowed to retaliate. Iran’s military denied doing so, according to Iranian state news outlets.
“They’ve violated but Israel’s violated it too,” Mr. Trump told reporters, referring to Iran and the cease-fire agreement as he boarded Marine One to begin a journey to The Hague for a NATO summit. Mr. Trump appeared to reserve greater criticism for Israel’s actions in the hours after the agreement was reached.
“Israel, as soon as we made the deal, they came out and they dropped a load of bombs, the likes of which I’ve never seen before. The biggest load that we’ve seen. I’m not happy with Israel,” he said, adding that he would be “really unhappy” if Israel attacked Iran on Tuesday in retaliation for what the president described as “one rocket that didn’t land.”
In a post on social media, Trump later warned Israel not to “DROP THOSE BOMBS,” saying “IF YOU DO IT IS A MAJOR VIOLATION. BRING YOUR PILOTS HOME NOW.”
Nearly two hours after Israel’s announcement confirming that it had agreed to the truce, sirens in northern Israel warned of missiles launched from Iran. Israel’s military accused Iran of breaking the cease-fire, saying in a statement that it would “respond with force.”
Israel retaliated by striking a radar system near Tehran, the office of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel said in a statement released after Mr. Trump’s comments. Despite the threat to respond with force, the attack appeared to have been minor and symbolic.
In his comments to reporters, Mr. Trump also claimed that “Iran will never rebuild its nuclear,” apparently referring to the country’s nuclear program, which was one of the targets of Israel’s military campaign, along with Iran’s military leadership.
Mr. Trump said later that the cease-fire between Israel and Iran remained in effect.
“ISRAEL is not going to attack Iran. All planes will turn around and head home, while doing a friendly ‘Plane Wave’ to Iran,” Mr. Trump wrote on social media. “Nobody will be hurt, the Ceasefire is in effect! Thank you for your attention to this matter.” There was no immediate comment from Israel’s military.
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