The cease-fire between Israel and Iran, announced by Donald Trump, appears to have taken effect. After a night of back-and-forth attacks, Iranian state media report that the truce has begun. However, the next 24 hours will be crucial.
President Trump announced his plan for a cease-fire on his own social media platform, Truth Social, around midnight on Monday (Dutch time). Israel and Iran were given six hours to complete their “final missions.”
Iran would then begin the cease-fire at 6:00 AM, after twelve hours (so at 6:00 PM today), Israel must also stop attacking. Then Israel must adhere to the ceasefire for twelve hours before the ceasefire becomes official. What happens if Israel attacks during that period is unclear.
The first phase seems to have started now. Iran launched several attacks on Israel on the night from Monday to Tuesday. Iranian media reported shortly after 6:00 AM that the ceasefire had taken effect.
There has been no confirmation of the ceasefire from either Israel or Iran. The Iranian Foreign Minister even reported on X at 2:45 AM that there was “no agreement” on a ceasefire at that time. There was no response from Israel.
War Would Enter Twelfth Day
Therefore, everything seems to depend on Israel’s willingness to end the war with Iran. Iran is in a very weak military position and could benefit from not getting involved in a larger conflict, in which the US is also involved.
On Monday, Iran launched a retaliatory attack on a US military base in Qatar, in response to US bombing of Iranian nuclear targets last weekend. But the attack on Qatar was limited in scope and there were no casualties. Iran may even have coordinated the attack with Qatar to prevent escalation of the conflict. It was a measured response, mainly aimed at showing the Iranian population that retaliation is happening.
The war would enter its twelfth day on Tuesday. Israel began rocket attacks on Iranian nuclear facilities on the night of Thursday, June 12 to Friday, June 13, after which Tehran retaliated fiercely. Attacks followed back and forth daily.