Trump irate at Israel, Iran as Netanyahu government claims ceasefire was quickly broken
Iran denies firing after ceasefire went into effect, but explosions are heard in northern Israel
A tentative truce proposed by U.S. President Donald Trump faltered as Israel said Iran had launched missiles into its airspace less than three hours after a ceasefire went into effect — and vowed to retaliate.
Iran's military denied firing on Israel, state media reported, but explosions boomed and sirens sounded across northern Israel midmorning. Earlier, both Israel and Iran had accepted the ceasefire plan to end their 12-day war.
Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz called the missiles a violation of the ceasefire and instructed Israel's military to resume "the intense operations to attack Tehran and to destroy targets of the regime and terror infrastructure."
The shaky agreement was confirmed early Tuesday morning after Tehran launched a retaliatory limited missile attack on a U.S. military base in Qatar on Monday.
Speaking before departing for the NATO summit at The Hague, Trump expressed disappointment with both sides, and about the prospect of continued attacks.
"I'm not happy with Iran, either, but I'm really unhappy if Israel's going out this morning because of one rocket that didn't land, that was shot, perhaps, by mistake.… I'm not happy about that."
"We basically have two countries that have been fighting so long and so hard that they don't know what the f--k they're doing, do you understand that?" he said to a reporter, before walking to the Marine One helicopter.
At around the same time, in an all-caps post to Truth Social, Trump implored Israel to "bring your pilots home now."
Trump confident Iran won't be able to rebuild program
Ahead of the start of the ceasefire, Israel launched a blitz of airstrikes targeting sites across Iran before dawn and Iran replied with an onslaught of missiles that killed at least four people in Israel early Tuesday morning.
"I didn't like the fact that Israel unloaded after we made the deal. They didn't have to unload," said Trump.
Israel said it had intercepted the midmorning barrage of missiles that came hours into the truce.
"Tehran will tremble," Israel's Finance Minister Betzalel Smotrich wrote on X after the missiles were launched.
The missiles came after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel had agreed to a bilateral ceasefire with Iran in co-ordination with Trump.
Netanyahu said that he had reported to Israel's security cabinet Monday night that Israel had achieved all of its war goals, including removing the threat of Iran's nuclear and ballistic missile programs, though there hasn't been an independent analysis of those claims.
Trump on Tuesday took umbrage with reporting that questioned his initial assessment over the weekend that Iran's nuclear facilities had been "obliterated."
"Iran will never rebuild its nuclear [program]," he said. "That place is under rock, that place is demolished."
It wasn't clear what specific site Trump was referring to. U.S. pilots dropped 30,000-pound bombs early Sunday on two key underground uranium enrichment plants in Iran, though it was the Fordow site that received the bulk of the bombardment, with at least a couple of those bombs directed at the Natanz site.
Several dead in Beersheba
Heavy Israeli strikes continued in Iranian cities until shortly before 4 a.m., followed by Iranian barrages that sent Israelis hurrying into bomb shelters as the sun rose, killing at least four people and injuring eight others, Israel's Magen David Adom rescue services said.
Israel's military said Iran launched 20 missiles toward Israel before the ceasefire began. Police said they damaged at least three densely packed residential buildings in the city of Beersheba.
First responders said they retrieved four bodies from one building and were searching for more. Earlier, fire and rescue services said five bodies were found, before revising the number downward.
At least 20 people were injured.
Outside, the shells of burned-out cars littered the streets. Broken glass and rubble covered the area. Hundreds of emergency workers gathered to search for anyone else trapped in the buildings.
Police said some people were injured even while inside their apartments' reinforced safe rooms, which are meant to withstand rockets and shrapnel, but not direct hits from ballistic missiles.
Ayatollah's role in talks unclear
Trump's announcement that Israel and Iran had agreed to a "complete and total ceasefire" came soon after Iran launched a limited missile attack Monday on a U.S. military base in Qatar, retaliating for the American bombing of its nuclear sites. The U.S. was warned by Iran in advance, and there were no casualties.
Trump's announcement on Truth Social said the ceasefire wouldn't begin until about midnight Tuesday ET. He said it would bring an "Official END" to the war.
Trump gave the conflict between Israel and Iran a name: the "12 Day War." That recalls the 1967 Mideast war, known by some as the "Six Day War," in which Israel fought a group of Arab countries including Egypt, Jordan and Syria.
Trump's reference carries emotional weight for the Arab world, particularly Palestinians. In the 1967 war, Israel captured the West Bank and east Jerusalem from Jordan, the Gaza Strip and the Sinai Peninsula from Egypt, and the Golan Heights from Syria. Though Israel later gave the Sinai back to Egypt, it still holds the other territories.
It's unclear what role Iran's leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei played in the talks. He said earlier on social media that he would not surrender.
In Israel, at least 28 people have been killed and more than 1,000 wounded in the war. Israeli strikes on Iran have killed at least 974 people and wounded 3,458 others, according to the Washington-based group Human Rights Activists.
The group, which has provided detailed casualty figures from Iranian unrest such as the protests surrounding the death of Mahsa Amini in 2022, said of those killed, it identified 387 civilians and 268 security force personnel.