U.S. President Donald Trump said on Tuesday a ceasefire between Israel and Iran was now in place and asked both countries not to violate it, only hours after Iran launched waves of missiles, which Israel’s ambulance service said killed four people.
“THE CEASEFIRE IS NOW IN EFFECT. PLEASE DO NOT VIOLATE IT!” Trump said in a Truth Social post.
But here’s how the White House said it unfolded.
Al Jazeera news reported that Trump was talking to Netanyahu and managed to broker the Israeli side. Once he got the Israelis on board, we believe he then called the Emir of Qatar and said, look, effectively, can you deal with the Iranians? Can you bring them back on side? I’ve got the Israelis, but we need the Iranians on side. The Emir and the Prime Minister of Qatar then managed to do that.
Meanwhile, JD Vance, who is the Vice President, Secretary of State, Marco Rubio, and Steve Witkoff, who was the Middle East envoy, they were having direct and indirect talks with the Iranians, and then once it started to come together. JD, Vance and the Qatari Prime Minister brought the logistics together. So that is how it unfolded.
When Trump announced on Monday what he called a complete ceasefire to end a 12-day war, he appeared to suggest that Israel and Iran would have time to complete missions that were underway, at which point the ceasefire would begin in a staged process.
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Witnesses said they heard explosions near Tel Aviv and Beersheba in southern Israel before Trump’s statement.
Israel’s military said six waves of missiles were launched by Iran and Israel’s national ambulance service said four people were killed in Beersheba, the first reported deaths in Israel since Trump announced the ceasefire.
Iran’s semi-official SNN news agency reported on Tuesday that Tehran fired its last round of missiles before the ceasefire came into effect.
