Truce between Israel and Iran back on after Trump lashes out

Alisa Odenheimer, Hadriana Lowenkron and Golnar Motevalli, Bloomberg News on Jun 24, 2025

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Israel and Iran appeared to be honoring a ceasefire agreement unexpectedly announced by U.S. President Donald Trump overnight, after the American leader reacted angrily to early breaches of the deal by both sides.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu agreed to hold off on further strikes after a conversation with Trump on Tuesday, according to a statement from his office. Israel had destroyed a radar complex near Tehran after the truce came into effect as of 7 a.m. local time, the PM’s office said, but this was in response to three missiles from Iran.

Reports of attacks in the early hours of the peace accord triggered a furious reaction from Trump, who had declared the war over late Monday after 12 days of fighting. “DO NOT DROP THOSE BOMBS,” read one post on his Truth Social platform, directed at Israel in particular. “IF YOU DO IT IS A MAJOR VIOLATION.”

The U.S. leader’s frustration boiled over when he stopped to take questions from reporters before heading to a NATO summit in The Hague. “We basically have two countries that have been fighting so long and so hard that they don’t know what the fuck they’re doing,” he told them on the White House lawn, before marching toward the presidential helicopter.

Trump’s tone notably cooled by mid-afternoon in Europe, when he posted that having “made PEACE abroad” it was time to focus on domestic priorities.

Still, the truce between Israel and Iran remains fragile. The two sworn enemies had been exchanging drone and missile fire since June 13, when Israel launched an unprecedented assault on nuclear and military targets in the Islamic Republic. The stated aim was to destroy Iran’s ability to develop a nuclear weapon, though the extent of the damage to its atomic capabilities is unclear and the whereabouts of a stockpile of highly enriched uranium is unknown.

“Israel’s achievements are significant, but it’s the Iranians who are in a ‘victory mindset,’” said Danny Citrinowicz, an analyst at the Tel Aviv-based Institute for National Security Studies. “They are unlikely to give up their conventional force-building efforts or their nuclear program.”

Trump announced the ceasefire shortly after a well-telegraphed attack by Iran on a U.S. air base in Qatar. That was seen as a deliberately limited response to Washington’s attacks on the Islamic Republic’s nuclear facilities over the weekend, the first direct U.S. contribution to the Israeli offensive.

Oil prices plunged late on Monday when it became clear Iran’s strikes on Qatar caused no fatalities or major damage. Traders took it as a sign that Iran had no intention of escalating tensions with Washington, let alone drag other countries in the petroleum-rich region into a wider war.

Brent fell 4.6% to $68.18 a barrel as of 3:50 p.m. on Tuesday in London, following a drop of more than 7% a day earlier. It has returned to almost the same level as before Israel started attacks on Iran on June 13.

Trump told the reporters outside the White House he believed the truce would hold, even if it was being tested.

“I think they both violated it,” Trump said. But when asked if the ceasefire was breaking, Trump responded “I don’t think so.”

The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, which answers to Iran’s supreme leader, said it fired 14 missiles at Israel in the “last minutes before the ceasefire came into effect.” The IRGC said it was a response to an Israeli strike that killed a number of military personnel.

Since the war started, 606 people have been killed in Iran, according to the government. In Israel, emergency services have said 28 people have been killed by Iranian missile strikes, including four on Tuesday morning.

Israel’s military action came after five rounds of talks between the U.S. and Iran about a diplomatic solution to international concerns over Iran’s nuclear program. An agreement hadn’t been reached, though a sixth round was scheduled before the Israeli missiles rendered it obsolete.

Trump said on Truth Social that China can continue buying Iranian oil. Beijing supports Iran in achieving a “genuine ceasefire” with Israel, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi told his Iranian counterpart Abbas Araghchi during a phone call on Tuesday.

A senior White House official said Trump brokered the ceasefire in a conversation with Netanyahu on Monday. Vice President JD Vance, Secretary of State Marco Rubio and special envoy Steve Witkoff held direct and indirect talks with the Iranians about the proposal, the official said.

Israel agreed to the truce as long as Iran did not launch further attacks, and the Iranian government signaled it would abide by those terms, according to the official.