United States President Donald Trump announced Monday evening that a ceasefire between Israel and the Islamic Republic would commence no later than 8:30 p.m. Eastern Time.
The announcement, made via the President’s Truth Social platform, is intended to end a 10-day exchange of aerial strikes between the Jewish State and the regime in Tehran.
The armistice reportedly follows successful mediation efforts by Qatar after U.S.-led bombings targeted the regime’s atomic development sites in Isfahan, Natanz, and Qom over the weekend.
Tehran’s Foreign Minister, Abbas Araghchi, confirmed on X that his government would adhere to the arrangement, provided the Israeli armed forces agree to the terms.
This latest conflict between the two regional powers began on June 13, when Israel launched a surprise attack on sensitive military and scientific targets in Iran. The move was prompted by the Islamic Republic’s refusal to comply with recent demands from the White House to scale back its development of fissile materials.
Intelligence officials in Jerusalem defended the incursion, dubbed ‘Operation Rising Lion’, describing it as a response to the ongoing clandestine enrichment of uranium to weapons-grade levels by scientists in the theocracy, which violates global nonproliferation agreements.
In a public address at the start of the maneuvers, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu claimed the regime possessed the capacity to produce up to nine nuclear warheads.
