Israel Iran Conflict: Iran strikes Israel despite ceasefire negotiations

New Delhi (India) June 24: The latest developments in the 12-day Israel-Iran war included claims of Iranian missile strikes, a cease-fire announcement by the United States and a denial by Tehran that seemed to be a U-turn. After four waves of attacks, Iran announced a ceasefire.

Early on Tuesday morning, US President Donald Trump declared that Israel and Iran had struck a "complete and total ceasefire" agreement, in order to put an end to what he called the "12-Day War." Iran quickly denied that such an agreement had been struck, only to later announce that its part of the conflict had stopped.

In spite of President Trump's assured announcement of peace, the actual situation remained unstable and filled with contradictions. Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi responded to Tehran's first rejection of a ceasefire agreement with a perplexing post that seemed to indicate an end to active hostilities.

Seyed Abbas Araghchi, the Iranian foreign minister, said on X that there is "no agreement as of now."

He wrote, "As of now, there is NO "agreement" on any ceasefire or cessation of military operations. However, provided that the Israeli regime stops its illegal aggression against the Iranian people no later than 4 am Tehran time, we have no intention to continue our response afterwards. The final decision on the cessation of our military operations will be made later." 

The foreign minister posted a statement shortly after this tweet and said that the ceasefire in Tehran went into effect at 4 AM local time.

He said, “The military operations of our powerful Armed Forces to punish Israel for its aggression continued until the very last minute, at 4 am. Together with all Iranians, I thank our brave Armed Forces who remain ready to defend our dear country until their last drop of blood, and who responded to any attack by the enemy until the very last minute."

Although Israeli officials have said they support the ceasefire, the nation has not yet released an official statement. Israeli authorities have said that Prime Minister Netanyahu supports Trump's ceasefire proposal given that Iran promises to stop its missile attacks.

Iran launched missile attacks on US military areas in Qatar and Iraq shortly after Trump's statement, despite ceasefire negotiations. In his post, the US president dismissed the strikes as a "very weak" and "expected" reaction. He said that out of the 14 missiles fired by Iran, 13 were intercepted and one was permitted through because it was judged not to be deadly.

Trump declared a "complete and total ceasefire" between Iran and Israel on his social media platform in the early hours of Tuesday. He ordered strikes on Iran's underground nuclear facilities barely 48 hours before making the unexpected announcement.

According to Trump, the ceasefire will start at 9.30 am IST, roughly six hours after he made the statement, once both nations had finished their "final missions". However, he did not elaborate on the nature of these last operations. He stated that Iran would start the ceasefire, Israel would follow 12 hours later, and the fighting would formally finish 24 hours after.

Aadrika Tayal