The Israeli army carried out a “symbolic attack” against Iran on Tuesday afternoon in retaliation for the Iranian strike earlier that morning, which killed seven people on Israeli territory.
The Israeli attack took place despite a strong warning issued a little earlier by US President Donald Trump in Tel Aviv.
Trump made an urgent appeal to Israel to avoid any military strike against Iran, considering such an action a serious violation of the ceasefire agreement reached between the two countries just hours earlier.
On his social media platform Truth Social, Donald Trump urged Israel not to “drop those bombs” and to “bring their pilots back immediately.” “Israel, don’t drop those bombs. If you do, it will be a major violation” of the ceasefire, he warned.
Reuters reported that the US president stated that Israel would not launch military operations against Iran in the immediate future. But Tel Aviv did not see it that way.
Trump said he didn't want to see "regime change" in Iran amid its conflict with Israel, adding that it would cause "chaos."
"If there was, there was, but no, I don't want it. I'd like to see everything calm down as quickly as possible," Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One. "Regime change takes chaos, and ideally we don't want to see so much chaos."
According to Israeli media, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told Donald Trump during a phone call that he could not refrain from responding to the Iranian strikes but that the response “would be symbolic.” A little later, the Prime Minister's office confirmed that the Israeli army had destroyed an Iranian radar system near Tehran. In a statement, it specified that Tel Aviv “refrained from launching further strikes against Iran after the phone call.”
Moreover, according to Israeli media, the leaders in Tel Aviv were displeased by the American president’s remarks.
In a statement before his departure for the Netherlands to attend the NATO summit, Donald Trump, visibly upset, accused both Iran and Israel of violating the ceasefire he had announced the day before. However, he was particularly harsh on his Israeli ally, saying he was “really not happy” with Israel.
Iran “violated” the ceasefire, “but Israel did too,” he told the press, adding, “I’m not happy with Iran, but I’m really not happy with Israel.”
The two countries “don’t know what the F… they’re doing,” he further declared, clearly irritated, as he left the White House.
“As soon as they agreed to the deal, they bombed like never before. They fought so long they seem to have lost their minds,” he said.
Trump also emphasized that despite his dissatisfaction with Iran, he expected Israel to strictly respect the ceasefire. He assured that Iran’s nuclear capabilities had been destroyed and could not be rebuilt.
Earlier in the morning, Israel reported detecting an Iranian missile about an hour after accepting the US proposal for a truce. Iran denied any attack but accused Israel of continuing its strikes after the ceasefire began.
“Oil from Iran”
China can continue to buy Iranian oil, US President Donald Trump said Tuesday in what appeared to be relief for Tehran from sanctions Washington has previously imposed to punish the trade.
"China can now continue to purchase Oil from Iran. Hopefully, they will be purchasing plenty from the U.S., also," Trump wrote in a post on his Truth Social platform as he traveled to a NATO summit in The Hague.
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