Egypt Daily News – A tenuous ceasefire between Israel and Iran brokered by former U.S. President Donald Trump remains intact, despite deep mistrust, fresh accusations of violations, and a flurry of diplomatic and military maneuvers that threatened to plunge the region back into full-scale conflict.
The ceasefire, announced late Monday, followed a dramatic escalation in hostilities between the long-feuding nations. The U.S. entered the fray over the weekend, launching what Trump later described as “decisive” and “obliterating” strikes on three key Iranian nuclear facilities in response to growing fears over Tehran’s nuclear ambitions. Iran retaliated by launching missiles at U.S. military targets in Qatar, which were intercepted, resulting in no reported casualties.
Trump took a victory lap on social media, declaring it his “great honor to destroy all [Iranian] nuclear facilities and capability” and to “stop the war” between Israel and Iran. Yet within hours, the ceasefire was already teetering on collapse.
Ceasefire at Risk
Early Tuesday, Israel accused Iran of violating the ceasefire by launching additional missile attacks and vowed retaliation. Iran denied the accusation, claiming instead that its “steadfast defense” and retaliatory strikes had forced Israel and the U.S. to back down. Tensions reached a boiling point as Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz announced the Israeli Defense Forces had struck a radar installation near Tehran in response to the alleged violation.
“I have instructed the IDF, in coordination with the Prime Minister, to respond forcefully,” Katz said. “The Iranian regime has severely violated the ceasefire.”
President Trump, speaking from Air Force One en route to a NATO summit in The Hague, issued a public and unusually sharp rebuke, directed not just at Iran but at Israel, a long time U.S. ally. “ISRAEL. DO NOT DROP THOSE BOMBS. IF YOU DO IT IS A MAJOR VIOLATION. BRING YOUR PILOTS HOME,” Trump posted on his social media platform, Truth Social.
He did not mince words in subsequent remarks to reporters: “We basically have two countries that have been fighting so long and so hard that they don’t know what the f*** they’re doing.”
Trump’s Fury and Diplomacy
Despite claiming both nations had violated the deal, Trump reserved his strongest criticism for Israel. “As soon as we made the deal, they came out and dropped a load of bombs—the likes of which I’ve never seen before,” he said. “When I say, ‘OK, now you have 12 hours,’ you don’t go out in the first hour and just drop everything you have.”
A phone call between Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu appeared to help calm the situation. Netanyahu’s office later confirmed that Israel would refrain from further strikes “pursuant to the conversation” with Trump.
“All planes will turn around and head home, while doing a friendly ‘plane wave’ to Iran,” Trump later posted, in a moment of uncharacteristic levity amid the crisis. “Nobody will be hurt. The ceasefire is in effect.”
A Conflict with Heavy Toll
The Israel-Iran confrontation has come at a steep cost. According to Israeli government figures, 24 people have died and over 1,300 have been injured since the conflict began on June 13, when Israel targeted Iranian nuclear and military sites. In Iran, the Human Rights Activists News Agency reported 974 deaths and more than 3,400 injuries.
Trump, who previously called for regime change in Iran and flirted with the slogan “Make Iran Great Again,” appeared to walk back that ambition on Tuesday.
“I’d like to see everything calm down as quickly as possible,” he said. “Regime change takes chaos, and ideally we don’t want to see so much chaos.”
International Reactions
Trump’s handling of the crisis drew praise from NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte, who sent a message congratulating the U.S. for its “decisive action.”
“It makes us all safe,” Rutte reportedly wrote. “That was truly extraordinary, and something no one else dared to do.”
The NATO summit, convened in The Hague, is also expected to deliver a landmark agreement on defense spending, with member states preparing to announce a commitment to raise military expenditure to 5% of GDP, a target the U.K. has already pledged to meet by 2035.
Ceasefire Holds—for Now
While the ceasefire remains intact as of Tuesday evening, both sides remain on edge, with mutual distrust threatening to unravel the fragile truce. Trump, now acting more as an international mediator than a campaign-trail firebrand, emphasized his hope for restraint.
“We’ve stopped the war—for now,” he said. “Let’s keep it that way.”
