 "Trump slams Israel, Iran for violating ceasefire hours after announcement")
Just hours after announcing a ceasefire between Israel and Iran, US President Donald Trump accused both countries of breaching the truce — singling out Israel for particular criticism, Reuters reported.
“Israel. Do not drop those bombs. If you do, it is a major violation. Bring your pilots home, now!” Trump posted on Truth Social, minutes after leaving the White House for the Nato summit in The Hague.
Speaking to journalists before boarding his helicopter, Trump said, “I’ve got to get Israel to calm down now. Israel, as soon as we made the deal, they came out and they dropped a load of bombs, the likes of which I’ve never seen before—the biggest load that we’ve seen.”
“They’ve been fighting so long and so hard that they don’t know what the f**k they’re doing,” Trump added, before turning away from the press and departing.
Trump’s ceasefire was intended to put an end to 12 days of escalating conflict that began with a surprise Israeli strike and intensified with US attacks on Iranian nuclear facilities over the weekend. However, the agreement began to unravel almost immediately.
On Tuesday, Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz ordered fresh military strikes on Tehran, citing a “blatant violation” of the ceasefire by Iran. “I have instructed the IDF to respond forcefully to Iran’s violation of the ceasefire with powerful strikes against regime targets in the heart of Tehran,” Katz said.
Iran, for its part, denied any missile launches following the ceasefire declaration and claimed that Israeli air raids continued for an hour and a half after the ceasefire was supposed to begin.
[With agency inputs]