What Trump said while announcing Israel-Iran ceasefire. Full statement
Donald Trump said that the ceasefire between Israel and Iran would start with Iran and then be joined by Israel 12 hours later.
President Donald Trump late on Monday announced that Israel and Iran had reached a "complete and total ceasefire," following a limited missile strike by Iran on a US military base in Qatar on Monday. In a post on the social media platform Truth Social, Trump stated that the phased 24-hour ceasefire is set to begin around midnight on Monday.
Calling it an “Official END” to the war, Trump wrote that the ceasefire will come in effect in approximately 6 hours from now, till which time Israel and Iran would have “completed their in progress and final missions." The Israeli military declined to comment on Trump’s statement and there was also no immediate comment from Iran. Iran’s UN mission also declined to comment on Trump’s ceasefire post, and the Israeli mission said it had no immediate comment.
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As Trump described it, the ceasefire would start with Iran and then be joined by Israel 12 hours later, with the president writing that the respective sides would “remain PEACEFUL and RESPECTFUL.”
He also congratulated both the countries on ending the “12 day war.” He wrote, “On the assumption that everything works as it should, which it will, I would like to congratulate both Countries, Israel and Iran, on having the Stamina, Courage, and Intelligence to end, what should be called, “THE 12 DAY WAR.”
Trump claimed that the Israel-Iran war could have gone on for years, destroying the Middle East. “This is a War that could have gone on for years, and destroyed the entire Middle East, but it didn’t, and never will! God bless Israel, God bless Iran, God bless the Middle East, God bless the United States of America, and GOD BLESS THE WORLD!,” he wrote in the post.
The exact terms of the ceasefire other than the timeline provided by Trump have not yet been informed. Meanwhile, the White House also reposted Trump’s announcement with a photo of the president holding a red hat that said “Trump was right about everything” in all capital letters.
Trump's announcement comes just before he leaves Tuesday for a NATO summit in the Netherlands, where he will likely make the case that his mix of aggression and diplomacy has succeeded. Speaking on Iranian state television, an overnight anchor repeatedly referred to a “Trump-claimed” ceasefire, without saying whether Tehran accepted it.
This ceasefire announcement follows a retaliatory strike by Iran on Monday aimed at a major US military installation in the Gulf nation of Qatar. The US was warned by Iran in advance, and there were no casualties, said President Donald Trump, who dismissed the attack as a “very weak response.”
Over the week missiles have been launched by either of the countries, taking the lives of hundreds in Iran and two dozen in Israel, according to officials on both sides. On Sunday, the Trump administration had insisted that Iran abandon its program to enrich uranium for possible use in nuclear weapons as a condition of any lasting peace.
(With input from agencies)
