President Donald Trump pressured Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to abide by the ceasefire with Iran. Tel Aviv was preparing to bomb Iran when the President told his Israeli counterpart to call off the strike.
A US official told Axios reporter Barak Ravid that Trump spoke to Netanyahu in “an exceptionally firm and direct way” to pressure Israel to call off a planned attack on Iran. Tel Aviv said the attack was in response to Tehran violating the ceasefire by firing missiles into Israel. It is unclear if Iran violated the truce.
“The president told Netanyahu what needed to happen to sustain the ceasefire. The prime minister understood the severity of the situation and the concerns President Trump expressed, “the source said.
Trump also posted a public demand on Truth Social for Tel Aviv to call off the attack. “ISRAEL. DO NOT DROP THOSE BOMBS. IF YOU DO IT IS A MAJOR VIOLATION. BRING YOUR PILOTS HOME, NOW! DONALD J. TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES,” he wrote.
According to Israeli officials speaking with Axios, Tel Aviv agreed to scale back the attack as a result of Trump’s pressure, but did not call it off entirely.
However, President Trump’s post on Truth Social suggested Israel called off the attack entirely. “ISRAEL is not going to attack Iran. All planes will turn around and head home, while doing a friendly ‘Plane Wave’ to Iran. Nobody will be hurt, the Ceasefire is in effect! Thank you for your attention to this matter! DONALD J. TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES,” he wrote.
President Donald Trump, in a post on his social media platform, announced the ceasefire between Iran and Israel on Monday night following Tehran ordering a small missile strike on an American air base in Qatar. The Iranian attack has been widely interpreted as a symbolic move to allow for the situation to de-escalate.
Trump said the ceasefire was brokered after he was approached by Tel Aviv and Tehran about reaching a truce. “Israel & Iran came to me, almost simultaneously, and said, “PEACE!” I knew the time was NOW. The World, and the Middle East, are the real WINNERS! Both Nations will see tremendous LOVE, PEACE, AND PROSPERITY in their futures.” His post continued, “They have so much to gain, and yet, so much to lose if they stray from the road of RIGHTEOUSNESS & TRUTH. The future for Israel & Iran is UNLIMITED, & filled with great PROMISE. GOD BLESS YOU BOTH!”
The implementation of the ceasefire appears to have caused Trump to become frustrated with the Israeli Prime Minister. “You know what we have? 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,” the President told reporters at the White House on Tuesday.
“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. I’m not happy with Israel,” Trump 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 on them. So, I’m not happy with them, I’m not happy with Iran either.”
