On Truth Social, US President Donald J. Trump said Israel and Iran must immediately stop “shooting.” The statement comes as both countries continue to exchange missile strikes and report attacks on military targets.
Earlier as well Trump has asked Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu not to retaliate to Iran’s latest barrage of missiles, saying it would jeopardise the ongoing negotiations for a peace deal to end the three-month long conflict. US media outlet Axios reported that after Iran launched missiles at Israel on Sunday, Trump spoke to Netanyahu in a bid to prevent fresh tensions between the two nations from derailing the peace deal.
Trump also asked Iran to return to the negotiating table. Trump reiterated that Washington is close to reaching an agreement and warned that escalating tensions could derail the effort. Israel and Iran traded fire early on Monday in retaliatory strikes that threatened to drag the wider Middle East back into a full-scale regional war.
Trump also criticised Israel’s strikes on Beirut on Sunday, saying he was “not happy about it”. Trump told Netanyahu during the call to hold off because “we are close to doing something good in terms of a deal”, Axios reported, quoting a US official.
Netanyahu pushed back but ultimately “pseudo agreed” to stand down, the official said, adding that Sunday’s call was calmer than last week’s tense exchange between the leaders, and Trump did not raise his voice at Netanyahu on this occasion.
Monday marked the 100th day of the Iran war, launched February 28 when Israel and the United States killed Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and other senior Iranian leaders.
The war raged until the two sides reached a nominal ceasefire on April 8, but a permanent end to the hostilities have been challenged by Iran’s chokehold on the Strait of Hormuz, through which a fifth of all traded oil and natural gas once passed in peacetime, as well as fighting between Israel and the Lebanese Shiite militia Hezbollah.