President Donald Trump on Tuesday chastised Israel for accusing Iran of ceasefire violations and ordering new strikes, saying he was “not happy” with either country as he spoke to reporters before departing for a NATO summit.
Trump reserved his strongest criticism for U.S. ally Israel, saying the nation needs “to calm down.”
Trump’s fiery rhetoric came one day after a stunning series of developments in turmoil roiling the Mideast led to a ceasefire proclaimed by Trump − and accepted by Israel and Iran − in a 12-day conflict that drew in the U.S., which launched strikes on three nuclear sites in Iran on Saturday.
“In all fairness, Israel unloaded a lot, and now I hear Israel just went out because they felt it was violated by one rocket that didn’t land anywhere. That’s not what we want, I’ll tell you. And I’m telling you, I’m not happy about that, Israel, either,” Trump said at one point Tuesday. “Do not drop those bombs.”
Later, posting on Truth Social from Air Force One en route to the Netherlands for the NATO summit, Trump wrote that “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.”
Trump added that “IRAN WILL NEVER REBUILD THEIR NUCLEAR FACILITIES!”
Angry Trump heads to NATO summit
Leaders of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), which includes several European countries, the United States and Canada, are gathering in The Hague, Netherlands, for their annual summit. The war in Ukraine and the amount of defense funds European nations provide are among the topics. But the clash between Israel and Iran cast a long shadow over the proceedings.
Trump, as he left the White House for bound for the summit, told reporters he thought both nations had violated the ceasefire agreement though possibly not intentionally. He said he was “going to see if I can stop it.”
As he walked away from reporters, a visibly angry Trump told a reporter: “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. You understand that?”
Iran-Israel truce on shaky ground
Relief over a truce between Israel and Iran gave way to more concerns about the volatile Mideast region on Tuesday.
Israel accused Iran of already violating the deal and promised to respond with force. Defense Minister Israel Katz said Israel had detected Iranian missile launches and had ordered “high-intensity operations” targeting Iran. Iran insisted there were no missiles directed at Israel, Iran’s Nour News reported.
Just hours earlier, both Israel and Iran indicated they would accept the terms of the truce, both claiming victory in a renewed 12-day conflict.
Was Iran trying to build a nuclear weapon?
The U.S. intelligence community has been consistent: It does not believe Iran has been building a nuclear weapon. U.S. Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard said as much when she testified to Congress about Iran’s nuclear program in March.
U.S. spy agencies, Gabbard said, “continue to assess that Iran is not building a nuclear weapon and Supreme Leader Khamenei has not authorized the nuclear weapons program he suspended in 2003.”
Trump and Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu dismissed that assessment. Trump’s done that to U.S. intelligence agencies before − for example, over who was responsible for the murder of Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi. (It was Saudi Arabia.). Netanyahu meanwhile has been talking about Iran’s existential nuclear threat to Israel for as along as he’s been in the public eye.
Still, where U.S. intelligences agencies, Trump, Netanyahu and the United Nations’ nuclear watchdog − the International Atomic Energy Agency − converge is on the point of Iran’s uranium.
All agree that Iran has developed a large stockpile, and at a sufficiently enriched level, to sustain a nuclear reaction that could be used in a bomb if it decided to. But how quickly Iran could then “sprint to a nuclear weapon,” as Gen. Michael E. Kurilla put it on June 10, is also a matter of dispute, and estimates range from one week to one year.
Iran, Israel both claim victory
Netanyahu said his country had achieved the goals it set in launching its June 13 attack on Iran by destroying the nation’s nuclear program.
Iran’s top security body, the Supreme National Security Council, said its military had forced Israel to “unilaterally accept defeat and accept a ceasefire.” Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi vowed to halt any retaliatory strikes.
“CONGRATULATIONS TO EVERYONE! It has been fully agreed by and between Israel and Iran that there will be a Complete and Total CEASEFIRE,” Trump proclaimed in a social media post Monday afternoon.
World had awaited Iran retaliation
For two days, a nervous world had waited for Iran’s promised payback for the U.S. strikes. That retaliation came Monday when Iran launched missiles at al Udeid Air Base, a U.S. base in Doha, Qatar, and it followed renewed Israeli bombardment of sites within Tehran earlier in the day.
Iran provided advance warning of its intention to strike al Udeid Air Base, according to Trump. He said Iran fired 14 missiles: 13 of them were intercepted; one was deemed nonthreatening. No American or Qatari casualties were reported, Trump said.
The U.S. − with about 40,000 troops in the Mideast region − has been on high alert since B-2 bombers struck the Iran nuclear sites of Fordow, a uranium enrichment facility deep inside a remote mountain in Iran, and facilities at Natanz and Isfahan.
Israeli steps up attacks inside Iran
Iran’s missile launch Monday came on a day that Israel stepped up its own attacks on Tehran, including a strike at Iran’s Evin Prison.
The notorious Evin Prison was built in 1971 and has housed political prisoners, Westerners and journalists used as bargaining chips by Iran. It has previously been targeted by sanctions, and human rights groups have long condemned the treatment of prisoners there.
The Israeli military released an urgent warning to residents in Tehran urging them to stay away from “security institutions” as they plan to continue pounding the capital city with airstrikes.
What is the Al Udeid base in Qatar?
Al Udeid is the sprawling hub of U.S. military air operations in the Middle East. There about 10,000 U.S. troops stationed there, on the outskirts of the capital of Doha.
Its air operations center has overseen fighters, bombers and drones that have conducted combat missions in Iraq, Syria and Afghanistan.
Dignitaries make stops there frequently, including Trump and secretaries of Defense.
Why did the US strike Iran’s nuclear facilities?
Trump ordered the strikes on Iran’s nuclear facilities − Operation Midnight Hammer − effectively joining a war that Israel started on June 13 when it began bombing Iranian nuclear and military infrastructure. Israel said it helped the U.S. coordinate and plan the strikes.
Trump said all three sites were “totally obliterated.” But an independent assessment has not yet been carried out. The International Atomic Energy Agency − the United Nation’s nuclear watchdog − released a statement saying that so far it had not detected an increase in “off-site radiation levels,” one of the feared consequences of the strikes.
Contributing: Reuters
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Iran-US live updates: Trump warns Israel to calm down
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