WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump lashed out at Israel and Iran on Tuesday morning as the ceasefire deal he announced hours earlier appeared on the brink of collapse.
“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,” Trump said as he left the White House for the NATO summit in the Netherlands.
Trump announced Monday on social media that Israel and Iran had agreed to a total ceasefire, telling NBC News later that he believed the ceasefire was “unlimited” and that it was “going to go forever.”
But around 12 hours later, he accused both sides of breaching the agreement.
“I think they both violated it,” Trump told reporters Tuesday morning. “I don’t think, I’m not sure they did it intentionally. They couldn’t rein people back. I don’t like the fact that Israel went out this morning at all, and I’m going to see if I can stop it.”
Trump’s criticism Tuesday morning was the latest mood shift in days of soaring tensions in the Middle East after the United States struck nuclear targets in Iran, the first time it has militarily attacked the country directly. On Monday, Iran launched a retaliatory strike on Al Udeid Air Base in Qatar, which hosts American troops. No casualties were reported, and hours later, Trump announced a ceasefire between Israel and Iran.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said Tuesday that Israel struck Tehran overnight, and Iran then launched missiles hours later, killing four Israelis.
Trump warned Israel on social media not to bomb Iran, saying in an all-capitalized post that it would be a “major violation.” He also criticized the Israeli attack in comments to reporters, saying, “I’m not happy with Israel.” He added that he was “not happy with Iran either, but I’m really unhappy if Israel’s going out this morning.”
“ISRAEL is not going to attack Iran. All planes will turn around and head home, while doing a friendly ‘Plane Wave’ to Iran,” he said in a separate post Tuesday morning. “Nobody will be hurt, the Ceasefire is in effect!”
Netanyahu’s office said Israel would not carry out additional attacks on Iran after he held a phone call with Trump.
Trump told reporters later Tuesday morning that he told Netanyahu: “You gotta call back the planes. It’s enough. It’s enough. And they did, which I respect very greatly, so nobody was killed.”
Asked whether he was confident the conflict would not escalate again, he said: “I think they’re both tired of it. I think they don’t want it to happen again, and Iran’s not going to have a nuclear weapon, by the way. I think it’s the last thing on their mind right now.”
Israel launched attacks on Iran in mid-June, sparking nearly two weeks of tit-for-tat strikes. The strikes have killed hundreds in Iran and dozens in Israel, according to the country’s authorities.
Iran backs Hamas and Hezbollah, and Israel has been locked in a yearslong war with Hamas sparked by the Hamas-led attack on Israel on Oct. 7, 2023. Since the initial attack, Israeli military operations have killed more than 55,000 people in Gaza, most of them civilians, according to local authorities.
