What we know
- CEASEFIRE ANNOUNCED: Hours after Iran targeted a U.S. military base in Qatar, President Donald Trump said on social media that Iran and Israel had agreed to a total ceasefire.
- IRAN RESPONSE: Iran earlier launched a strike on Al Udeid Air Base in Qatar, which stations thousands of U.S. troops, in retaliation for the U.S. bombing of its nuclear sites over the weekend. No casualties were reported, and Trump on social media called the strike "very weak."
- ISRAEL HITS FORDO: Israel launched further attacks throughout Iran, including on the key nuclear facility of Fordo that U.S. forces had targeted with huge "bunker-busting" bombs as well as Tehran's notorious Evin prison.
- WARNING FROM IRAN: Before the U.S. strikes, Iran had warned Trump that it might activate terrorist "sleeper cells" inside the United States if it were attacked, sources said.
- HUNDREDS KILLED: Israeli strikes have killed at least 400 people in Iran and injured 3,000 in the conflict, according to the Iranian Health Ministry, while Iran’s retaliatory strikes have killed at least 24 in Israel.
Israel agrees to ceasefire, Netanyahu's office says
Israel has agreed to Trump's proposal for a bilateral ceasefire, Netanyahu's office has said in a statement this morning.
Thanking Trump and the United States for "their support in defense and their participation in eliminating the Iranian nuclear threat," Netanyahu's office said Israel could agree to the ceasefire "in light of achieving the objectives" of its assault targeting Iran's nuclear program.
It said Israel would respond "forcefully"" to any violation of the truce.
Netanyahu was expected to make an additional statement later today, it said.
Iranian state media, Trump announce start of ceasefire
Iran has launched its last round of missiles at Israel as a ceasefire takes effect, according to Iranian state media.
“Ceasefire begins following four waves of Iranian attacks on Israeli-occupied territories,” English-language state media Press TV said on X.
In a post on his Truth Social site, Trump also said a ceasefire had taken effect.
“THE CEASEFIRE IS NOW IN EFFECT. PLEASE DO NOT VIOLATE IT!” he wrote.
Israel has not yet confirmed the agreement.
Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene says Trump's decision to strike Iran feels like a 'bait and switch to please the neocons'
Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., who's been voicing strong opposition on social media to the U.S. strikes against Iran since Saturday, said in a post on X this morning that the move "feels like a complete bait and switch."
"It feels like a complete bait and switch to please the neocons, warmongers, military industrial complex contracts, and neocon tv personalities that MAGA hates and who were NEVER TRUMPERS!" she wrote.
Greene, generally a close ally of Trump's, wrote that her children's generation should be free of America being entangled in foreign wars that she said provoke terrorist attacks "on our homeland, military drafts, and NUCLEAR WAR."
"Contrary to brainwashed Democrat boomers think and protest about, Trump is not a king, MAGA is not a cult, and I can and DO have my own opinion," she wrote.
Roughly 250 Americans leave Israel with U.S. help
The State Department has so far helped about 250 Americans and immediate family members leave Israel since Saturday, a department official said.
The Americans and family members have so far left via seven flights, which have traveled to Greece, Italy and Cyprus, the official said.
"We are grateful to our partners in these countries for receiving these flights,” the official said.
Following the opening attack in the ongoing fighting between Israel and Iran on June 13, the State Department said nonemergency government employees and immediate family members could leave, but it also said it had no way for them to get out.
Israel and neighboring regions are the subjects of a "do not travel" warning issued by the State Department.
Ben Gurion Airport was closed amid the ongoing exchange of munitions, but it reopened yesterday for highly restricted travel.
3 dead, 1 missing after military strike in southern Israel
Three people are dead and one is missing following a military strike on southern Israel on Tuesday local time, an Israel fire and rescue regional spokesperson said.
Search-and-rescue crews were looking for the missing person, the spokesperson said. The deaths were declared at the scene.
The attack came after the Israel Defense Forces warned people that Iran had launched an attack. It also came after Trump announced a ceasefire would emerge Tuesday.
Iran's foreign minister, Abbas Araghch, said that while the country had not agreed to a ceasefire, its military operations would end if Israel ceased its attacks.
Israel reports more missile launches from Iran
The Israel Defense Forces reported another round of missiles launched from Iran on Tuesday morning local time.
The launches were announced after Iranian state media reported that the country had "imposed" a ceasefire on Israel.
"The proud nation of Iran has imposed a ceasefire on the Zionist enemy through a successful missile operation by the IRGC [Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps] carried out in response to U.S. aggression," state media reported. "This came alongside the remarkable unity and resistance of our people in defense of our homeland."
The IDF urged people to seek shelter.
Iran was deliberate with its strike response to avoid major escalation with U.S., experts say
Iran’s limited response appeared designed to avoid triggering a massive escalation with the United States when its air defenses have been heavily damaged and its allies in the region — including Iranian-trained Hezbollah militants in Lebanon — have been severely weakened, experts and former officials said.
Launching a larger-scale attack could have prompted a major U.S. response, with Tehran facing a vastly superior military able to inflict potentially crippling damage on Iran’s army and navy, political leadership and oil facilities, experts said.
"They’ve got to be really careful,” said Seth Jones, a former senior Defense Department official now at the Center for Strategic and International Studies think tank. "They are extremely vulnerable right now.”
In announcing its missile salvo, Iran’s National Security Council said the number of missiles matched the number of bombs that the United States used against Iran. Tehran’s language appeared to signal it was responding in a proportional way and not escalating the conflict, experts said.
How the supposed ceasefire deal came together
The supposed ceasefire that Trump announced tonight came after Iran signaled it no longer wanted to fight and Trump called Netanyahu and bluntly told him, “No more war,” a senior White House official said.
The phased-in ceasefire — in which Iran would stop firing for 12 hours before Israel would do the same for another 12 hours — was Trump’s idea to appease Israeli concerns that Iran would not hold up its end of the deal, the official said.
Iran's foreign minister has denied that his country has agreed to a ceasefire.
Over the past 48 hours, Trump had been working the phones, according to the senior White House official. Another source familiar with the outreach told NBC News that Trump called the emir of Qatar earlier today to say he could get Israel to agree to a ceasefire if the emir could get Iran on board. Qatar’s prime minister then coordinated with Vice President JD Vance, and the prime minister spoke with the Iranians, the source said.
At 3:53 p.m. ET, Trump called Iran’s retaliatory strike a “weak response” on Truth Social and suggested that Iran could now “proceed to Peace” and that he would “enthusiastically encourage Israel to do the same.”
Shortly after that post, the senior White House official said, Trump called Netanyahu with a direct message: “No more war. No more fighting. The Iranians have been significantly weakened.”
As Trump was speaking with the Israelis from the Oval Office, his national security team was busy sending messages to the Iranians through intermediaries, the senior White House official said.
The senior White House official said that Trump got Netanyahu to agree to the ceasefire and then Vance, Secretary of State Marco Rubio and special envoy Steve Witkoff signaled to the Iranians — “both directly and indirectly” — that the United States wanted a ceasefire and that the Iranians should agree to it.
In a separate social media post this afternoon, Trump thanked the emir of Qatar.
At 6:02 p.m. ET, Trump announced in yet another post that a ceasefire agreement had been reached — although neither Israel nor Iran offered any public confirmation. In the post, he suggested the conflict between Israel and Iran should be called “THE 12 DAY WAR.”
That name was Trump’s idea , the senior White House official said.
Iran's foreign minister denies ceasefire deal but indicates military operations have ceased
Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said Iran has not agreed to the ceasefire announced by Trump, but he also indicated Iran has paused its warfare.
In statements on X, Araghchi said that as long as Israel stops its "aggression," Iran has "no intention" of continuing its response.
"As of now, there is NO 'agreement' on any ceasefire or cessation of military operations," he said. "However, provided that the Israeli regime stops its illegal aggression against the Iranian people no later than 4 am Tehran time, we have no intention to continue our response afterwards."
Iran will decide later whether to approve participating in the agreement, Araghchi said.
“Together with all Iranians, I thank our brave Armed Forces who remain ready to defend our dear country until their last drop of blood, and who responded to any attack by the enemy until the very last minute,” he said.
Supreme leader: 'Iranian nation isn’t a nation that surrenders'
Before Trump's social media post announcing a ceasefire agreement, Iran's supreme leader said that the concept of surrender isn't a part of Iran's cultural fabric.
"Those who know the Iranian people and their history know that the Iranian nation isn’t a nation that surrenders," Ayatollah Ali Khamanei said on social media.
That matched messaging from earlier in the day, when he said, "We will not surrender to anyone’s attack; this is the logic of the Iranian nation."
