After nearly two weeks of escalating violence between Iran and Israel, a ceasefire officially took effect at 7 a.m. on Tuesday, according to Israel’s public broadcaster. The announcement comes after a period of intense airstrikes, missile attacks, and political uncertainty that drew in the United States and other global powers.
Iran’s state media also confirmed the truce, but with a much different tone. The report described the ceasefire as being “imposed on the enemy”, following what Iran called a massive military response to American attacks on its nuclear facilities.
Interestingly, neither the Iranian nor Israeli governments issued a formal statement confirming the truce at the time of reporting.
Ceasefire Follows Missile Attack on US Base
The ceasefire was announced just hours after Iran launched retaliatory missile strikes on the US Al-Udeid Air Base in Qatar. That attack was in response to an earlier American airstrike that had targeted Iran’s nuclear facilities in Fordow, Natanz, and Isfahan.
This series of back-and-forth attacks pushed the region to the edge, with global leaders urging restraint. The conflict had started to take on dangerous new dimensions, with even nuclear infrastructure being hit for the first time in years.
Trump Claims Credit, But Iran Pushes Back
US President Donald Trump, who had earlier announced a “temporary truce”, claimed that American pressure forced Iran into agreeing to the ceasefire. He praised the US military for their role, saying their actions had helped bring Iran to the negotiating table.
But Iran had a different view.
Top Iranian diplomat Abbas Araghchi made it clear earlier that Iran never received any official ceasefire proposal from the US. He said Tehran would only stop its military response if Israeli attacks ended by 4 a.m. local time.
How the Conflict Started: Escalation Since June 13
This latest round of violence began on June 13, when what had mostly been covert and indirect hostilities between Israel and Iran suddenly turned into open warfare.
In large-scale military attacks, Israel struck at Iran’s nuclear and military infrastructure while Iran retaliated with missile and drone attacks directed at Israeli military bases as well as American sites in the Middle East.
These were the first such strikes that have targeted each other’s nuclear facilities and high-level military positions directly in almost a decade, raising alarms among the global powers about the possibility of the conflict spiraling completely out of control.
A Ceasefire—But For How Long?
Though both Iranian and Israeli media outlets have acknowledged that a halt in fighting has started, the silence from both governments has raised questions about how stable the ceasefire really is.
No written deal has been made public, and neither side has officially confirmed that the fighting is over. As of now, it appears the guns have fallen silent—but whether that silence holds remains to be seen.
