IRAN-ISRAEL CONFLICT

President Donald Trump announced on social media Monday evening what he termed “a Complete and Total” ceasefire between Iran and Israel, expressing hope that the agreement would become permanent. Trump stated the ceasefire was set to commence in approximately six hours.

“It has been fully agreed by and between Israel and Iran that there will be a Complete and Total CEASEFIRE (in approximately 6 hours from now, when Israel and Iran have wound down and completed their in progress, final missions!), for 12 hours, at which point the War will be considered, ENDED,” the president wrote on social media. He further detailed a phased implementation: “Officially, Iran will start the CEASEFIRE and, upon the 12th Hour, Israel will start the CEASEFIRE and, upon the 24th Hour, an Official END to THE 12 DAY WAR will be saluted by the World. During each CEASEFIRE, the other side will remain PEACEFUL and RESPECTFUL.”

However, neither Iran nor Israel had made any public comments about a pending ceasefire at the time of Trump’s announcement.

Moments after the president’s post, Vice President JD Vance appeared on Fox News, praising Trump for getting the deal “across the finish line.” Vance mentioned, “We were actually working on that just as I left the White House to come over here. So that’s good news, that the president was able to get that across the finish line.” He also noted that he read a draft of Trump’s social media post “two minutes before we went on the air,” and that it was “a little bit different from what the president had showed me a couple of hours ago,” attributing the change to Trump’s active phone calls. Vance reiterated the administration’s claim, stating, “Iran is incapable of building a nuclear weapon with the equipment they have, because we destroyed it.”

Despite the initial lack of confirmation from both nations, a later report indicates that an Iranian official confirmed Tehran had agreed to a ceasefire. A senior White House official also stated that Israel had agreed to the ceasefire on the condition that Iran does not launch further attacks, and that President Trump brokered the deal during a call with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.