Trump Brokers Ceasefire to End ‘12 Day War’ Between Israel and Iran

Donald Trump shocked the world on Saturday night when he authorized strikes on Iranian nuclear facilities, seemingly bringing the U.S. into another Middle East war that seemed to be escalating.

Then he shocked the world again on Monday evening around 6 p.m. ET when he announced that Israel and Iran agreed to a “complete and total ceasefire,” set to take effect “approximately 6 hours from now.” The announcement even caught some of the President’s own top officials by surprise, the New York Times reported.

“On the assumption that everything works as it should, which it will, I would like to congratulate both Countries, Israel and Iran, on having the Stamina, Courage, and Intelligence to end, what should be called, ‘THE 12 DAY WAR,’” Trump posted on Truth Social. “This is a War that could have gone on for years, and destroyed the entire Middle East, but it didn’t, and never will!”

“I don’t believe they will ever be shooting at each other again,” Trump told NBC after announcing the ceasefire.

The deal, however, wasn’t immediately publicly confirmed by either the Iranian or Israeli governments, and the missiles kept flying.

Iranian state media called reports of a ceasefire agreement a “fabrication” at around 4 a.m. local time in Tehran (8:30 p.m. ET) and said Iran would “within a few hours, demonstrate the falsehood of this claim to the Zionist regime through direct and on-the-ground action.”

Around the same time, however, Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi signaled that Iran would be open to pausing hostilities if Israel did so first.

“As Iran has repeatedly made clear: Israel launched war on Iran, not the other way around,” Araghchi posted on X. “As of now, there is NO ‘agreement’ on any ceasefire or cessation of military operations. 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. The final decision on the cessation of our military operations will be made later.”

“The military operations of our powerful Armed Forces to punish Israel for its aggression continued until the very last minute, at 4am. 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 added.

But Iran’s military operations, according to Israel, continued after that deadline as well as the midnight ET one. Trump’s timeline left some in confusion, as he suggested Iran would “start the ceasefire” at approximately midnight ET, then Israel would “start the ceasefire” about 12 hours later, and “upon the 24th hour” the war would come to “an official end.”

The Israeli Defense Forces reported several waves of missile strikes on Israel even as Trump continued to boast on social media about his peacebrokering. At least four people were killed and a dozen injured, Israel’s Magen David Adom national emergency services said.

Iranian state media said shortly after the last missile alert, at around 12:19 a.m. ET, that the ceasefire would now begin.

“THE CEASEFIRE IS NOW IN EFFECT. PLEASE DO NOT VIOLATE IT,” Trump posted on Truth Social just after 1 a.m. ET.

Israeli political analyst Akiva Eldar told Al Jazeera that the latest missile strikes from Iran followed a pattern where “every side will do its most to be portrayed as having total victory or at least face-saving.”

“Until the last minute, they will try to improve the balance of power or the balance of damage and say, ‘Look, the last pictures, the last images, the last footage [we] are getting from the enemy is showing that we are doing good,’” Eldar said. Still, the reports of a ceasefire, whenever it may be implemented, he said, may be “the beginning of the light at the end of the tunnel.”

How the ceasefire came together

After the U.S. bombed three key Iranian nuclear sites over the weekend, the world braced for Iran’s retaliation. But on Monday, Iran responded with a largely symbolic and bloodless strike on a U.S. military base in Qatar.

Trump thanked Iran for giving “early notice” before launching its missiles, a majority of which were intercepted and which resulted in no casualties, in a post on Truth Social, adding: “Perhaps Iran can now proceed to Peace and Harmony in the Region, and I will enthusiastically encourage Israel to do the same.”

When Trump announced the ceasefire on social media, Vice President J.D. Vance was talking to Fox News and said that Trump “has been working the phones constantly” to secure a deal between Israel and Iran.

Last week, Trump had denied reports that he was working toward a ceasefire, instead demanding Iran’s “unconditional surrender.” 

After the U.S. strikes on Saturday, Trump warned Iran against further escalation and even floated the controversial idea of pursuing “regime change,” but Israeli media reported that Israeli officials were now open to ending their military campaign should Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei choose to do the same.

In his own retelling, Trump posted: “Israel & Iran came to me, almost simultaneously, and said, ‘PEACE!’ I knew the time was NOW. The World, and the Middle East, are the real WINNERS! Both Nations will see tremendous LOVE, PEACE, AND PROSPERITY in their futures. They have so much to gain, and yet, so much to lose if they stray from the road of RIGHTEOUSNESS & TRUTH. The future for Israel & Iran is UNLIMITED, & filled with great PROMISE. GOD BLESS YOU BOTH!”

According to Axios, Qatar acted as an intermediary between Iran and the U.S. passing a message from Iran that it did not plan further attacks on the U.S. following its restrained retaliation and a message back from the U.S. that it did not plan to respond to Iran’s symbolic retaliation and was ready to resume negotiations.

A senior White House official told the Associated Press that Trump communicated directly with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to secure the ceasefire.

Reuters reported that Qatar secured Iran’s agreement to a ceasefire proposal, with Fox News reporting that Trump and Vance coordinated directly with Qatar’s Emir and Prime Minister.

Iranian state media described the agreement as “the imposition of a ceasefire on the Zionist enemy,” while the Israeli government put out a statement calling the war “a great success” and saying that it had agreed to Trump’s proposal because all the objectives of its military operation against Iran that began on June 13 had been achieved. Still, the statement warned: “Israel will respond forcefully to any violation of the ceasefire.”

—Chantelle Lee contributed reporting.