WASHINGTON/DOHA/ISTANBUL: Israel鈥檚 military said Iran launched waves of missiles on Tuesday, with emergency services reporting three people killed, hours after U.S. President Donald Trump announced a complete ceasefire between Israel and Iran to end a 12-day war.
Witnesses said they heard explosions near Tel Aviv and Beersheba in southern Israel. Israel鈥檚 military said six waves of missiles were launched by Iran and Israel鈥檚 national ambulance service said three people were killed in Beersheba, the first reported deaths in Israel since Trump announced the ceasefire late on Monday.
A senior White House official said Trump had brokered a ceasefire deal in a call with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Israel had agreed so long as Iran did not launch further attacks.
鈥淥n 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, 鈥楾HE 12 DAY WAR鈥,鈥 Trump wrote on his Truth Social site.
An Iranian official earlier confirmed that Tehran had agreed to a ceasefire, but the country鈥檚 foreign minister said there would be no cessation of hostilities unless Israel stopped its attacks.
Abbas Araqchi said early on Tuesday that if Israel stopped its 鈥渋llegal aggression鈥 against the Iranian people no later than 4 a.m. Tehran time (0030 GMT) on Tuesday, Iran had no intention of continuing its response afterwards.
鈥淭he final decision on the cessation of our military operations will be made later,鈥 Araqchi added in a post on X.
Trump appeared to suggest that Israel and Iran would have some time to complete any missions that are underway, at which point the ceasefire would begin in a staged process.
Iran鈥檚 semi-official SNN news agency reported on Tuesday that Tehran fired its last round of missiles before the ceasefire came into effect.
Israel, joined by the United States on the weekend, has carried out attacks on Iran鈥檚 nuclear facilities, after alleging Tehran was getting close to obtaining a nuclear weapon.
Iran denies ever having a nuclear weapons program but Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei has said that if it wanted to, world leaders 鈥渨ouldn鈥檛 be able to stop us鈥.
Israel, which is not a party to the international Non-Proliferation Treaty, is the only country in the Middle East believed to have nuclear weapons. Israel does not deny or confirm that.
Qatar鈥檚 Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani secured Tehran鈥檚 agreement during a call with Iranian officials, an official briefed on the negotiations told Reuters on Tuesday.
U.S. Vice President JD Vance, Secretary of State Marco Rubio and U.S. special envoy Steve Witkoff were in direct and indirect contact with the Iranians, a White House official said.
Neither Iran鈥檚 U.N. mission nor the Israeli embassy in Washington responded to separate requests for comment from Reuters.
Hours earlier, three Israeli officials had signaled Israel was looking to wrap up its campaign in Iran soon and had passed the message on to the United States.
Netanyahu had told government ministers whose discussions ended early on Tuesday not to speak publicly, Israel鈥檚 Channel 12 television reported.
Markets reacted favorably to the news.
S&P 500 futures rose 0.4% late on Monday, suggesting traders expect the U.S. stock market to open with gains on Tuesday.
U.S. crude futures fell in early Asian trading hours on Tuesday to their lowest level in more than a week after Trump said a ceasefire had been agreed, relieving worries of supply disruption in the region.
End to the fighting?
There did not appear to be calm yet in the region.
The Israeli military issued two evacuation warnings in less than two hours to residents of areas in the Iranian capital Tehran, one late on Monday and one early on Tuesday.
Israeli Army radio reported early on Tuesday that alarms were activated in the southern Golan Heights area due to fears of hostile aircraft intrusion.
Earlier on Monday, Trump said he would encourage Israel to proceed towards peace after dismissing Iran鈥檚 attack on an American air base that caused no injuries and thanking Tehran for the early notice of the strikes.
He said Iran fired 14 missiles at the U.S. air base, calling it 鈥渁 very weak response, which we expected, and have very effectively countered.鈥
Trump says Iran gave US notice before attack on Qatar military base
Iran鈥檚 handling of the attack recalled earlier clashes with the United States and Israel, with Tehran seeking a balance between saving face with a military response but without provoking a cycle of escalation it can鈥檛 afford.
Iran鈥檚 attack came after U.S. bombers dropped 30,000-pound bunker-buster bombs on Iranian underground nuclear facilities at the weekend, joining Israel鈥檚 air war.
Much of Tehran鈥檚 population of 10 million has fled after days of bombing.
The Trump administration maintains that its aim was solely to destroy Iran鈥檚 nuclear program, not to open a wider war.
鈥淚ran was very close to having a nuclear weapon,鈥 Vice President JD Vance said in an interview on Fox News鈥 鈥淪pecial Report with Bret Baier.鈥
鈥淣ow Iran is incapable of building a nuclear weapon with the equipment they have because we destroyed it,鈥 Vance said.
Trump has cited intelligence reports that Iran was close to building a nuclear weaopon, without elaborating. However, U.S. intelligence agencies said earlier this year they assessed that Iran was not building a nuclear weapon and a source with access to U.S. intelligence reports told Reuters last week that that assessment hadn鈥檛 changed.
In a social media post on Sunday, Trump spoke of toppling the hardline clerical rulers who have been Washington鈥檚 principal foes in the Middle East since Iran鈥檚 1979 Islamic Revolution.
Israel, however, had made clear that its strikes on Evin prison – a notorious jail for housing political prisoners – and other targets in Tehran were intended to hit the Iranian ruling apparatus broadly, and its ability to sustain power.