Iran, Israel halt strikes on each other for now

Iran and Israel yesterday said that hostilities between them had halted, after the two countries exchanged strikes that threatened to reignite the Middle East war.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced that the “fire on that front is contained” hours after Tehran said it had stopped its military action against Israel.

Tehran launched missiles at Israel on Sunday over its ongoing war against Hezbollah in Lebanon, which prompted Israel to strike back, despite efforts by US President Donald Trump to dissuade Netanyahu from doing so.

That triggered another round of Iranian missiles, before Tehran announced it would cease fire.

Iran has sought for weeks to link the wider Middle East truce, in place since April 8, to Israel’s war against Hezbollah, warning that attacks on Lebanon would force it to act.

It yesterday said it would attack again if Israel persisted with its strikes in Lebanon. Netanyahu warned in turn that should Iran “make the mistake of resuming attacks against us, we will respond with full force”.

Defying Iran’s warning, an Israeli strike hit a vehicle in the city of Tyre, in southern Lebanon, Lebanese state media reported. Hezbollah meanwhile said it had targeted Israeli troops in Lebanon, but did not claim any attacks on Israeli territory.

Earlier, Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz insisted that the campaign in Lebanon would carry on regardless and said Israel would strike the Hezbollah-dominated southern suburbs of Beirut in retaliation for each attack on northern Israel by the militant group.

In one of several posts on social media, Trump said Israel and Iran both wanted “an immediate CEASEFIRE! Final negotiations on ‘Peace’ are proceeding, subject to ignorance or stupidity getting in its way.” He added that a US blockade of Iranian ports would remain in place till a final deal was reached

The Israeli premier, though, said in a televised statement he had told Trump that “Israel has a full right to self-defence, and we are exercising it as required”.

In a sign that both sides expected the ceasefire to hold, Israel’s education ministry announced that schools would reopen today, having closed because of the missile threat, while Iran’s Civil Aviation Organisation said it was reopening the country’s airspace.

Iran fired nearly 30 missiles at Israel overnight, according to the Israeli military, and Israel responded by targeting military sites in the Islamic republic.

No casualties have been reported in either Israel or Iran after the exchange of fire.

Katz said Israel’s armed forces “will continue to operate in Lebanon against the terrorist organisation Hezbollah,”

“We categorically reject Iran’s threats. Any Iranian attempt to link Lebanon and Iran and attack Israel will be met with great force, as happened yesterday,” Katz said.

Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, Iran’s parliamentary speaker and chief negotiator, yesterday said the US is “neither seeking a ceasefire nor seeking dialogue”, and Iran should respond “decisively to defend the rights of the Iranian people”.

Oil prices surged more than five per cent on worries that the war would resume, with hopes of a rapid end to the standoff that has seen shipments of the Gulf’s oil and gas all but halted through the Strait of Hormuz now punctured.

The strikes also came at a critical moment for diplomatic efforts to end the conflict involving mediator Pakistan.

Iranian foreign ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baghaei yesterday warned at a press conference in Tehran that diplomacy was continuing but could be affected by the fighting.

Baghaei said Tehran was exchanging messages with Washington in an atmosphere of “extreme suspicion”. Israel’s actions in Lebanon, whether carried out with US knowledge and consent or not, were aimed at sabotaging diplomacy, he added.

Pakistan’s Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has urged “all sides” to exercise restraint in the pursuit of peace, especially when “the final objective is just about to be achieved”, in a message on social media.

Pakistan Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi visited Tehran to deliver what he said was a “special letter” to Iran’s supreme leader Mojtaba Khamenei, according to Iranian state television.

He has since travelled back to Pakistan, an official Pakistani source said.

Iranian President Masoud Pezehskian posted on X that Tehran was still “at the negotiating table”.