How Trump Iran and Israel fed into a truce and forced them to comply with

Copyright © HT Digital Streams Limit all rights reserved. During the conflict, Israeli cities sustained several hits of Iranian ballistic missiles. Summary has yet to be seen how long the ceasefire will last and whether it will pave the way for a nuclear deal between the US and Iran. It started with a fierce attack on the weekend at Iranian nuclear sites by US Stealth bombers. What came to it was a beautiful performance of behind -the -scenes diplomacy, a telegraph attack on a US military base and an exploding tirade by President Trump aimed at the leaders of Israel and Iran. The result by Tuesday morning: a ceasefire between Iran and Israel. It is yet to see how long the ceasefire will apply, and whether the US and its allies can use the leverage obtained by the US and Israeli strikes to reach a diplomatic agreement that prevents Iran from getting a nuclear weapon in the coming years. Yet the quick move of a surprise air strip to a ceasefire, with major policy pivots announced via social media posts watching friends and enemies, showed Trump’s unorthodox approach to power force. It is not just allies bypassed. US officials who would normally play a role during such a crisis were also left out of the loop, administration officials said, a sign of how now the circle of advisers Trump trusts is. Almost immediately after the US B-2 strikes, Trump called Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and told him that it was time to end the war, a senior official of the administration said. Trump’s message: The US has completed its military mission and would stop offensive operations and Israel had to do the same, the official said. Vice President JD Vance has described the events of recent days as a new US doctrine for foreign policy focused on clearly defending national interests, aggressively negotiating to achieve it and using overwhelming power if necessary. The power in this case was the fleet of B-2-Stealth bombers that hit underground Iranian nuclear sites at Fordow and Natanz with a total of 14 30,000 pounds of massive ordinance penetrator bombs. This achieved what the Israeli army – despite the fact that it had been acquired in Iran more than a week before -. The underground facilities at Fordow were probably significantly damaged and at Natanz the enrichment plant was hit, according to the International Atomic Energy Agency. “The sites we hit in Iran were completely destroyed, and everyone knows it,” Trump said in a social media post. During the conflict, Israeli cities sustained several hits of Iranian ballistic missiles, and Iranian military targets were subjected to widespread bombing. None of the parties wanted the war to take much longer, at least on that intensity, and both were eager for a way out that they could portray as a victory. By that time, Israel had struck what it considered the most important Iranian military targets and saw a limited upside in a continuing air campaign, according to people familiar with the Israeli government’s thinking. Iran, meanwhile, has exchanged separate messages with Washington via Arab intermediaries. Middle East’s envoy Steve Witkoff informed several Arab countries on Saturday night that a US strike on Iran was threatening, Arab officials said. After the attack, on Trump’s leadership, Witkoff exchanged direct messages with Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, a senior official said. Witkoff told Araghchi that Iran should return to the negotiating table and says the US could do more damage according to the official. Arab leaders also told Iran it was time to offer concessions to Washington, but Iran’s foreign minister responded that Iran would not negotiate under fire and not abandon its nuclear program, according to Arab officials informed about the diplomacy. A satellite view of Iran’s Fordow complex, an underground nuclear facility that hit the US this weekend. After Fordow, Natanz and a separate site in Isfahan were hit by the US, Iran’s top military commander promised to retaliate and said the US had violated its sovereignty. Tehran’s move, a limited missile salvo fired at the all UDEID air base in Qatar, designed to avoid further escalation. At the afternoon, moments before the missiles were launched, Iranian officials called Qatar to deliver a warning that the base would be hit, according to the Middle East officials who are familiar with the situation. Qatar conveyed the Iranian message to the USUS officials, later on Monday told Qatar that Washington also expected the attack, and that the US did not intend to retaliate, the US and Middle East officials said. According to officials, Iran conveyed messages to Qatar that the attack would target only the basis, not the civilian areas of Qatar. It has the US Army, which has already removed aircraft and many troops from all Udeid, sufficient time to move remaining staff from the base, and for the US embassy in Doha to warn US citizens to “hide in place”. Qatar then closed the country’s airspace for commercial flights as it waited for the Iranian barrage: a total of 19 missiles, according to Qatar. Everyone was intercepted by air defense except one that fell harmlessly near the base. The intercepts clashed with the missiles and left stripes in Doha’s summer evening sky. Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al-Thani, the Prime Minister of Qatar, said at a news conference in Doha on Tuesday that his country had received intelligence in advance that enabled the country and the Americans to prepare, but did not say what the intelligence was. Shortly after the barrage, Vance spoke to the Qatari Prime Minister at about 5pm, and Trump spoke to Emir Tamim Bin Hamad Al-Thani minutes later, according to a person who is familiar with the calls. Trump asked the Emir if he would call Iran and asked if the Iranian government was open to a ceasefire. He obliged, and Iran agreed. Trump-who publicly planned in public a few hours earlier to consider the regime change in Iran-announced the ceasefire after the calls and posted on social media: “Congratulations to everyone!” A Truth Social Post by President Trump has announced a ceasefire between Israel and Iran. “Donald Trump is not a pacifist, but there is a dislike of long, protracted military commitments,” said Michael Wahid Hanna, director of the US program at the non-profit International Crisis Group. “There is a motivation to do the things his predecessors couldn’t do.” Diplomats that would normally provide talks for calls with regional leaders were not asked for help, US officials said. Instead of a flurry of orders and coordination requests, the National Security Council was effective dormant. Despite Trump’s social media victory, Israel and Iran still exchanged further blows. Just four hours before the ceasefire would come into effect at 7am on Tuesday, Israel launched a wave of strikes in Tehran and killed hundreds of staff of the security force, Netanyahu said on X. Among the targets, the headquarters of the Iran organization of defensive innovation and research were a research research institution, according to the Israeli military. Minutes before the ceasefire deadline, an Iranian rocket hit a seven -story living building in the city of Sheva and killed four people in one of the deadliest episodes of the war for Israeli civilians. Rescuers combed stacks on the site the next day. According to Netanyahu, three more missiles were fired from Iran without causing casualties or damage. Israel threatened further retaliation for the strikes. “In light of the serious violation of the ceasefire carried out by the Iranian regime, we will react violently,” warned the Israeli army’s head of general staff, Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir. Trump was surprised to learn Tuesday morning that the war had not ended. He retired on the southern lawn of the White House before heading on a helicopter to a summit of North Atlantic Treaty Organization in Europe and rebuked both countries for threatening that he had threatened the ceasefire, especially the closest ally in the Middle East. “Israel, as soon as we entered into the agreement, they dropped a lot of bombs like I had never seen before,” he said. He was not happy with the two nations “who fought so long and so hard that they didn’t know what the F was doing.” After boarding a helicopter for a short flight to his presidential plane, Trump pulled a warning to Israel on an everyday lead: “Don’t drop the bombs. Thirty-eight minutes later, after a call with Netanyahu, Trump announced that the Israeli war aircraft were turning around. “No one will be injured, the ceasefire is in force!” Trump posted on social media. President Trump said in a truth group on Tuesday that Israeli war aircraft would turn around. Netanyahu said Israel destroyed a radar installation near Tehran and withheld Trump’s call from further attacks. Israel has “reached all its goals for the war,” he said. Iran’s highest National Security Council stated that he had delivered a “crushing response to every hostility by the enemy” and “crushed the enemy’s primary strategic goal”. “With silence returning to the Middle East, Trump’s attention has shifted to NATO top, where he will eat with royalty and persuade European allies to spend more on their own defense. “It will be a much quieter period than I just went through with Israel and Iran,” he wrote online. Write to Yaroslav Trofimov on Yaroslav.trofimov@wsj.com, Alexander Ward on Alex.ward@wsj.com, jared Malsin on jared.malin@wsj.com and Summer said on the summer.said@wsj.com Catch all the business news, market news, news reports and the latest news updates on Live Mint. Download the Mint News app to get daily market updates. More topics #israel read next story