Israel-Iran ceasefire holds as region urges new round of diplomacy

CAIRO - As a ceasefire between Israel and Iran went into effect Tuesday, the Middle East drew a collective, if tentative, sigh of relief. It was unclear if the truce would hold - with each side accusing the other of violations - but Arab countries that sought frantically to de-escalate the fighting expressed hope that it would stave off a potentially catastrophic war in the wider region.

“Despite ceasefire violations we saw today, we hope that the ceasefire holds and that the issue returns to the diplomatic track,” Qatari Prime Minister Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani said Tuesday at a news conference. “We also urge the American side and the Iranian side to return immediately to the negotiating table regarding the nuclear talks and to resume these talks to reach a diplomatic solution.”

The prime minister and Qatari’s emir helped negotiate the ceasefire, along with President Donald Trump and Vice President JD Vance, according to a diplomat briefed on the matter, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss the sensitive diplomacy. Iran on Monday fired several missiles at a U.S. air base in Qatar, in what it said was retaliation for U.S. strikes on Iranian nuclear sites over the weekend.

The barrage set off a flurry of condemnations from neighboring Persian Gulf countries, and an emergency meeting of the Gulf Cooperation Council was underway Tuesday evening local time.

“Even if the attack was limited, it was still unprecedented from their point of view,” Anna Jacobs, a nonresident fellow at the Arab Gulf States Institute, said of gulf countries and the missile fire at Qatar. “They want to send the message very clearly that this is not acceptable, no matter what the situation is.”

By Tuesday night, with quiet skies over Israel and Iran, the leaders of both countries had claimed victory in the 12-day war. “Our roar shook Tehran,” Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in a video address, calling the victory one “that will be remembered for generations.”

Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian also announced an end to the conflict, after what he said was “the heroic resistance of our great nation.”

But while they both acknowledged the ceasefire, and pledged to adhere to it if the other side did, the agreement remained fragile. Another diplomat who was briefed on the truce, and spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss the talks, described the early violations by both Israel and Iran as “dangerous,” despite the ceasefire providing “the kind of off-ramp that we’ve been looking for.”

When Trump announced the ceasefire Monday evening in Washington, he gave multiple timelines for when each side was supposed to halt its fire, after which the truce would take effect. Over the next 12 hours, a dizzying chain of events raised serious questions about the viability of the agreement - or whether it was even in force.

Just hours after Trump’s declaration, Israel unleashed what it said were more than 100 munitions on targets in Tehran, including a weapons research center and missile production infrastructure. The Israel Defense Forces also claimed to have killed “hundreds” of Iranian security personnel and members of the Basij militia, a paramilitary force focused on crushing dissent. (Iranian media did not report such a toll, and The Washington Post could not verify the claim.)

A few hours later, Iran responded by launching a volley of missiles at Israel, with one striking a seven-story residential building in the southern city of Beersheba, killing at least four people and injuring a couple of dozen, according to Israeli health authorities.

Then, around 8 a.m. in Jerusalem, Trump declared the ceasefire to have taken effect, and the skies went still for a while - until Israel intercepted two missiles fired midmorning from Iran and accused Tehran of breaking the truce. Iran lobbed the same accusation back at Israel, and for a couple of tense hours, it seemed the war might resume.

But when Trump woke up in Washington, he lashed out at Israel, in particular, offering a rare public rebuke and ordering its government to call off a mission already underway to bomb Tehran.

“DO NOT DROP THOSE BOMBS. IF YOU DO IT IS A MAJOR VIOLATION. BRING YOUR PILOTS HOME, NOW!” he wrote on Truth Social.

Israel started the conflict on June 13 when it carried out strikes on Iran’s military leadership and infrastructure, as well as its nuclear scientists and stockpiles of ballistic missiles. Later, Israel expanded its targets, launching attacks on police headquarters, a notorious prison and other symbols of the Islamic republic.

Iran fired back, sending ballistic missiles crashing into Israeli cities, including near sensitive military and intelligence bases. The United States joined the fray at Israel’s behest over the weekend, using bunker-buster bombs to strike Iranian nuclear sites early Sunday local time, including the underground fuel enrichment plant at Fordow, near the holy city of Qom.

“Israel has achieved all the objectives of Operation Rising Lion, and much more,” the Israeli government said in a statement Tuesday, thanking Trump for his support. “Israel has removed from over it a double existential threat - on both the nuclear issue and regarding ballistic missiles.”

The extent of the damage to Iran’s nuclear program was unconfirmed as of late Tuesday. Inspectors with the International Atomic Energy Agency, the United Nations’ nuclear watchdog, had remained in the country but had not yet visited the locations of the U.S. strikes.

And while Israel said it had destroyed many of Iran’s ballistic missile launchers and components, Iran was still able to conduct the deadly strike on Beersheba on Tuesday.

Civilians in both countries also paid a price: Israeli attacks killed 610 people in Iran and wounded more than 4,700, according to Iran’s Health Ministry. Iranian strikes killed 28 in Israel - nearly all civilians - and injured more than 1,300, the Israeli government said.

Still, retired Brig. Gen. Ram Yavne, the former head of the IDF’s strategic division, said “Israel’s balance sheet is quite positive” after the fighting.

“Iran appeared to be much weaker than maybe a lot of people thought, both in Israel … and the area,” he said in a briefing Tuesday. Israel also demonstrated its international backing, particularly from the United States, he added, while Iran’s allies Russia and China, as well as its network of proxy groups throughout the Middle East, stayed out of the conflict.

“This axis is now at its weakest point,” Yavne said of Iran and allied groups.

But inside Iran, some residents were worried that the government would take the opportunity to enact a sweeping crackdown.

“Now we are left with a wounded Islamic republic that is going to be more violent than ever,” said Mohammad, 60, from Tabriz, who gave only his first name out of fear of reprisal by Iranian security forces. “I foresee a full-on, unprecedented wave of oppression.”