Iran Reopens Airspace to Commercial Flights as Ceasefire with Israel Finally Holds
Trump: "Both wanted to stop the War, equally!"
This article originally appeared on ZeroHedge and was republished with permission.
Guest post by Tyler Durden
Update(1300ET): The ceasefire seems to finally be holding as of early evening local time, despite the ongoing accusations of earlier violations when it was to take effect.
"Both Israel and Iran wanted to stop the War, equally! It was my great honor to Destroy All Nuclear facilities & capability, and then, STOP THE WAR!" President Trump said on Truth Social. Were they all destroyed?
And China has belatedly weighed in, with Foreign Minister Wang Yi saying China supports Iran in achieving a "genuine ceasefire" - but following Beijing's condemnation of the US for striking the country’s nuclear sites.
"China supports Iran in safeguarding its national sovereignty and security, and, on that basis, achieving a genuine ceasefire so that people can return to normal life," Wang expressed to his Iranian counterpart, Abbas Araghchi, in a phone call.
But here is the clearest indicator yet that skies have cleared of Israeli warplanes and return fire over Tehran:
Iranian airspace partially reopened today, following the country’s ceasefire with Israel after 12 days of hostilities, according to aviation monitoring company FlightRadar24.
“Iranian airspace is now open to international arrivals and departures to/from Tehran with prior permission,” FlightRadar24 said on X. Iraqi airspace has also reopened, it added.
Also, Iranian media is currently airing footage of a large crowd assembled in central Tehran, in an act expressing solidarity with the country’s armed forces. IRNA, Fars, and Mehr are covering the gathering in Revolution Square. Now each side is declaring 'victory' to some extent, but whether the ceasefire will actually stick is anyone's guess.
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Update(1116ET): On Tuesday the head of Iran's nuclear energy program vowed that the country will continue its nuclear program uninterrupted, despite the Trump-ordered weekend heavy bombings of three key nuclear and uranium enrichment sites.
AEOI (Atomic Energy Organization of Iran) head Mohammad Eslami said on state television that "plans for restarting [the facilities] have been prepared in advance" and that measures ensuring continued production are in place.
"Despite the evil conspiracies of its enemies," the AEOI said in the statement, "this organization will not allow the path of development of this national industry to be stopped."
"This action, contrary to international law, was unfortunately carried out in the shadow of indifference and even with the cooperation of the International Atomic Energy Agency," the statement read.
This is not surprising, but what is surprising is just how bold and provocative a statement that Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov just made. On the question of Iran's now 'missing' (or 'unknown whereabouts') enriched uranium stockpiles, he laid out that Iran has every incentive to hide it from IAEA inspectors.
"What guarantees are there that the IAEA will not leak this information to the US or Israel?" he posed in public statements on the American military action against Iran, while emphasizing that arms control will fail due to these American-Israeli surprise attacks which killed negotiations.
Indeed the Iranians too have long feared that international inspectors could be conduits of information on sensitive facilities for Israeli and US intelligence. And now these same facilities are being targeted for destruction.
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Despite last night's big news of a Trump-declared ceasefire, the reality is it was little more than an effort at a pause, and it's increasingly looking like neither side actually signed onto. Or at least each side issued 'confirmation' with a lot of conditions, and there wasn't even firm agreement on the start time.
As the US- and Qatar-brokered ceasefire deadline closed in, Israel and Iran kept exchanging lethal blows overnight, with Israel hitting various targets in Iran, killing nine people in northern Iran and reportedly assassinating yet another nuclear scientist, while Iran killed at least four Israelis in a devastating hit on an apartment tower. At eight minutes after midnight in Washington, President Trump used his Truth Social account to announce the ceasefire was in effect, and to urge continued compliance.
But as of Tuesday morning, Trump's message is one of extreme frustration. His fiery statement to the press just moments before boarding Marine One included the declaration, "We basically have two countries that have been fighting so long and so hard that they don't know what the f*ck they're doing. You understand that." Watch the comments below:
The warring sides have not heeded Trump's call to immediately halt, and at the very moment the US president has been issuing desperate messages and warnings, explosions are still being observed in Israel and Iran.
Just after the president addressed the press, Israel's Channel 12 said IDF warplanes have launched another round of strikes against Tehran. This also just as Trump issued a new Truth Social post demanding that Israel not attack Iran. "All planes will turn around and head home," he wrote, almost as a directive, so that "Nobody will be hurt" as "the Ceasefire is in effect!"
A big question remains whether he's bringing real leverage to bear against Israel, or if the latest 'objections' are more just show to provide political cover for himself for the negative fallout as war persists. But his current deeply frustrated tone is a reminder of the failures to achieve peace in Ukraine, and the past Ukraine-Russia related statements to just 'let them fight it out' of the last months.
Axios' Barak Ravid offers up an explanation (per machine translation):
Israeli official: Trump called Netanyahu and asked him not to attack Iran at all. Netanyahu told Trump that he could not cancel the attack and that some kind of response was needed to Iran's violation of the ceasefire. Ultimately, it was decided to significantly scale down the attack and cancel the attack on a large number of targets
Times of Israel has also freshly commented on the obvious miscommunication and apparent growing rift among allies concerning plans for the Iran conflict, and whether to halt the fighting of keep up the attacks:
Trump was sending out posts on his Truth Social platform promising that Israel will not strike Iran “after he knew we would attack,” an Israeli official tells the Kan public broadcast.
Israeli officials confirmed that the IAF struck an Iranian radar site north of Tehran, after Iran fired two ballistic missiles at Israel after a ceasefire had taken effect.
But it's still possible, amid the finger-pointing, that ceasefire could take effect Tuesday, though it's anyone's guess precisely when.
In the overnight hours there was this large Israeli attack on Tehran even after ceasefire was announced to the world:
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It may in the end have little substantive to make it stick, and might prove merely a pause or temporary respite for both sides to assess damage and regroup. Here's how we got here, via Newsquawk:
US President Trump announced that Israel and Iran agreed to a complete and total ceasefire, from 05:00BST/00:00ET, which would last for 12 hours. After which, the war would be considered officially ended.
Under the ceasefire announced by Trump, Iran would stop striking Israel in six hours (at midnight ET on Tuesday), and Israel is expected to stop striking Iran 12 hours after that (at noon ET Tuesday). Then, after another 12 hours, or at midnight ET Wednesday, the war will be considered over, a White House official confirmed to CBS News.
Strikes continued into and after the Iranian proposed time of 01:30BST/20:30ET. After the Trump deadline of 05:00BST/00:00ET, Iran is said to have fired some missiles at Israel, though they claim it was fired just before the deadline.
At 06:04BST/01:04ET Trump posted that the "ceasefire is now in effect".
At 07:17BST/02:17ET Israeli PM Netanyahu confirmed the ceasefire is now in effect, war achieved its goals, will respond forcefully to any violations. PM's office adds that Netanyahu will deliver a statement later today.
The ceasefire agreement seems to have broken down only 4 hours after being in effect, with the IDF suggesting it had detected and intercepted fresh ballistic missiles from Iran. In response to this latest attack, the IDF Minister instructed the military to respond “forcefully” to Iran’s violation of the ceasefire. Iran has denied firing missiles at Israel after the ceasefire.
Iran's overnight missile strike on a residential home in Be’er Sheba resulted in some shocking scenes of people seeking to get out and survive the nightmarish ordeal:
Aftermath and rescue efforts of the hit on the Beersheba residential building:
Israel is now feeling the drive for vengeance for this and other devastating blows from the Islamic Republic, despite Trump in this rare moment expressing that he's "really unhappy" with Israel. "Bring your pilots home, now!" - is the message not being heeded.
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