President Trump Tuesday implored Israel to not lob an attack on Iran after Israel accused the Islamic Republic of violating the ceasefire between the two countries.
Mr. Trump wrote in all caps in a Truth Social post to Israel, “Do not drop those bombs. If you do it is a major violation.” He continued, “Bring your pilots home, now!”
In a subsequent post, Mr. Trump wrote, “Israel is not going to attack Iran. All planes will turn around and head home, while doing a friendly ’Plane Wave’ to Iran. Nobody will be hurt, the Ceasefire is in effect!”
The president later spoke with reporters at the White House’s South Lawn on his way to the NATO summit in the Netherlands and expressed frustration about the post-ceasefire attacks.
“I’m not happy that Israel is going out. Now, there was one rocket that I guess was fired overboard,” Mr. Trump said. “It was after the time limit, and it missed its target, and now Israel is going out. These guys got to calm down. Ridiculous.”
Mr. Trump said that he did not like several things he saw, including that Israel “unloaded right after we made the deal.”
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“They didn’t have to unload, and I didn’t like the fact that the retaliation was very strong. But in all fairness, Israel unloaded a lot, and now I hear Israel just went out, because they felt it was violated by one rocket that didn’t land anywhere.”
He added, “That’s not what we want. … I’m not happy about that, either. … We have to have Israel to calm down because they went on a mission this morning. I’ve got to get Israel to calm down now.”
Despite Mr. Trump’s frustration with Israel, he said he believes both sides violated the ceasefire agreement.
“I think they both violated it. I’m not sure they did it intentionally. They couldn’t rein people back. I don’t like the fact that Israel went out this morning at all, and I’m going to see if I can stop it,” he said.
Mr. Trump criticized both Israel and Iran for attacking each other when he told them they had 12 hours before the ceasefire went into effect.
“You don’t go out in the first hour and just drop everything you have on them. So I’m not happy with them. I’m not happy with Iran, either,” he said.
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“We basically have two countries that have been fighting so long and so hard that they don’t know what the f—- they’re doing. Do you understand that?”
Israel and Iran on Tuesday came to a ceasefire agreement brokered by Mr. Trump to end the 12-day conflict, after Tehran launched a brief retaliatory missile attack on a U.S. military base in Qatar that was swiftly fended off.
The acceptance of the agreement by both sides happened following an Iranian missile attack, a final barrage of rockets launched into Israel that killed at least four people Tuesday morning as Israel sent airstrikes into Iran.
Israeli military, though, said it identified further Iranian missiles coming in hours after the ceasefire began, illustrating the fragility of the deal.
