Both sides are disregarding U.S. President Donald Trump’s calls for deescalation.
Iran and Israel engaged in an exchange of airstrikes between Sunday evening and Monday morning, upending the U.S.-backed ceasefire that has been in place since April.
According to the Israel Defense Forces, the 10 ballistic missiles launched from Iran were intercepted, with no injuries reported. Israeli’s military confirmed it had struck targets in Iran’s central and western regions, and Iranian state media reported explosions in Tehran, Isfahan, Karaj and Tabriz.
The Israeli military on Monday reported a new barrage of missiles launched from Iran.
U.S. President Donald Trump on Sunday told Fox News that he had urged Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu not to retaliate. Israel’s decision to ignore him and carry out a retaliatory attack on Iran points to growing tension between the two leaders.
Trump on Monday demanded that the two sides halt the military attacks on one another. “Israel and Iran must immediately stop ‘shooting,’ ” Trump said in a Truth Social post.
Last week Trump criticized Netanyahu over Israel’s renewed attacks against Hezbollah on Lebanese territory, warning “if there wasn’t me, there’d be no Israel right now.” Speaking to the Financial Times on Sunday, he insisted the Israeli prime minister would have “no choice” but to accept a deal with Iran. “I call all the shots. He doesn’t call the shots.”
EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas reiterated Trump’s call for deescalation in the Middle East after the exchange of airstrikes.
“There has to be a diplomatic solution, and they have to sit around the table,” Kallas said on Monday ahead of a meeting of EU defense ministers in Cyprus. “We can help after the ceasefire, also the escorting of the ships, and we will discuss this today,” she said.
“But the first point is really the ceasefire,” Kallas stressed.
Belgium’s Foreign Minister Maxime Prévot also urged restraint by both sides.
“I agree with President Trump: the Israeli strikes against Lebanon and Hezbollah attacks against Israel violate the truce,” he wrote on X. “I join the call for immediate deescalation by all parties in the region and for getting back to the negotiation table.”
Markets responded negatively to the renewal of direct strikes between Israel and Iran, with stocks on both Japan’s Nikkei 225 and South Korea’s Kospi indexes falling. Meanwhile, for the first time since the ceasefire was declared, oil prices shot up and are once again approaching the $100 a barrel milestone.
Sanya Khetani-Shah contributed to this report.