Donald Trump rebukes Israel to enforce fragile ceasefire

The US President has taken aim at Israel in a foul mouthed rant venting his fury at the Jewish state and demanding it turn back its planes to ensure his fragile ceasefire can endure

Benjamin Netanyahu refrained from further attacks on Iran after a call with Donald Trump.

A furious Donald Trump has blasted Israel and used foul language to attack ceasefire violations as he attempts to salvage the fragile peace he helped to broker after bombing three of Iran’s nuclear enrichment facilities in what he is calling the “12 day war.”

Speaking before getting into his helicopter on Tuesday morning on the south lawn of the White House, the US President took aim at Israel for responding after Iran fired two missiles at the north of the Jewish state about three and a half hours of the ceasefire began.

The strike followed an earlier attack from the rogue nation shortly before the ceasefire commenced in which six missile barrages killed four people while injuring another 22 in the city of Beersheba

“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,” Mr Trump said. “Israel, as soon as we made the deal, they came out and they dropped a load of bombs, the likes of which I’ve never seen before, the biggest load that we’ve seen. I’m not happy with Israel.”

“I’m not happy with them. I’m not happy with Iran either,” he said. “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.”

Mr Trump – who made the remarks before leaving to travel to The Hague in the Netherlands for a NATO summit – also spoke to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to set out his concerns about the need to uphold the ceasefire

The Israeli Defence Forces said they shot down two missiles fired by Iran in violation of the ceasefire which entered into force at 7am in the Jewish state, with fragments falling in the Galilee region.

Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz said the IDF would “respond forcefully in the heart of Tehran” to the violation of the ceasefire agreement” and ordered the military to “continue high-intensity operations targeting regime assets and terror infrastructure in Tehran.”

Iran initially denied firing the missiles at about 10:30am and accused Israel of continuing to launch strikes against it until 9am.

Lieutenant General Eyal Zamir, the Chief of the General Staff of the IDF, was reported in The Times of Israel as saying that “in light of the grave violation of the ceasefire by the Iranian regime, we will strike with force.”

Israeli jets carried out a small strike at about the time Mr Trump was addressing reporters at the White House. In the end, they opted only to target an Iranian radar located to the north of Tehran – refraining from conducting a more forceful attack after accusing the Iranians of breaching the ceasefire.

Lieutenant General Eyal Zamir. Picture: AFP

More of the Israeli jets also turned around after the angry intervention from the US President, with Mr Trump declaring that “these guys got to calm down. Ridiculous.”

“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. “So as soon as I get away from you, I’m going to see if I can stop it.”

“I’m not happy with Israel. You know, when I say, okay, now you have 12 hours, 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. But I’m really unhappy if Israel is going out this morning because of one rocket that didn’t land.”

Taking to his Truth Social platform, Mr Trump a short, sharp messages.

“ISRAEL. DO NOT DROP THOSE BOMBS. IF YOU DO IT IS A MAJOR VIOLATION. BRING YOUR PILOTS HOME, NOW!” he said in one post.

The US President went on to speak with Mr Netanyahu before Air Force One left from Maryland for the NATO summit, with Axios reporting that Mr Trump spoke to Mr Netanyahu in “an exceptionally firm and direct way.”

Quoting a White House source, it was reported that Mr Trump “told Netanyahu what needed to happen to sustain the ceasefire. The prime minister understood the severity of the situation and the concerns President Trump expressed.”

Following the conversation, Mr Trump again took to his Truth Social platform and declared that “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!”

Aboard Air Force One, the US President again reaffirmed to reporters that he was not interested in pressing for regime change.

“I’d like to see everything calm down as quickly as possible. Regime change takes chaos, and ideally we don’t want to see so much chaos,” he said.

Mr Trump also said that he had told Mr Netanyahu to bring back the Israeli planes headed towards Iran.

“They did,” he said. “Which I respect very greatly, so nobody was killed.”

The US President also stressed there would not be repercussions for any violation of the ceasefire agreement because the planes had been turned back.

“Iran’s not going to have a nuclear weapon, by the way, I think it’s the last thing on their mind right now,” he said.

He later posted on Truth Social, declaring that “IRAN WILL NEVER REBUILD THEIR NUCLEAR FACILITIES!”

“Heading to NATO where, at worst, it will be a much calmer period than what I just went through with Israel and Iran. I look forward to seeing all of my very good European friends, and others. Hopefully, much will be accomplished!”