For the first time since a U.S.-brokered ceasefire took effect in April, Iran and Israel engaged in an exchange of airstrikes between Sunday evening and Monday morning — a dangerous spiral that has laid bare the fraying relationship between Donald Trump and Benjamin Netanyahu.
The eruption began on Sunday when Israel bombed the Hezbollah stronghold in the southern Beirut district of Dahiyeh, triggering a salvo of Iranian missiles aimed at Israel. Tehran said the attack was retaliation for Israeli strikes on Hezbollah targets in Lebanon earlier that day. The exchanges spilled into Monday morning before both sides declared a halt.
“Iran and Israel exchange airstrikes for first time since April ceasefire, Trump demands halt as Netanyahu ignores calls for restraint.”
Trump, who had urged Netanyahu not to retaliate, quickly took to Truth Social. “Israel and Iran must immediately stop ‘shooting,’” he wrote, adding that the two countries “are looking to do an immediate CEASEFIRE” and that peace negotiations were proceeding “subject to ignorance or stupidity getting in its way.”
But the Israeli prime minister had already ignored Trump’s calls for restraint. After a string of Israeli casualties in Lebanon over the weekend, Netanyahu ordered the bombing of Dahiyeh on Sunday, prompting Iran’s missile response. Despite intercepting the incoming projectiles, Netanyahu ordered missile strikes against targets in Iran. The Israel Defense Forces said they had struck facilities in Iran used to store missiles and manufacture missile components, while Iranian state media reported explosions in Tehran, Isfahan, Karaj and Tabriz.
The confrontation highlights what The Guardian described as the “complex and conflicted relationship” between the two leaders — “frenemies who could determine the fate of the current ceasefire.” Trump went out of his way on Sunday to stress his dominance, telling the Financial Times: “I call all the shots. He doesn’t call the shots.” Less than a week earlier, the White House had leaked details of a foul-mouthed tirade from Trump, who told Netanyahu he was “crazy” and informed him “everybody hates you now.”
On Monday afternoon, Iran’s state-run news agency IRNA reported that Tehran had “suspended” military operations against Israel. Reuters reported that Trump had spoken with Netanyahu just before publishing his latest social media post, though no details of their call were made public.
Trump promised on Truth Social that the ceasefire was back on track, with a blockade kept in place on the Strait of Hormuz “until a ‘final deal’ is reached.” He added that “things should move quickly” — a well-worn assurance he has offered repeatedly over the past two months with diminishing impact on global oil markets.
EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas, speaking on the sidelines of a meeting of defense ministers in Cyprus on Monday, called for a “diplomatic solution.” “We can help after the ceasefire, also with escorting ships, and we will discuss this today,” she said.
After sunrise, the Israeli military reported a new barrage of missiles launched from Iran. A spokesperson for the Iranian forces in Tehran threatened to respond “even more forcefully” if further “aggression and acts of hostility” take place.