Truce Tumbles, Will Iran-Israel Hold Ceasefire?
The 12-day war between Israel and Iran has come to a tentative truce, and the geopolitical chessboard has been dramatically reshuffled. On this edition of The Last Word, we break down 3 key aspects of Iran-Israel conflict, starting with, 'Who gained what in this high-stakes game?', 'How Netanyahu's legacy will be reshaped by war?' & 'What's next with Khamenei'? What the full show only on NDTV.
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Hans India
8 minutes ago
- Hans India
After Faltering Initially… Iran, Israel enter shaky ceasefire
Washington/Dubai: US President Donald Trump said a ceasefire between Iran and Israel was in effect on Tuesday after the deal initially faltered, and the American leader expressed deep frustration with both sides. Israel had earlier accused Iran of launching missiles into its airspace after the truce was supposed to take effect, and the Israeli Finance Minister vowed that 'Tehran will tremble.' The Iranian military denied firing on Israel, state media reported, but explosions boomed, and sirens sounded across northern Israel in the morning, and an Israeli military official said two Iranian missiles were intercepted. Trump told reporters at the White House before departing for a NATO summit that, in his view, both sides had violated the nascent agreement. He had particularly strong words for Israel, a close ally, while suggesting Iran may have fired on the country by mistake. But later he said the deal was saved. '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!' Trump said in his Truth Social post. Indeed, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office said he held off on tougher strikes against Iran after speaking to Trump. The conflict, now in its 12th day, began with Israel targeting Iranian nuclear and military sites, saying it could not allow Tehran to develop atomic weapons and that it feared the Islamic Republic was close. Iran has long maintained that its program is peaceful. Many worried the war might widen after the US joined the attacks by dropping bunker-buster bombs over the weekend and Israel expanded the kinds of targets it was hitting. But after Tehran launched a limited retaliatory strike on a US military base in Qatar on Monday, Trump announced the ceasefire. Trump's frustration was palpable, using an expletive to hammer home his point. '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,' he said. Later, however, he announced that Israel had backed off its threat to attack Tehran and would turn its jets around. Netanyahu's office said Israel struck an Iranian radar site in response to the Iranian missile attack early Tuesday, but Israeli forces held off on something bigger. Following Trump's conversation with Netanyahu, 'Israel refrained from additional attacks,' Netanyahu's office said. Netanyahu said Israel agreed to a bilateral ceasefire with Iran, in coordination with Trump, after the country achieved all of its war goals, including removing the threat of Iran's nuclear and ballistic missile programs. It's unclear what role Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Iran's leader, played in the talks. He said earlier on social media that he would not surrender. Trump said Tuesday that he wasn't seeking regime change in Iran, two days after floating the idea himself in a social media post. 'I don't want it,' Trump told reporters on Air Force One. 'Regime change takes chaos and, ideally, we don't want to see much chaos.'
Time of India
12 minutes ago
- Time of India
"Not A Single Fact": Putin Aide Slams Israel's 'Nuke Lie', Calls Out Action Without Proof Against Iran
Iraq's Taji Base Bombed With Drones; Radar System Damaged As Iran-Israel Agree For A Ceasefire A drone strike has targeted Iraq's Taji military base, north of Baghdad, in the latest escalation of aerial attacks on military facilities in the country. The drone hit a section operated by the Iraqi army, with no casualties reported, according to senior military officials. Reports suggest a French-made radar system may have been the target. This marks the third drone incident in recent days, following similar attacks on Balad Air Base and the Camp Victory Complex. Sirens blared and security forces were placed on high alert as fears grow over a widening campaign of strikes.#tajiairbase #Iran #unitedstates #DroneStrike #MilitaryStrike #MiddleEastCrisis #IraqNews #DefenseAlert 961 views | 19 hours ago
Hindustan Times
16 minutes ago
- Hindustan Times
Iran's hardliners accept a precarious truce, for now
FOR HOURS after Donald Trump announced a ceasefire, Iran and Israel continued to attack each other. Israel struck Iran's remaining missile-launchers and assassinated another nuclear scientist. An Iranian missile penetrated Israel's air defences and hit a housing estate, killing at least four people. The regime denied it had made a deal with America but said it would wind down fighting if Israel did. Any truce in the Middle East is precarious but this one is made especially complicated by a shift in power inside Iran triggered by the war. A new generation of generals have assumed command and gained ascendance over the clerics for the first time since Iran's revolution in 1979. They are rational and have an interest in reviving Iran's decrepit economy. But they are not cautious and their belligerence will shape Iran's strategic ambitions long after the fighting stops. Mr Trump is no longer talking about regime change, as he was just days ago, but there has already been a crucial change at the top of the regime. Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, is 86, and for years there has been speculation about succession. Now the war has sped a power shift to the regime's military arm, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC). In the first days of the fighting Mr Khamenei, isolated for his own safety, disappeared from the scene like the Shias' hidden imam. He delegated decision-making to a new council, or shura, dominated by the IRGC, according to insiders and opponents. 'The country is in effect under martial law,' says an observer. Even if Mr Khamenei returns from his bunker he may struggle to reassert his authority. As the IRGC gains more control its elite has been transformed by Israel's assassinations. Gone are the veteran commanders who for years pursued 'strategic patience', limiting their fire when their totemic leader, Qassem Soleimani, was assassinated in 2020 (a strike authorised by Mr Trump), and holding it when Israel battered their proxies, Hamas and Hizbullah, in 2024. Their demise has paved the way for a new generation that is more gung-ho and is, in the long run, bent on redeeming national pride. 'The maximalist position has been strengthened,' says an academic close to Iran's reformists. He claims the decision-makers in place before the war were debating whether to ditch their anti-Israel stance. But 'everyone is now a hardliner'. Compounding the generational shift is a newfound cohesion inside a military-industrial complex renowned for paranoia and scheming. A year ago the regime was rocked by infighting. Businessmen, military professionals and ideologues battled for supremacy over the IRGC. Hardliners chased pragmatists from state institutions. Rival factions blamed each other for the death of the country's president in a mysterious helicopter crash in 2024. But over the 12 days of war this month they coalesced against a common foreign enemy. The emerging power configuration has garnered renewed public support. Israeli bombardments were designed to tap into a seam of dissent and destabilise the country. Yet in parallel the war has triggered a nationalist surge and narrowed the gap between ruler and ruled. No one responded to calls from Binyamin Netanyahu, the Israeli prime minister, or Reza Pahlavi, the royalist pretender, for a popular uprising. Early admiration for Israel's military prowess turned to outrage as its targets widened and the death toll mounted. Scorn for the IRGC's haplessness turned to pride at the speed with which it reconstituted. Iranians who fled the capital returned even as the strikes continued. Female political prisoners, the mothers of executed protesters and exiled pop stars have all issued calls to rally to Iran's defence. 'It's backfired on Bibi,' says a former official turned dissident, using Mr Netanyahu's nickname. Whether the new-found unity survives a ceasefire is unclear. Many Iranians would rejoice in a new social contract that reduces the regime's religiosity. Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, the original leader of Iran's revolution, warned against allowing the IRGC into politics, fearful they might dispense with his theocracy. With the clerics confined to their seminaries, there might be an easing of the regime's strictures. In recent days state television has shown women with hair poking out from headscarves. Iranians will also welcome the hardliners' experiment with de-escalation. The IRGC controls vast economic interests in Iran, creating an incentive for economic stability and better access to world markets. Yet when the dust settles on this war many Iranians will rue the billions of dollars their leaders have squandered on two decades of pointless proxy conflicts and nuclear adventures. And the military men may not be willing, or capable, of pursuing a deeper deal with America and an end to the isolation that Iranians crave. Hardliners have always been suspicious of talks. They remember Muammar Qaddafi, the Libyan dictator, who surrendered weapons of mass destruction in exchange for a lifting of sanctions, and Saddam Hussein, who granted UN monitors unfettered access to Iraq. Once stripped of their non-conventional arsenals, both were toppled by Western interventions. Now even moderates feel burned: the last round of talks with America, set for June 15th, fooled them into lowering their guard. The narrative of betrayal, a key element of Iranian politics and diplomacy, is strong. The war may have left the new generals feeling bolder. They could intensify repression at home. They insist their confrontation and missile salvoes forced Israel into a ceasefire. They will seek to rearm and rebuild their deterrence. So far there is little sign of the regime eschewing its nuclear ambitions. Mohammad Eslami, the head of Iran's Atomic Energy Organisation, has already said nuclear production will continue. Some leaders have downplayed the efficacy of America's attacks, pointing to the absence of radiation. Iran's parliament has been considering a bill requiring Iran to withdraw from the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty and end co-operation with the UN's nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency. A caucus advocates dashing for a bomb. Some stores of enriched uranium may have been moved to secret locations. 'Sure as anything they will be going for a nuke. It's absolutely disastrous,' laments a Gulf mediator. Iran's ongoing desire for a nuclear programme creates a latent threat of further American and Israeli attacks, in turn leading the regime to place weight on the ultimate insurance policy of being able to race for a bomb. The outside world has often assumed that Iran's regime is belligerent and repressive because it has been run by religious men. The new military men want a national revival. But it remains to be seen if they are able to break the cycle of paranoia and insecurity that has left Iran and its people in a ruinous state. That new era of peace and prosperity Mr Trump often champions may prove elusive yet. Sign up to the Middle East Dispatch, a weekly newsletter that keeps you in the loop on a fascinating, complex and consequential part of the world.
