Following ceasefire announcement, Israel continues bombarding Iran

TEHRAN/WASHINGTON/TEL AVIV: Israel continued its military operations against Iran, even after the US President Donald Trump announced a ceasefire agreement between the two nations.

Following the ceasefire declaration, loud explosions were reported in Iran’s Karaj and Rajai Shahr.

Read more: Trump announces Iran and Israel have agreed to a ceasefire

The ceasefire announcement, made at 3:02 am Pakistan Standard Time (PST), aimed to bring relief following a fortnight of intense hostilities that saw both countries launching missiles, drones, among other, at key sites.

However, the truce will not immediately be implemented.

Reports indicate that Israeli forces persisted in their bombardment of Iranian positions shortly after the ceasefire was declared.

Meanwhile, US Vice President JD Vance stated in a Fox News interviews that Iran was now incapable of building a nuclear weapon due to the destruction of its equipment by US forces.

The statement came mere minutes after Trump announced the ceasefire on his social media platform, Truth Social.

The Israeli military issued new evacuation warnings for residents in two areas of Tehran – around 3:39 am PST.

Reports of continued Israeli bombardment were corroborated by the Israeli military’s action, targeting Iranian military installations and infrastructure.

Interestingly, the US State Department (who had been assisting in departure flights for US citizens from Israel since June 21) evacuated a total of seven flights by 4:13 am PST on Tuesday. The flights carried 250 US citizens and their families back to the United States.

Iran-Israel Ceasefire

The Qatar Prime Minister claimed credit for securing Iran’s agreement to the US-proposed ceasefire during a call with Tehran; Reuters cited a “senior Iranian official” as having confirmed.

The negotiations involved direct and indirect talks between the US officials, including Vance, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, and US’ Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff.

The ceasefire was brokered after a series of Iranian attacks on several countries, including a US military base in Qatar.

As per reports, Trump had brokered  the ceasefire agreement in a phone call with the Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on  the afternoon of June 23.

The US President had expressed the need for Qatari assistance in persuading Iran to agree to the ceasefire with Israel.

Early on Tuesday, Iran carried out 14 missile strikes on a US military airbase in Qatar, condemned by the latter and the UAE. Trump revealed that Iran had informed the US before carrying out the strikes; he dismissed them as “Iran getting it out of their “system””.

Israel-Iran War background

The latest escalation in conflict between the Islamic Republic and the occupying regime began on June 13, when Israel launched a series of airstrikes on Iran amidst a fragile US-Iran talks.

Reports indicated that over 430 Iranians perished during the war, with thousands wounded. Israel suffered less than 30 deaths, with thousands displaced due to Iranian missiles.

Read more: Oil settles down 7 per cent after Iran attacks US military base in Qatar

The war is part of a greater Middle Eastern crisis ongoing since the establishment of the state of Israel in 1948 and Iran’s Islamic Revolution in 1979.

The current crisis is seen as an extension of the decades-long hostilities, since the Islamic regime opposes what it calls the “Zionist regime” on occupied Palestinian lands. Israel, in turn, is fiercely opposed to the Islamic Republic acquiring nuclear weapons, claiming its poses a threat to its existence.