WASHINGTON, D.C. – Not long after President Donald Trump touted a ceasefire deal had been reached between Israel and Iran, it appears to be in crumbles, as the president lashed out at both countries for violating the agreement.
Trump briefly spoke to reporters Tuesday morning before heading out to the NATO summit in the Netherlands.
The president appeared frustrated, using profanity to express his anger with both sides while taking aim at Israel. However, he blames both sides for violating the ceasefire deal.
“I think they both violated it. I don’t think, I’m not sure they did it intentionally. They couldn’t rein people back. 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,” the president told reporters. “We have to have Israel calm down because they went on a mission this morning. I got to get Israel to calm down.”
The president expressed dissatisfaction at Israel, blaming the country for unloading shortly after the deal was made.
“I’m not happy that Israel is going out. Now, there was one rocket that I guess was fired overboard. It was after the time limit, and it missed the target, and now Israel is going out. These guys got to calm down. Ridiculous,” said Trump. “I didn’t like plenty of things I saw yesterday. I didn’t like the fact that Israel unloaded right after we made the deal. They didn’t have to unload, and I didn’t like the fact that the retaliation was very strong. But in all fairness, Israel unloaded a lot, and now I hear Israel just went out because they felt it was violated by one rocket that didn’t land anywhere. That’s not what we want. I’ll tell you, and I’m telling you I’m not happy about that Israel either.”
When the president was asked if he thought Iran violated the ceasefire, he agreed, “I do. They violated it.”
He repeated that Israel violated the agreement as well.
“But Israel violated it, too…Israel as soon as we made the deal, they came out and they dropped a load of bombs the likes of which I’d never seen before. The biggest load that we’ve seen. I’m not happy with Israel,” said the president. “When I say, ‘OK, 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, that was shot perhaps by mistake, that didn’t land. I’m not happy about that.”
The president wrapped up his remarks by showing his frustration with both countries using an expletive, expressing his deep frustration in the breakdown of the brokered ceasefire.
“We basically have two countries that have been fighting so long and so hard that they don’t know what the [expletive] they’re doing. Do you understand that,” Trump said before he boarded Marine One.
Trump announced the ceasefire Monday evening, hours after Iran launched retaliatory strikes against the U.S. for striking its three key nuclear facilities.
The president touted the deal as a “complete and total ceasefire” in a Truth Social post.
“CONGRATULATIONS TO EVERYONE! It has been fully agreed by and between Israel and Iran that there will be a Complete and Total CEASEFIRE (in approximately 6 hours from now, when Israel and Iran have wound down and completed their in progress, final missions!), for 12 hours, at which point the War will be considered, ENDED! Officially, Iran will start the CEASEFIRE and, upon the 12th Hour, Israel will start the CEASEFIRE and, upon the 24th Hour, an Official END to THE 12 DAY WAR will be saluted by the World,” Trump wrote.
“During each CEASEFIRE, the other side will remain PEACEFUL and RESPECTFUL. On the assumption that everything works as it should, which it will, I would like to congratulate both Countries, Israel and Iran, on having the Stamina, Courage, and Intelligence to end, what should be called, ‘THE 12 DAY WAR.’ This is a War that could have gone on for years, and destroyed the entire Middle East, but it didn’t, and never will! God bless Israel! God bless Iran, God bless the Middle East, God bless the United States of America, and GOD BLESS THE WORLD!” Trump concluded.
As the president mentioned in his post, the conflict, or war, began on June 12 after Iran rejected negotiations to cease its enrichment of weapons-grade nuclear material. Israel launched targeted attacks on the Islamic Republic.
Israel and the U.S. maintained that Iran was merely weeks from building nuclear weapons, thus endangering Israel and the Middle East.
The two countries exchanged a barrage of missiles, with Israel eventually gaining air superiority over Iran.
A turning point in the conflict came Saturday night when the U.S. launched strikes, called Operation Midnight Hammer. The strikes “obliterated” — in Trump’s words — Iran’s top three nuclear facilities, including Fordow, Natanz and Isfahan.
