The President of the United States, Donald Trump, declared this Monday (8) that Israel and Iran must stop exchanging attacks “immediately”, in a publication in Truth Social.
“Israel and Iran must immediately cease firing,” Trump wrote.
Resumption of attacks
Israel said on Monday it had struck a petrochemical plant in southwestern Iran, in addition to other attacks on military targets, after US President Donald Trump reportedly instructed Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to refrain from further attacks.
In the first offensive on an energy facility inside Iran since the April 8 ceasefire, Israeli forces say they have hit targets at the Mahshahr petrochemical complex, while a provincial official told Fars that parts of the plant had been damaged.
Yemen’s Tehran-aligned Houthis have vowed to impede Israeli shipping in the Red Sea and claimed responsibility for the first missile attack on Israel since the ceasefire, prompting the Israeli military to activate its air defense systems.
“We consider all enemy movements to be legitimate military targets for our armed forces,” the Houthis added in a statement.
Trump’s request
Hours earlier, Trump had said that new attacks from Israel and Iran would not affect his government’s peace talks with Tehran, adding that Benjamin Netanyahu “doesn’t run everything.”
Trump has pressured Israel to stop its attacks in Lebanon in order to clear space for an agreement that would end the war with Iran, even swearing at Netanyahu in a phone call last week.
However, early on Sunday (9), Israel launched attacks in the Beirut region for the first time since Washington announced a ceasefire plan for Lebanon last week.
Iran fired missiles at Israeli targets in retaliation, but Trump insisted a deal to end the war was still possible.
“It will have no impact on the deal,” Trump told the Financial Times newspaper. “I’m the one in charge. I make all the decisions. He (Netanyahu) doesn’t rule anything.”
*With information from Reuters news agency
