Update: Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced Monday evening that Israel would suspend its counteroffensive against Iran, but vowed to renew military action should Tehran or its terror proxies carry out further attacks against Israel.
The Times of Israel reported:
In his first public remarks since renewed fighting against Iran erupted last night, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says he will halt attacks on Iran “for now,” while stressing that the fight against both Tehran and Hezbollah is “not over” and that Israel will continue to respond to any attacks on its territory.“After Iran attacked Israel” in support of Hezbollah following Israel’s retaliatory strikes on the group in Beirut, “I directed the IDF to strike military and economic targets throughout Iran,” Netanyahu says in an apparently pre-recorded Hebrew-language video statement.
In response to overnight Iranian ballistic missile attacks, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) struck military targets across Iran, including Tehran, on Monday morning.
“A short while ago, the Israeli Air Force struck military targets belonging to the Iranian terror regime in western and central Iran. Details to follow,” the IDF confirmed in a brief statement.
The Iranian regime media confirmed Israeli strikes on cities associated with the nuclear weapons program and missile storage sites. “Iranian state TV reported there were explosions in multiple cities, including Tehran, Tabriz, Isfahan and near Karaj. Local authorities in Isfahan said there were no casualties, but no details have emerged from other parts of the country,” BBC reported. “Tehran’s Fire Department said there were at least two explosions in western parts of the Iranian capital, but no urban parts of the capital have been targeted in the strikes.”
Israel also targeted the Iranian port city of Mahshahr, the regime’s biggest oil production hub. The IDF confirmed Israel struck a petrochemical facility in Mahshahr in southwestern Iran in response to the attacks,” the Israeli TV channel i24NEWS reported.
The IDF revealed that it was targeting air defense systems in western and central Iran, a move set to secure the Iranian skies for Israeli fighter jets. The Israeli Air Force completed an “extensive” wave of airstrikes on Iranian air defense systems a short while ago,” The Times of Israel reported later in the morning.
Shortly following the first Iranian salvo, Israel’s military chief of staff, Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir, had assured that the armed forces were ready to strike back “the moment the green light is given” by the country’s political leadership. On Sunday night, U.S. and Israeli media reported that President Trump was expected to call Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to “tell him not to retaliate.”
Meanwhile, President Trump on Monday morning reiterated his call for “both sides” to restore the ceasefire. The negotiations with Iran were in their “final” stages, he wrote on Truth Social.
The IDF chief and top military generals were overseeing the retaliatory strikes. “IDF Chief of the General Staff and senior IDF commanders are currently commanding the IDF strikes in Iran from the command center of the Israeli Air Force,” the Israeli military said hours after the first retaliatory strike.
“Over the past hours, the IDF Chief of the General Staff, LTG Eyal Zamir and senior IDF commanders conducted situational assessments and are currently commanding the IDF strikes in Iran from the Israeli Air Force command center,” the military announced Monday morning.
The country’s armed forces were “on high alert” and “fully prepared to continue operations across all arenas against those who threaten Israel,” the IDF vowed.
Iran renewed missile fire on Monday morning, with its Yemen-based proxy Houthi terrorists joining the attack. “Sirens sounded across central and southern Israel as Iran launched a second wave of attacks on Monday morning, following an earlier missile launched by Yemen’s Houthis,” the Jerusalem Post confirmed.
The Houthis boasted of firing missiles, and declared that they were going to blockade the Strait of Bab el-Mandeb, a major maritime choke point that connects the Red Sea to the Gulf of Aden and the Arabian Sea. The Islamic terrorist group has been using these blockades to target Western-owned ships in the region. “Yemen’s Houthi rebels announced Monday that they were reinstating what they described as a naval blockade on Israel and closing the strategic Bab el-Mandeb Strait to Israeli shipping, while also claiming responsibility for missile attacks launched earlier in the day,” Ynetnews reported.
While the IDF strikes were focused at military sites, Iran was indiscriminately targeting Israeli population centers. “Several houses were damaged in one of the communities in Samaria in the West Bank from a ballistic missile Monday morning as Iran continued launching attacks towards Israel since Sunday night, triggering sirens throughout the country and sending thousands of Israelis to their shelters,” the i24NEWS added.
According to initial reports on Monday at noon, Iran has announced an halt to strikes shortly after President Trump post on Truth Social calling for the restoration of the ceasefire.
Following Iran’s announcements, Israel also suspended it counterstrike. According to the Times of Israel, “Israel has decided to halt its strikes against Iran, an Israeli official says.
“Separately, an Israeli official tells Hebrew media outlets that the decision came at the request of US President Donald Trump,” the news website added.
Amid relentless rocket and drone attacks from Hezbollah, Israel will carry on with the military operation against the Iranian proxy terrorist group in Lebanon, Defense Minister Israel Katz said.
The Times of Israel reports:
In the first official comments from an Israeli official on the ceasefire with Iran, Defense Minister Israel Katz says the military will continue to operate against Hezbollah in Lebanon and strike Beirut if the terror group attacks Israel.“Dahiyeh in Beirut will be treated the same as the northern communities,” Katz says, referring to the Hezbollah stronghold in southern Beirut.“Any attack on the northern communities will lead to an attack in Dahiyeh. The IDF will continue to operate in Lebanon against the Hezbollah terror organization,” he says.
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