US President Donald Trump said yesterday he will call Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to urge him not to retaliate against Iranian missile strikes on Israel, news outlet Axios reported.
“I am going to call Bibi right now and tell him not to retaliate,” Trump was quoted as saying by Axios journalist Barak Ravid in a phone interview, using the Israeli leader’s nickname.
“Each of them had their fun. Israel had its strike and Iran had its strike. We don’t need another one,” Trump said, according to excerpts of which Ravid posted on X.
Israeli military chief Lieutenant General Eyal Zamir however vowed that the military would strike Iran “with force” upon receiving orders, after the Islamic republic fired missiles at Israel.
Yesterday’s missile barrage was Iran’s first against Israel since an April ceasefire took hold in the Middle East war, and Trump voiced concern it could set back negotiations.
“The Iranian strikes didn’t hurt anybody. Hopefully Israel is not going to retaliate. If Bibi strikes them back it’s just gonna keep going like the last 47 years, or the last 3,000 years,” the US president said.
“We are very close to a final deal with Iran. It is going to be a good deal. I don’t want it to blow up because of what is happening now,” he added.
Iran’s powerful Revolutionary Guards called yesterday’s attack a “warning” after Israel struck Beirut’s southern suburbs earlier in the day, threatening wider strikes in the event of repeated aggression.
An April 8 ceasefire had halted major hostilities between Iran, Israel and the United States.
But efforts to turn the truce into a settlement have repeatedly stalled, and yesterday’s launches were sure to further dampen hopes for a lasting peace as the war reached its 100th day.
In a separate interview with Fox News, Trump said the Iranian strikes were not going to help negotiations, which were “very close” to reaching an agreement.
“We’re very close. I would say an agreement would be signed on Monday, Tuesday or Wednesday of this coming week. And now this takes place.”
He urged Iran to “get back to the table and make a deal.”
Trump also criticised Israel’s strikes on Beirut yesterday, saying he was “not happy about it.”
The White House did not immediately respond to an AFP request for comment.
Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) says it launched ballistic missiles at Ramat David Air Base, about 20km from the city of Haifa in northern Israel.
It said the Israeli air base was the “source of aggressions” launched against southern Lebanon and the southern suburbs of Beirut.
Iran has closed the western part of the country’s airspace until further notice, the semi-official news agency Tasnim has reported. To Page 11
Iraq also has temporarily closed its airspace and suspended air navigation, civil aviation officials are saying. Iran also suspended flights at Imam Khomeini Airport until further notice.
The Syrian Civil Aviation Authority announced a temporary closure of the southern air corridors and the suspension of operations at Damascus International Airport for 12 hours as well.
The IRGC says it accepted a ceasefire with the US on condition that it was “a ceasefire on all fronts”.
But it said the US and Israel have failed to meet their commitment by launching attacks in Lebanon and “violating the ceasefire by repeatedly attacking Iranian shores and vessels in the Strait of Hormuz, the Sea of Oman and the Indian Ocean”.
“Tonight’s operation was a warning,” the IRGC said in its statement, adding that, “if aggressions are repeated, the responses will be broader”.
The Iranian foreign minister said he had spoken with officials from the UK, Turkiye and Pakistan “following Iran’s response to the repeated violations of the ceasefire in Lebanon” by Israel.
Araghchi posted on Telegram that he spoke with British Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper and Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan.
He also said he spoke with Pakistan’s army chief, Field Marshal Asim Munir, who has played a key role in US-Iran mediation efforts.
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