Israel Strikes Iran After Trump Slams Ceasefire Violation, Military Chief Says Campaign Entering ‘New Phase’

<p>Israel carried out a strike against Iran on Tuesday even after furious Donald Trump lashed out at Iran and Israel for violating ceasefire just hours after agreeing to a truce. The Israeli military chief said that the campaign in Iran is “not over” yet and that it has entered a “new phase”.</p>
<p>According to the Times of Israel, the Israel Defence Forces said they carried out a small strike and fired two missiles at the Iran’s north at around 10:30 AM, three-and-a-half hours after the ceasefire began. This followed a missile attack on Beersheba shortly before the truce began that claimed four lives.</p>
<p>Several Iranian media reports said explosions were heard in the northern region, including the cities of Babol and Babolsar.</p>
<p>Earlier today, Trump scolded both Iran and Israel for violating the truce that he had announced, but particularly criticised Israel, telling it to “calm down now” and “not drop bombs”. &ldquo;Do not drop those bombs. If you do it is a major violation. Bring your pilots home, now,&rdquo; the US President warned in a post on Truth Social.</p>
<p>Maintaining that the ceasefire remained in effect, Trump said Israel called off further attacks at his order to preserve the ceasefire deal, which was aimed at ending the 12-day air war with Iran as fears of global repercussions loomed.</p>
<p>Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office acknowledged that Israel had bombed a radar site near Tehran, calling it a retaliation for Iranian missiles, which Israel claimed were fired three-and-a-half hours after the ceasefire had been due to begin.</p>
<p>Israel further said it had decided to refrain from further attacks after a call between Netanyahu and Trump. However, it did not say whether the strike on the radar site was conducted before or after the call.</p>
<p>Earlier, Israel had vowed to “respond forcefully” to Iran’s missile strike, but scaled down after call with US, who, according to Axios, voiced his disapproval of the planned retaliation in &ldquo;an exceptionally firm and direct way.&rdquo;</p>
<p>Trump reportedly demanded that Israel call off the strike, but Netanyahu refused to do so, insisting that Israel had to respond to Israel’s ceasefire violation. It was then agreed that one “symbolic” target would be attacked in response to the violation by Iran, and the other planned strikes were called off by Netanyahu, Times Of Israel reported.</p>
<h3>Iran Says Won’t Violate Ceasefire Until Israel Does, Claims Top Commander Killed</h3>
<p>Meanwhile, the Islamic Republic denied launching any missiles and said that Israel continued to attack for an hour-and-a-half after the time the truce was meant to start.</p>
<p>Later, Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian said that Tehran would not violate the ceasefire unless Israel did so. He also said that Iran was prepared to return to the negotiation table, according to state-run Nournews.</p>
<p>Iran also confirmed that its intelligence protection commander for Basij Paramilitary forces, Mohammad Taghi Yousefvand, was killed in an Israeli missile strike on Tehran, news agency APA reported, citing the IRGC’s public relations office.&nbsp;</p>
<p>The attack took place on Monday noon and hit several locations in the Iranian capital.</p>
<p>”Yesterday afternoon, missile attacks on several locations in Tehran, during one of these attacks, General Mohammad Taqi Yousefvand, commander of the intelligence and security unit of the Basij forces, was killed,” Iran’s Revolutionary Guard said in a statement posted on its Telegram channel.</p>
<p>Iranian media had also reported that a senior nuclear scientist, Mohammad-Reza Sedighi Saber, was killed in Israeli strikes while he was at his father-in-law’s home in the northern city of Astaneh Ashrafieh.</p>
<p>The US State Department had sanctioned Saber last month, describing him as the head of Iran’s Organisation of Defensive Innovation and Research’s Shahid Karimi Group, which works on projects related to explosives. US said he was “linked to projects including research and testing applicable to the development of nuclear explosive devices,” Times of Israel reported.</p>
<p>The Council on Foreign Relations on Monday stated that at least 10 nuclear scientists had been killed in Israeli strikes since the Israel-Iran war broke out.</p>