Israel says Iran violates ceasefire, orders strikes on Tehran

WASHINGTON/DOHA/ISTANBUL (Reuters) -Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz said on Tuesday he had ordered the military to strike Tehran after Iran fired missiles in violation of a ceasefire after 12 days of war.

"In light of Iran’s blatant violation of the ceasefire declared by the President of the United States — through the launch of missiles toward Israel — and in accordance with the Israeli government's policy to respond forcefully to any breach, I have instructed the IDF (Israel Defence Forces)... to continue high-intensity operations targeting regime assets and terror infrastructure in Tehran," he said.

The Israeli military said it was working to shoot down Iranian missiles after detecting a launch.

Israel had said on Tuesday a ceasefire was in effect after it had achieved all the goals of the bombing campaign against Iran that it launched on June 13. Iran had confirmed that it would halt retaliation if Israel's bombing stopped.

"In light of the achievement of the operation's goals, and in full coordination with President Trump, Israel agreed to the President's proposal for a mutual ceasefire," Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had said in a statement.

"Israel thanks President Trump and the United States for their support in defense and their participation in eliminating the Iranian nuclear threat," he said.

Iran's Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi had said that Iran would halt its retaliatory strikes provided that Israel stopped attacking as of 4:00 a.m. in Tehran.

Earlier, Trump posted on Truth Social: "THE CEASEFIRE IS NOW IN EFFECT. PLEASE DO NOT VIOLATE IT!"

(Additional reporting by Howard Goller, Humeyra Pamuk, Noel Randewich, Jeff Mason, Enas Alashray, Yomna Ehab, Bhargav Acharya, Jasper Ward and Kanishka Singh; Writing by Peter Graff; Editing by Michael Perry, Lincoln Feast, Raju Gopalakrishnan and Timothy Heritage)