Israel and Iran exchange strikes as Middle East crisis threatens to escalate

“Israel and Iran must immediately stop ‘shooting’,” wrote the US president, Donald Trump, in a message on his Truth Social platform on Monday, after Israel and Iran exchanged strikes over the weekend. Subscribe ► youtube.com
On Sunday, Israel launched strikes on the areas around Lebanon’s capital city, Beirut, in defiance of the US-announced truce plan for Lebanon agreed last week. That strike triggered retaliatory missile launches from Iran into Israel and the occupied West Bank. Israel responded with attacks on Iran, including a strike on an Iranian petrochemical complex. The Israeli military said it had also struck and dismantled Iran’s defence systems deployed across several areas in the country. The Israeli strikes came in apparent defiance of Trump, who told Israel’s prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, that he did not think Israel needed to respond further. Iranian officials said they did not believe Israel had launched its attacks on Iran without the approval of the US, rejecting any suggestion that Netanyahu had defied an instruction from Trump. Yemen’s Iran-aligned Houthi rebels also fired at Israel and warned they would target Israeli-affiliated ships in the Red Sea, further escalating tension. On Monday afternoon, Iran’s armed forces announced an end to military operations against Israel but have warned of harsher attacks if Israel resumes attacks on Lebanon, according to Iran’s Fars news agency, which is close to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. Trump has claimed both sides are “looking to do an immediate ceasefire” and that “final negotiations on peace” are under way, without giving any further details. #israel #iran #middleeast #usa #iranwar