Israel says Iran launched more missiles after ceasefire started. Iranian
military denies that
[June 24, 2025]
By SAM MEDNICK, JON GAMBRELL and MELANIE LIDMAN
BEERSHEBA, Israel (AP) — A tentative truce faltered Tuesday when Israel
accused Iran of launching missiles into its airspace after the ceasefire
was supposed to take effect and vowed to retaliate.
Iran’s military denied firing on Israel, state media reported — but
explosions boomed and sirens sounded across northern Israel midmorning,
and an Israeli military official said two Iranian missiles were
intercepted.
U.S. President Donald Trump told reporters at the White House before
departing for the NATO summit at The Hague that in his view, both sides
had violated the nascent agreement he had announced earlier.
“They violated it but Israel violated it too,” Trump said. ”I’m not
happy with Israel.”
On social media, he called on Israel to stop dropping bombs and bring
its pilots home.
The conflict, now in its 12th day, began with Israel targeting Iranian
nuclear and military sites, saying it could not allow Tehran to develop
atomic weapons — and that it feared the Islamic Republic was close. Iran
has long maintained that its program is peaceful.
Many worried the war might widen after the U.S. joined the attacks by
dropping bunker-buster bombs over the weekend and Israel expanded the
kinds of targets it was hitting.
But after Tehran launched a limited retaliatory strike on a U.S.
military base in Qatar on Monday, Trump announced the ceasefire.
Both sides accepted the agreement, but it is now unclear if it will
hold.
“Tehran will tremble,” Israeli Finance Minister Betzalel Smotrich warned
on X, raising the specter that the war might continue.
Israel accuses Iran of violating the truce. Iran denies that
An Israeli military official who spoke on the condition of anonymity in
line with military regulations said Iran launched two missiles at Israel
hours into the tenuous ceasefire. Both were intercepted, the official
said.
Iranian state television reported that the military denied firing
missiles after the start of the ceasefire — while accusing Israel of
conducting strikes. It offered no evidence to support the claim of
Israeli fire, with the last reports of such attacks coming before dawn.
Part of the difficulty in sorting out the competing claims was that
Trump's social media post announcing the ceasefire said Iran would begin
holding its fire hours earlier than Israel. He later, however, announced
that the ceasefire was in effect, even though the window he initially
gave for Israel had not yet closed.
After accusing Iran of violating the ceasefire, Israeli Defense Minister
Israel Katz instructed Israel’s military to resume “the intense
operations to attack Tehran and to destroy targets of the regime and
terror infrastructure.”
Breakthrough declared by Trump wobbles in initial hours
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel had agreed to a bilateral
ceasefire with Iran in coordination with Trump, while pledging to
respond to any subsequent violation.
He said that Israel had achieved all of its war goals, including
removing the threat of Iran’s nuclear and ballistic missile programs.
An announcement on Iranian state TV later said the ceasefire was in
effect. So did Trump, who posted: “THE CEASEFIRE IS NOW IN EFFECT.
PLEASE DO NOT VIOLATE IT!”
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said that his country would not
fire at Israel if it was not fired upon, but that a "final decision on
the cessation of our military operations will be made later.”
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Israeli soldiers from the search and rescue unit work amid the
rubble of residential buildings destroyed by an Iranian missile
strike that killed several people, in Beersheba, Israel, on Tuesday,
June 24, 2025. (AP Photo/Bernat Armangue)
To secure the ceasefire, Trump had communicated directly with
Netanyahu, according to a senior White House official who insisted
on anonymity to discuss the Monday talks. Vice President J.D. Vance,
Secretary of State Marco Rubio and special envoy Steve Witkoff
communicated with the Iranians through direct and indirect channels.
The White House has maintained that the U.S. bombing helped get the
Israelis to agree to the ceasefire and that the Qatari government
helped to broker the deal.
It’s unclear what role Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Iran’s leader, played
in the talks. He said earlier on social media that he would not
surrender.
Deal announced after hostilities spread
The shaky ceasefire came after hostilities spread further across the
region.
Israel’s military said Iran launched 20 missiles toward Israel
before the ceasefire began on Tuesday morning. Police said they
damaged at least three densely packed residential buildings in the
city of Beersheba. First responders said they retrieved four bodies
from one building and were searching for more. Earlier, the Fire and
Rescue service said five bodies were found before revising the
number downward. At least 20 people were injured.
Outside, the shells of burned out cars littered the streets. Broken
glass and rubble covered the area. Police said some people were
injured while inside their apartments’ reinforced safe rooms, which
are meant to withstand rockets but not direct hits from ballistic
missiles.
Iran launched a limited missile attack Monday on a U.S. military
base in Qatar, retaliating for earlier American bombing of its
nuclear sites. The U.S. was warned by Iran in advance, and there
were no casualties.
Drones attacked military bases in Iraq overnight, including some
housing U.S. troops, the Iraqi army and a US military official said
Tuesday.
A senior U.S. military official, who spoke on condition of anonymity
because he was not authorized to comment publicly, said U.S. forces
had shot down drones attacking Ain al-Assad in the desert in western
Iraq and at a base next to the Baghdad airport, while another one
crashed.
No casualties were reported and no group claimed responsibility for
the attacks in Iraq. Some Iran-backed Iraqi militias had previously
threatened to target U.S. bases if the U.S. attacked Iran.
Conflict has killed hundreds
In Israel, at least 28 people have been killed and more than 1,000
wounded in the war. Israeli strikes on Iran have killed at least 974
people and wounded 3,458 others, according to the Washington-based
group Human Rights Activists.
The group, which has provided detailed casualty figures from Iranian
unrest, said of those killed, it identified 387 civilians and 268
security force personnel.
The U.S. has evacuated some 250 American citizens and their
immediate family members from Israel by government, military and
charter flights that began over the weekend, a State Department
official said.
There are roughly 700,000 American citizens, most of them dual
U.S.-Israeli citizens, believed to be in Israel.
___
Gambrell reported from Dubai, United Arab Emirates, and Lidman
reported from Tel Aviv, Israel. Associated Press writers David
Rising in Dubai, Josef Federman in Jerusalem, Qassim Abdul-Zahra in
Baghdad, Abby Sewell in Beirut and Amir Vahdat in Iran contributed
to this report.
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