Trump ceasefire plan falters as Israel says Iran launched more missiles; Tehran denies violation

Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz said on Tuesday (Jun 24) he had ordered the military to strike Tehran in response to what he said were missiles fired by Iran in a violation of the ceasefire announced hours earlier by United States President Donald Trump.

Iran denied violating the ceasefire. The armed forces general staff denied that there had been any launch of missiles towards Israel in recent hours, Iran's Nour News reported.

The developments raised early doubts about the ceasefire, intended to end 12 days of war.

Katz said in a statement he had ordered the military to "continue high-intensity operations targeting regime assets and terror infrastructure in Tehran" in light of "Iran’s blatant violation of the ceasefire declared by the President of the US".

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

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had confirmed the ceasefire, saying Israel had achieved the goals it had set in launching its Jun 13 surprise attack on Iran, to destroy its nuclear programme and missile capabilities.

"Israel thanks President Trump and the US for their support in defence and their participation in eliminating the Iranian nuclear threat," Netanyahu had said.

Iran says its nuclear programme is solely for peaceful purposes and denies seeking to develop nuclear weapons.

Iran's top security body, the Supreme National Security Council, said its military had forced Israel to "unilaterally accept defeat and accept a ceasefire".

Iran's forces would "keep their hands on the trigger" to respond to "any act of aggression by the enemy", it said.

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

Global stock markets surged and oil prices tumbled on Tuesday after the announcement of the ceasefire, in the hope it heralded a resolution of the war just two days after the US joined it by hitting Iranian nuclear sites with huge bunker-busting bombs.