Iran fired missiles at Israel on Sunday, citing escalations in Lebanon, after which Tel Aviv retaliated by striking military targets in Tehran.
Iran’s attacks came after Iranian Parliamentary Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf posted on X that the United States “naval blockade and violation of agreements regarding Lebanon” meant a violation of the ceasefire which was established in April.
Ghalibaf wrote that the military activity in Lebanon and the ongoing U.S blockade made “American and regime bases and assets in the region into legitimate targets”.
The White House told MS NOW that U.S President Donald Trump was briefed on the renewed fighting.
According to Axios, Trump planned to call Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to convince him to not retaliate against Iran.
The Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) said on Sunday that Iran had launched missiles and that the forces were operating defensive systems after identifying the missiles. The IDF later posted on X early Monday local time that it had “struck military targets belonging to the Iranian terror regime in western and central Iran a short while ago”.
Trump told Fox News on Sunday that the attacks were “certainly not going to help negotiations”.
Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) justified the attacks in a statement to the New York Times, stating that the ceasefire “was conditional on a ceasefire on all fronts”.
“Tonight’s operation was a warning, and if aggressions are repeated, the responses will be broader,” said the statement.
A White House official, who chose to remain anonymous, told MS NOW that Trump miscalculated Iran’s willingness to restart the war.
“The recent negotiations with Iran in many ways have exposed a fundamental miscalculation from Trump and the White House,” said the official.
The White House official also said that Iran’s “erratic behaviour” placed Trump in an incredibly challenging situation with no imminent off-ramp.
Trump later spoke to the Financial Times via phone call and said that Netanyahu “won’t have any choice” but to accept a deal that the United States reaches with Iran, because he “calls the shots”.
However, an Iranian official told MS NOW that “a deal with President Trump is no longer feasible at this stage”.
The official also blamed Trump for the situation in Lebanon and the current escalation in hostilities.
