Iran fires missiles at Israel for first time in two months; Trump tells Netanyahu not to retaliate |
Iran fired a volley of missiles at Israel Sunday night, catapulting the region back to the cusp of all out war after two months of a shaky ceasefire, with Israel vowing to respond even as US President Donald Trump attempted to limit the fallout and keep truce negotiations with Tehran on track.
No Israelis were hurt in the attack, which involved some 10 missiles fired at northern Israel in quick succession around 10 p.m. Iran said it launched the missiles in retaliation for an Israeli strike on Beirut’s southern Dahiyeh suburb earlier in the day targeting the headquarters of the Iran-backed Hezbollah terror group.
A short while after the Iranian attack, Trump announced that he would be telling Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu not to retaliate, fearing that it could derail talks with Iran that he claimed had been “very close” to bearing fruit.
The missile fire was the first to target Israel since an April truce that halted over a month of rocket fire triggered by joint Israeli and US attacks on Iran starting on February 28. Despite the temporary ceasefire with Iran, Israel has continued fighting Hezbollah in Lebanon and Iran has insisted that it will only agree to a comprehensive deal on ending the war if Israel also stops attacking Hezbollah.
Following the missile attack, Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps said it was intended to serve as a “warning” of a broader response that would encompass all US and Israeli targets in the region if “aggressions” are repeated, apparently referring to the strikes near Beirut.
IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir said Israel was ready to hit back at Tehran but was awaiting approval from the political leadership.
“The IDF will strike the enemy with force the moment the green light is given,” he said during an assessment with the military’s top brass, according to remarks provided by the military.
But Trump told Israel’s Channel 12 news that he would be calling Netanyahu to tell him not to hit back at Iran.
“The Iranian strikes didn’t hurt anybody,” the US president said. “Hopefully Israel is not going to retaliate. If Bibi strikes them back, it’s just gonna keep going like the last 47 years, or the last 3,000 years.”
The Prime Minister’s Office did not immediately confirm whether a call with Trump had taken place, but a US official told Axios that the two had indeed spoken. Netanyahu then convened a meeting with top security officials, according to Hebrew media reports.
Trump told Channel 12 that the US was “very close to a final deal........