Trump holds out Israel-Iran ceasefire deal as validation for his gamble of US airstrikes

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump on Monday said the “12 day war” between Israel and Iran was set to end in a ceasefire, holding out the expected deal as validation for his strategic gamble of ordering U.S. airstrikes on Iranian nuclear sites.

“It has been fully agreed by and between Israel and Iran that there will be a Complete and Total CEASEFIRE,” Trump posted on social media.

Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said Iran would stop its attacks if Israel would. It’s unclear what role Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Iran’s leader, played in the talks. He had said on social media earlier Monday that Iran would not surrender. Israel has not publicly confirmed that it has agreed to end hostilities.

"As of now, there is NO ‘agreement’ on any ceasefire or cessation of military operations,” Araghchi posted on X. “However, provided that the Israeli regime stops its illegal aggression against the Iranian people no later than 4 am Tehran time, we have no intention to continue our response afterwards.”

A ceasefire, if it culminates as Trump laid out, would be welcome news for the region and the world. But the situation in the Middle East remains far from stable and it's unclear how longer-term dynamics might be affected. The Israeli and U.S. bombing of Iran certainly has slowed Iran’s ability to enrich nuclear material but it might also have steeled Tehran’s resolve to breakout toward a bomb.

Trump's announcement comes as he prepared to depart on Tuesday for the NATO summit in the Netherlands, where he will likely make the case that his mix of aggression and diplomacy has succeeded.

Never shy to suggest he deserves the Nobel Peace Price, Trump went so far as to give the conflict between Israel and Iran the name of the “12 day war,” a title that seemed to reference the 1967 “Six Day War” in which Israel fought a group of Arab countries including Egypt, Jordan and Syria.

Later, Trump in another social media posting said that “Israel & Iran came to me, almost simultaneously, and said, ‘PEACE!’”

“They have so much to gain, and yet, so much to lose if they stray from the road of RIGHTEOUSNESS & TRUTH,” Trump added. "The future for Israel & Iran is UNLIMITED, & filled with great PROMISE. GOD BLESS YOU BOTH!"

As Trump described it, the ceasefire would start with Iran and then be joined by Israel 12 hours later, with the president writing that the respective sides would “remain PEACEFUL and RESPECTFUL.” The phased-in ceasefire was set to begin Tuesday morning in Israel and Iran and culminate within 24 hours.

But Iran launched another attack on Israel after 4 a.m. local time in Tehran, the time Iran's foreign minister said Iran would cease its attacks if Israel ended their airstrikes.

“This is a War that could have gone on for years, and destroyed the entire Middle East, but it didn’t, and never will!” Trump said.

The White House reposted Trump’s announcement with a photo of the president holding a red hat that said “Trump was right about everything” in all capital letters.

A senior White House official said Trump communicated directly with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to secure the ceasefire. The official, who insisted on anonymity to discuss the Monday talks, said Vice President JD Vance, Secretary of State Marco Rubio and special envoy Steve Witkoff. communicated with the Iranians through direct and indirect channels.

The official said the Qatari government played an important role in brokering the coming ceasefire. Trump spoke to Qatar's emir, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, to thank him for helping land the agreement. The Gulf emirate has been chief interlocutor in the on-and-off ceasefire and hostage negotiations between Israel and Hamas in their ongoing war in Gaza.

The exact terms of the ceasefire other than the timeline provided by the Trump administration remained to be seen.

On Sunday, the Trump administration had insisted that Iran abandon its program to enrich uranium for possible use in nuclear weapons as a condition of any lasting peace. While the bombings of the Fordo, Natanz and Isfahan facilities were a powerful show of force, it remained uncertain just how much nuclear material Iran still possessed and what its ambitions would be going forward.

Vance said in a TV interview just as the ceasefire was announced that the world would look back at the war between Israel and Iran — and the U.S. bombing of Iran’s nuclear facilities — as “an important reset moment for the entire region.”

Appearing on Fox News Channel's “Special Report,” the vice president said the Trump administration hoped that the Iranians had learned an important lesson: If they want to build a nuclear weapon in the future, he said, “they’re going to have to deal with a very, very powerful American military again.”

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt posted on the social media site X an Associated Press headline of the news and wrote that Trump “has accomplished what no other president in history could ever imagine — the obliteration of the Iranian Regime’s nuclear program, and an unprecedented ceasefire between Israel and Iran.”

The ceasefire announcement came after Iran attempted to retaliate for the U.S. assault with a Monday missile strike aimed at a major U.S. military installation in the Gulf nation of Qatar. Trump separately thanked Iran on social media for giving the U.S. and allies “early notice” of the retaliation.

The president expressed hope that Tehran — with its reprisal for the U.S. bombardment of three key Iranian nuclear facilities — had "gotten it all out of their ‘system’” and that the moment would lead to a de-escalation in the Israel-Iran war.

The Iranian attack on U.S. forces at Qatar’s Al Udeid Air Base marked Tehran's first act of direct retaliation against the U.S. since Trump ordered strikes on Iran’s nuclear facilities.

Trump said Iran launched 14 missiles at the base, a sprawling facility that hosts the forward headquarters of the U.S. military’s Central Command and was a major staging ground during the U.S. wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

The president said 13 of the Iranian missiles “were knocked down” by U.S. air defense systems while one was “'set free' because it was headed in a nonthreatening direction.”

Associated Press writers Stan Choe in New York, Jon Gambrell in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, and Matthew Lee and Eric Tucker in Washington contributed to this report.

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt talks with reporters at the White House, Monday, June 23, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)

Vice President JD Vance speaks with Bret Baier, right, on FOX News Channel’s Special Report with Bret Baier at the FOX News bureau in Washington, Monday, June 23, 2025.(AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)

FILE - The aircraft carrier USS Dwight D. Eisenhower and other warships crosses the Strait of Hormuz into the Persian Gulf on Sunday, Nov. 26, 2023. (Information Technician Second Class Ruskin Naval/U.S. Navy via AP, file)

President Donald Trump arrives with Vice President JD Vance, Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth to speak from the East Room of the White House in Washington, Saturday, June 21, 2025, after the U.S. military struck three Iranian nuclear and military sites, directly joining Israel's effort to decapitate the country's nuclear program. (Carlos Barria/Pool via AP)

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — U.S. President Donald Trump said Iran wants to negotiate with Washington after his threat to strike the Islamic Republic over its bloody crackdown on protesters, a move coming as activists said Monday the death toll in the nationwide demonstrations rose to at least 544.

Iran had no immediate reaction to the news, which came after the foreign minister of Oman — long an interlocutor between Washington and Tehran — traveled to Iran this weekend. It also remains unclear just what Iran could promise, particularly as Trump has set strict demands over its nuclear program and its ballistic missile arsenal, which Tehran insists is crucial for its national defense.

Meanwhile Monday, Iran called for pro-government demonstrators to head to the streets in support of the theocracy, a show of force after days of protests directly challenging the rule of 86-year-old Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Iranian state television aired chants from the crowd, who shouted “Death to America!” and “Death to Israel!”

Trump and his national security team have been weighing a range of potential responses against Iran including cyberattacks and direct strikes by the U.S. or Israel, according to two people familiar with internal White House discussions who were not authorized to comment publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity.

“The military is looking at it, and we’re looking at some very strong options,” Trump told reporters on Air Force One on Sunday night. Asked about Iran’s threats of retaliation, he said: “If they do that, we will hit them at levels that they’ve never been hit before.”

Trump said that his administration was in talks to set up a meeting with Tehran, but cautioned that he may have to act first as reports of the death toll in Iran mount and the government continues to arrest protesters.

“I think they’re tired of being beat up by the United States,” Trump said. “Iran wants to negotiate.”

He added: “The meeting is being set up, but we may have to act because of what’s happening before the meeting. But a meeting is being set up. Iran called, they want to negotiate.”

Iran through country's parliamentary speaker warned Sunday that the U.S. military and Israel would be “legitimate targets” if America uses force to protect demonstrators.

More than 10,600 people also have been detained over the two weeks of protests, said the U.S.-based Human Rights Activists News Agency, which has been accurate in previous unrest in recent years and gave the death toll. It relies on supporters in Iran crosschecking information. It said 496 of the dead were protesters and 48 were with security forces.

With the internet down in Iran and phone lines cut off, gauging the demonstrations from abroad has grown more difficult. The Associated Press has been unable to independently assess the toll. Iran’s government has not offered overall casualty figures.

Those abroad fear the information blackout is emboldening hard-liners within Iran’s security services to launch a bloody crackdown. Protesters flooded the streets in the country’s capital and its second-largest city on Saturday night into Sunday morning. Online videos purported to show more demonstrations Sunday night into Monday, with a Tehran official acknowledging them in state media.

In Tehran, a witness told the AP that the streets of the capital empty at the sunset call to prayers each night. By the Isha, or nighttime prayer, the streets are deserted.

Part of that stems from the fear of getting caught in the crackdown. Police sent the public a text message that warned: “Given the presence of terrorist groups and armed individuals in some gatherings last night and their plans to cause death, and the firm decision to not tolerate any appeasement and to deal decisively with the rioters, families are strongly advised to take care of their youth and teenagers.”

Another text, which claimed to come from the intelligence arm of the paramilitary Revolutionary Guard, also directly warned people not to take part in demonstrations.

“Dear parents, in view of the enemy’s plan to increase the level of naked violence and the decision to kill people, ... refrain from being on the streets and gathering in places involved in violence, and inform your children about the consequences of cooperating with terrorist mercenaries, which is an example of treason against the country,” the text warned.

The witness spoke to the AP on condition of anonymity due to the ongoing crackdown.

The demonstrations began Dec. 28 over the collapse of the Iranian rial currency, which trades at over 1.4 million to $1, as the country’s economy is squeezed by international sanctions in part levied over its nuclear program. The protests intensified and grew into calls directly challenging Iran’s theocracy.

Nikhinson reported from aboard Air Force One.

In this frame grab from video obtained by the AP outside Iran, a masked demonstrator holds a picture of Iran's Crown Prince Reza Pahlavi during a protest in Tehran, Iran, Friday, January. 9, 2026. (UGC via AP)

In this frame grab from footage circulating on social media from Iran shows protesters taking to the streets despite an intensifying crackdown as the Islamic Republic remains cut off from the rest of the world in Tehran, Iran, Friday, Jan. 9, 2026.(UGC via AP)

In this frame grab from footage circulating on social media from Iran showed protesters once again taking to the streets of Tehran despite an intensifying crackdown as the Islamic Republic remains cut off from the rest of the world in Tehran, Iran, Saturday Jan. 10, 2026. (UGC via AP)