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Iran and Israel halt attacks but sabre-rattling continues
(Al Jazeera) – Iran and Israel have halted mutual missile and drone attacks which were launched overnight – the first exchanged strikes since a ceasefire started in early April.
Iran announced on Monday afternoon that it was halting attacks, but warned that they would resume if Israel carried out further acts of “aggression and hostility”, including in Lebanon.
A little later, Israeli media reported that the military would refrain from strikes on Iran at the request of United States President Donald Trump.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the attacks had been halted after Israel “hit the terror regime in Tehran”.
However, he insisted that the Israeli military would continue to operate against Iran-linked Hezbollah in Lebanon, and threatened that if Iran “makes the mistake and returns to attacking us, we will respond with force”.
An Israeli settler stands next to part of a missile protruding from the ground, following attacks from Iran, in the central Israeli-occupied West Bank, June 8, 2026 [Naama Stern/Reuters]
Further escalation could also derail ongoing diplomatic efforts aimed at securing a permanent end to the conflict between Iran and the US and Israel.
Despite both appearing to be respecting the halt in hostilities on Monday afternoon, allowing airports across the region to reopen, Tel Aviv and Tehran insist that they are ready to swiftly return to military action.
An Israeli official, quoted by the AP news agency, said it had been agreed to halt airstrikes on Iran upon a request from Trump, but that the offensive in Lebanon would continue “at full force”.
Iranian officials said that in the event that any renewed action by their forces would be required it would be “much more severe” and accompanied by “crushing measures”.
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Tehran had repeatedly warned that it would intervene in support of Hezbollah if Israel targeted the Lebanese capital. The Iran-aligned armed group has rejected the US-brokered ceasefire between Israel and Lebanon.
Despite a reported request from Trump urging restraint, Israel then retaliated with strikes against Iran.
The Israeli military said its air force completed “an extensive strike against strategic defence systems” in Iran. It added that it had targeted facilities at the petrochemical complex in Mahshahr, in the country’s southwest, after earlier carrying out attacks on military sites elsewhere in Iran.
According to Israel media, on Monday Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu accepted Trump’s demand to refrain from striking Iran again.
In a post on his Truth Social platform on Monday, Trump said “Israel and Iran must stop ‘shooting’.”
The US president says a deal with Tehran that will re-open the Strait of Hormuz and bring the war to a permanent end is in reach. Unverified reports suggest there has been rising tension with Netanyahu in recent weeks due to Israel’s continued aggression.
Tehran has long insisted that a truce with Washington must include a halt to hostilities in Lebanon.
Since the start of the truce between Iran and the US, Israel has continued attacking its northern neighbour and has, in recent weeks, expanded the area it occupies in the Lebanon south, saying it is acting in pursuit of Hezbollah fighters who continue to fire rockets and drones at northern Israel.
On Monday afternoon, after Iran and Israel announced they were halting strikes against one another, the AFP news agency reported that an Israeli strike had hit a vehicle in Tyre, south Lebanon while the Israeli army intercepted three projectiles fired from Lebanon into northern Israel.
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