President Trump announced Monday that Israel and Iran had agreed to a “Complete and Total” ceasefire, which he said would end the two countries’ more than week-long conflict — though a top Iranian diplomat sounded less certain about a deal.
According to Mr. Trump’s cease-fire, Iran will stop attacking Israel in six hours (at midnight ET on Tuesday), and Israel will stop 12 hours later (at noon ET Tuesday).
A White House official confirmed to CBS News that the war will be considered over after another 12 hours, or at midnight ET Wednesday.
“On the 24th hour, the world will salute an official end to the 12 day war,” the president wrote on Truth Social.
Hours after Mr. Trump’s post, Iranian Foreign Minister Seyed Abbas Araghchi suggested on X that Iran’s strikes on Israel had ended at 4 a.m. Tehran time (8:30 p.m. ET Monday). Iran’s military operations “continued until the very last minute,” he stated.
However, Araghchi also stated that “there is NO ‘agreement’ on any ceasefire or cessation of military operations,” though he added that Iran does not intend to continue strikes on Israel if Israel also ceases strikes simultaneously.
Mr. Trump’s timeline calls for Israel to stop striking approximately 15 hours after Araghchi’s time.
“The final decision on the cessation of our military operations will be made later,” Araghchi wrote in a tweet.
CBS News has contacted the White House for a response to Araghchi’s remarks.
In a Truth Social post later Monday night, following the Iranian foreign minister’s comments, Mr. Trump wrote, in part, that Israel and Iran “came to me almost simultaneously and said, ‘PEACE!’ “I knew the time was now.”
There has been no official word from Israel regarding a ceasefire.
Prior to Araghchi’s comments, a senior White House official told CBS News that both sides had agreed to a cease-fire, with Israel agreeing as long as Iran did not launch any more strikes.
Mr. Trump spoke directly with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, while other administration officials, including Vice President JD Vance, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, and Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff, communicated with Iran through both direct and indirect channels, according to a White House official.
Another White House official stated that Qatar played a role in facilitating the agreement. Mr. Trump had asked the Qatari Emir to persuade Iran to agree to a ceasefire.
Vance coordinated details with Qatar’s prime minister, and Iran agreed to the ceasefire after speaking with him. The official stated that the direct talks with Iran took place following Iran’s strike on Al Udeid Air Base.
The conflict between Israel and Iran began on June 13, when Israel launched airstrikes against Iranian nuclear and military targets. The strikes, which killed several top Iranian military officials, sparked Iranian counterattacks against Israel.
According to the Human Rights Activists organization, Israel’s strikes in Iran have killed at least 950 people and injured 3,450 others, including both military personnel and civilians. Iranian attacks have killed at least 24 people in Israel, according to Israeli officials.
The United States launched military action against Iran over the weekend, striking three sites thought to be critical to Iran’s nuclear program.
The move sparked fears of a larger conflict, but Iran’s response on Monday was relatively limited. Iran fired over a dozen missiles at a US base in Qatar, the majority of which were intercepted, with no injuries reported, according to US and Qatari officials.
Iran described its response as “devastating and powerful,” but President Trump called it “very weak.” In another social media post, the president expressed gratitude to Iran for “giving us early notice, which allowed no lives to be lost.”
Dispute over Iran’s nuclear program still lingers
It is unclear how the cease-fire announcement will affect the broader dispute over Iran’s nuclear program.
Israel’s campaign was primarily aimed at Iran’s nuclear program, as the country’s stockpile of near-weapons-grade uranium has increased rapidly in recent months, according to the International Atomic Energy Agency.
Israel has claimed that Iran was secretly “racing towards a nuclear bomb.” However, earlier this year, US intelligence agencies concluded that Iran was not producing nuclear weapons, though “pressure has probably built” on Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, to reauthorize the country’s nuclear weapons program.
Mr. Trump told reporters last week that he thought the intelligence community was “wrong” about Iran’s nuclear ambitions, adding, “I think they were very close to having one.”
In an interview on CBS News’ “Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan,” Secretary of State Marco Rubio dismissed the issue as “irrelevant,” claiming that Iranian officials “have everything they need to build the weapon.”
Iran has long insisted that its uranium enrichment program is peaceful.
Mr. Trump has been seeking a broader deal with Iran to limit its nuclear program for weeks, but even before Israel began striking Iran, administration officials were frustrated by what they saw as Iran’s unwillingness to negotiate, a US official told CBS News.
Mr. Trump has suggested that Iran abandon all uranium enrichment, but Iran has rejected this demand.
Mr. Trump claimed over the weekend that US strikes had “obliterated” three Iranian nuclear sites, including two underground uranium enrichment facilities, but Iran has downplayed the damage.
