(AP) - President Trump said on social media that Israel and Iran have agreed to a “complete and total ceasefire” to be phased in over 24 hours.
He said on Truth Social that the ceasefire would bring an “Official END” to war, a major change in the hostilities that follows a U.S. strike over the weekend on three Iranian nuclear sites.
Israel and Iran did not immediately acknowledge any ceasefire, and heavy Israeli strikes continued in Tehran and other cities early Tuesday.
Earlier Monday, Iran launched a missile attack on a U.S. military base in Qatar, retaliating for the American bombing of three key Iranian nuclear facilities. The U.S. said no casualties were reported.
Here is the latest:
About 250 Americans have been evacuated from Israel, official says
The U.S. has evacuated some 250 American citizens and their immediate family members from Israel by government, military and charter flights that began over the weekend, a State Department official says.
Since June 21, the official says the U.S. has organized seven flights, most of which have to gone to Athens, Greece, but also to Rome, Italy, and Larnaca, Cyprus.
Other Americans, including nonessential embassy staff and their families, have left via land to Jordan and Egypt, while others have departed Israel by ship. The official did not have statistics for those departures, which do not necessarily involve U.S. government assistance.
There are roughly 700,000 American citizens, most of them dual U.S.-Israeli citizens, believed to be in Israel.
Toppled Iranian shah’s son offers to take power
The son of Iran’s last shah has offered to take over the Iranian leadership and lead the country’s transition to democracy.
Reza Pahlavi told a news conference in Paris that the ?regime is defeated, teetering, on the edge of collapse.’' He claimed he doesn’t seek political power but wants to “help our great nation navigate through this critical hour towards stability, freedom and justice.’’
Pahlavi left Iran at age 17 soon before the 1979 Islamic Revolution. Many Iranians have bitter memories of repression under his father’s reign as shah. Others might reject Pahlavi over his outreach to Israel.
Several large Iranian opposition groups are based abroad but they are not united, and it’s unclear how much support any of them has inside the country.
No comment from Israel and Iran UN missions
Iran’s mission declined to comment on Trump’s ceasefire post, and the Israeli mission said it had no immediate comment.
Iranian state media has no word on Tehran response
Meanwhile, Iranian media reported ongoing Israeli airstrikes, including around Tehran.
White House reposts Trump’s social media post announcing ceasefire
The White House reposted Trump’s social media post announcing a ceasefire between Israel and Iran with a photo of the president holding a red hat that says in all caps, “Trump was right about everything.”
Vance calls Israel-Iran war ‘an important reset moment for the entire region’
Vice President JD Vance says he believes the world will 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.”
Vance appeared on Fox News Channel just minutes after Trump announced a phased-in ceasefire over the next 24 hours.
The vice president says the Trump administration hopes that the Iranians have learned an important lesson: If they want to build a nuclear weapon in the future, “they’re going to have to deal with a very, very powerful American military again.”
Vance says he thinks that will dissuade them not to do it.
Trump suggests full ceasefire will begin at midnight Wednesday
Trump’s social media post says the 24-hour phased-in ceasefire will begin at approximately midnight Tuesday EST, giving the two countries six hours to have “wound down and completed their in progress, final missions.”
At that point, he said, Iran will cease attacks, and 12 hours later, Tuesday at noon EST, Israel will also stop strikes, and after 12 more hours “the War will be considered, ENDED!”