A senior Israeli official said that at the request of US President Donald Trump, Israel is currently halting its retaliatory strikes on Iran.According to the official, the Israeli government feels that the latest round of conflict with Iran is concluded.
However, he said that the strikes against Hezbollah in southern Lebanon will continue in the coming days "at full force." He also clarified that Israel will continue to attack the Dahieh district if the attacks on Israeli communities and citizens continue.
Earlier today (Monday), President Trump ordered Israel and Iran to cease firing at each other, after Iran grossly violated the ceasefire late Sunday night.
"Israel and Iran must immediately stop 'shooting,'" Trump wrote on social media.
On Sunday night, Trump called on Israel not to strike Iran in response to the missiles it fired towards northern Israel.
Speaking to Barak Ravid of Channel 12 News, Trump said, "I am going to call Netanyahu right now and tell him not to strike back."
He added, "The Iranian strikes didn’t hurt anybody. 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 3000 years."
Trump also claimed that the US is "very close to a final deal with Iran. It is going to be a good deal. I don’t want it to blow up because of what is happening now."
"I am going to call Bibi right now and tell him not to retaliate. Each of them had their fun. Israel had its strike and Iran had its strike. We don't need another one," he stressed.
This afternoon, the Khatam al-Anbiya Command, the body that coordinates between Iran’s military and the Revolutionary Guards, announced that the military operation against Israel has ended, but at the same time issued a new threat that any further Israeli strike in Lebanon could lead to a harsh Iranian response.
In the official statement, it was claimed that Iran’s strikes came in response to Israel’s activity in southern Lebanon and in the Dahieh neighborhood of Beirut.
“Following the acts of aggression and evil by the cruel Zionist regime in southern Lebanon and in the Dahieh area, which were carried out with the support of criminal America, Iran’s armed forces delivered a painful response to this regime, as part of support for the oppressed Lebanese people," the statement said.
It also claimed that Iran's was “a response from which the fake Zionist regime and its supporters must learn a lesson." At the same time, the command announced that “the operation by the armed forces is hereby declared concluded."
“It should be emphasized that in the event of continued acts of aggression and evil, including in southern Lebanon, far harsher and more crushing measures than before are on the way," the Khatam al-Anbiya Command warned.