Updated June 8, 2026 at 10:45 AM PDT
TEL AVIV, Israel — Israel and Iran both pledged Monday to stop attacking each other, a move that came only hours after they exchanged missile fire and ratcheted up tensions throughout the Middle East.
However, even as they made public pronouncements to de-escalate, both countries cited conditions that could lead to a resumption of hostilities.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in a video that Israel's fire against Iran is "on hold." But he added, "should the [Iranian] terror regime make the mistake of returning to attack us, we will respond with force — because Israel has every right to self-defense."
Also, Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz said troops would continue to operate in Lebanon against the militant group Hezbollah.
Meanwhile, Iran cited Israel's operations against Hezbollah as the reason it unleashed a missile barrage on Israel, first on Sunday night and again on Monday morning.
Iran's military said it was halting further attacks for now, saying Israel had "learned a lesson."
But Iran warned that if Israel kept up attacks in Lebanon, Iran's military would respond with "much harsher and more forceful actions than before."
Israel and Iran made their announcements after President Trump took to social media on Monday morning, urging both countries to stop "shooting."
"Both sides, Israel and Iran, are looking to do an immediate CEASEFIRE! Final negotiations on 'Peace' are proceeding, subject to ignorance or stupidity getting in its way," Trump said on Truth Social.
Trump has been claiming for weeks that a deal with Iran was within reach, even as the ceasefire declared on April 8 was increasingly fragile.
The missile exchanges marked a major escalation that came on the 100th day of a war that began on Feb. 28. Yet this was only part of increased military action in recent days that has also included the U.S., several Arab Gulf countries and the militant Lebanese group Hezbollah.
Iran's Revolutionary Guard said its missiles targeted three military air bases in Israel, two of them in the center of the country and one in the north.
Altogether, Iran launched nearly 30 ballistic missiles at Israel, according to the Israeli military.
The Israeli military said it had shot down the incoming fire. Falling debris ignited brush fires, but no damage or injuries were reported. Israel ordered schools closed on Monday as a precautionary measure.
Trump told Britain's Financial Times that his message to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday night was not to fire back on Iran, and Netanyahu had no option but to accept.
"He won't have any choice," Trump said of Netanyahu. "I call the shots. I call all the shots. He doesn't call the shots."
But Israel made clear it would hit back.
In the early hours of Monday, Israel unleashed missile strikes on Iran. Dozens of Israeli warplanes took part in the operation that focused mostly on Iranian air defenses that were being restored after the earlier fighting, Israel's military said.
Iranian citizens reported explosions in the capital Tehran, as well as Isfahan and Tabriz. The Iranian media reported that the country's airports had been shut down.
The Israeli military also said it hit several targets at a huge petrochemical complex in Mahshahr, in southwestern Iran. The workers at the plant were evacuated, Iranian media said.
In another development, the Iran-backed Houthi militant group in Yemen said they fired missiles at Israel, prompting another round of sirens in the Tel Aviv area. There were no reports of the missiles hitting any targets.
The Houthis also said they would prevent Israeli-linked ships from sailing in the Red Sea. The Houthis disrupted shipping traffic in the Red Sea for two years, from the fall of 2023 to the fall of 2025, in a show of solidarity with the Palestinians over the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza.
A recent increase in attacks
The 2-month-old ceasefire has been fraying with missile and drone attacks picking up in recent days across the region.
Most of the shooting exchanges had involved either the U.S. and Iran, or Israel and Hezbollah.
The direct attacks between Israel and Iran further complicate the efforts to end the fighting.
The Israel-Hezbollah conflict has been particularly intense. Israel last month invaded southern Lebanon to the deepest point in 26 years and now has a large force operating in that territory. It has been fighting Hezbollah, which Iran helped establish to counter Israel's 1982 invasion of Lebanon.
Israeli and Lebanese officials met in Washington last week and agreed to renew the earlier ceasefire that had collapsed. However, the Lebanese government army is not strong enough to control Hezbollah, which rejected the agreement, saying it amounted to the group's surrender. The agreement stipulates that Hezbollah, but not Israel, stop attacks and does not include an Israeli withdrawal from occupied areas.
Israeli attacks in Lebanon since the war began on March 2 have killed 3,600 people, including hundreds of women and children, according to Lebanon's Health Ministry. Israel says two civilians have been killed in Hezbollah attacks.
NPR's Jane Arraf contributed reporting from Beirut.
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