President Donald Trump again voiced confidence in reaching a deal with Iran to end the war, saying such a scenario could take place in "two or three days."
Speaking to press after attending the NBC Finals in New York, Trump said the Strait of Hormuz would be reopened "immediately" after a deal, which he described as "very good" and claimed it will "not in any way allow nuclear weapons."
The remarks follow a brief but significant escalation between Israel and Iran, which threatened to renew large-scale hostilities over the past days. The countries traded strikes after Tehran launched missiles to Israel for the first time in about two months over strikes against a Beirut suburb considered a Hezbollah stronghold.
Both countries said on Monday they were ceasing operations but warned they were ready to strike again if targeted.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in a statement that "after Iran attacked Israel" he "directed the IDF to strike military and economic targets throughout Iran."
He noted that, at the moment, "the fire on this front has been halted, because after the terrorist regime in Tehran was struck, it stopped attacking us," but warned that "if that terrorist regime makes the mistake of attacking us again, we will respond with force."
The development took place shortly after Iran said it had ended the most recent military operations against Israel.
Tehran's central military headquarters, Khatam al-Anbiya Central HQ, said in a statement that the "suspension of Armed Forces operations is announced," claiming it "delivered a painful response to the regime in support of the oppressed people of Lebanon."
Tehran went on to claim that the attack, which followed Israeli strikes against a Beirut suburb considered a Hezbollah stronghold, "is a response from which the illegitimate Zionist regime and its supporters should have learned a lesson."
"If aggressions and hostile actions continue, including in southern Lebanon, far more severe and crushing measures than before will follow," the statement added, according to the semiofficial Tasnim news agency.
Elsewhere in the statement, Netanyahu claimed that "Iran and Hezbollah tried to impose a new equation" on Israel, which he described as "intolerable and completely unacceptable."
"They thought they could launch attacks from Lebanon and Iran against Israel and that we would not act. That did not happen, and it will not happen. Not on my watch," he added, in an apparent reference to U.S. President Donald Trump's public message on Sunday saying he was directing Netanyahu to not retaliate to Iran's strikes.
"Israel has every right to self-defense, and we will exercise that right whenever necessary. I say this to you, dear citizens of Israel, just as I say it in my good conversations with my friend President Trump," Netanyahu added.
