US President Donald Trump has lashed out at both Israel and Iran, accusing them both of violating a ceasefire he had announced in the early hours of Tuesday morning.
Speaking to reporters at the White House, he said he was very unhappy with Israel after they "dropped a load of bombs" on Iran after the truce to end almost two weeks of fighting was announced.
"We basically have two countries that have been fighting so long and so hard that they don't know what the f**k they're doing. Do you understand that?" he railed.
Just after 0700CET, Trump announced that a ceasefire between the two countries had taken effect, saying "Please do not violate it!" in a post on Truth Social.
Around an hour later, the Israeli government confirmed it had agreed to the ceasefire proposal with Iran indicating it would stop attacks if Israel did the same.
Two hours after Israel agreed to the truce, the Israel Defence Forces (IDF) said it had identified missiles launched from Iran.
That prompted Defence Minister Israel Katz to instruct the IDF to continue attacking Tehran, slamming the "complete violation" of the truce's terms.
Iran denied it had fired any missiles after the ceasefire came into effect with the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) later saying it had struck "military and logistical centres" in Israel "in the final moments before the ceasefire was imposed on the enemy."
After the apparent shaky start to the ceasefire and Trump's exasperated outburst, the US president later posted on Truth Social saying, "Both Israel and Iran wanted to stop the War, equally! It was my great honor to Destroy All Nuclear facilities & capability, and then, STOP THE WAR!"
After US strikes on Iranian nuclear facilities on Sunday, Trump claimed that they had been "obliterated" but there is doubt as to the extent of the damage that has actually been caused to Iran’s nuclear programme.
Satellite images from the three sites the US hit show damage, but experts agree none of the facilities have been destroyed.
The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) said "very significant damage is expected to have occurred" but gave no indication any of the three sites – Fordow, Natanz and Isfahan – had been destroyed.
Iran's Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi maintained that Iran would stop its attacks if Israel would, while Israel claimed that it had reached its aims of its operations and would also cease hostilities.
USS Gerald R. Ford heads west
Meanwhile, the US' most advanced aircraft carrier has left its base in Virginia for a previously scheduled deployment that could position it close to Israel.
The US was already planning to deploy the USS Gerald R. Ford before American warplanes bombed Iranian nuclear sites on Sunday.
The carrier is currently sailing for the European theatre of command, which includes the Mediterranean Sea.
"What a naval mission does is, as you know, we're mobile and manoeuvrable. So we can go where we're tasked and then respond as necessary. So within one day, we can move this whole strike group seven hundred plus miles," Rear Admiral Pail Lanzilotta said.
Nearly 4,500 American sailors departed on Tuesday from the US’ largest Navy base in Norfolk.
