Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi claimed Sunday that the ceasefire in the war with Israel was reached following his personal appeal to U.S. Special Envoy to the Middle East Steve Witkoff. According to Araghchi, this prompted President Donald Trump to issue a post and pressure Israel to “call back the pilots” who were already en route to bomb Iran.
On the night between June 23 and June 24, Trump announced the ceasefire, saying it would take effect at 7 a.m. with the agreement of both sides: Iran would hold its fire first, and after 12 hours Israel would join. At 10:25 a.m., Tehran launched a deadly barrage, including a missile strike on Beersheba that killed four people. Israel accused Iran of violating the cease-fire and vowed to “respond forcefully.” However, after a call between Trump and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Israel settled for a symbolic strike on a radar site—despite numerous aircraft being already en route to targets in Iran.
Trump on the ceasefire between Iran and Israel: 'Israel unloaded a lot, I'm not happy about that either'
(Video : Reuters)
Now, in an interview published by the regime-aligned Iranian news agency SNN, Araghchi claimed there had been a “misunderstanding” regarding the timing of the cease-fire and that “confusion” between him and Iranian forces was “resolved by a phone call.”
He went on to describe, according to his account, how "on the first day of the cease-fire, the Zionist entity claimed that Iran had launched missiles and violated the agreement, and therefore sent planes to carry out a strike. I immediately messaged [U.S. envoy] Witkoff, saying that Israel was inventing excuses and falsely blaming Iran. Then you saw that Trump tweeted, ordered the pilots to turn back and halted the Israeli strike, showing that everything had been coordinated with the Americans from the outset."
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U.S. Special Envoy to the Middle East Steve Witkoff and Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi
(Photos: Mandel Ngan and Amer Hilabi / AFP)
He added that on the eighth or ninth day of the war, Iran's Supreme National Security Council made a strategic decision stating that if Israel were to request a cease-fire without preconditions, Iran would accept. He claimed the decision was made from "a position of strength," after Iran had "proven" it was acting in defense, not offense. He said he received messages that Israel was "ready for a ceasefire," consulted with the commander of the Revolutionary Guards and other relevant officials and, after final approval, announced that Iran was prepared to halt the war on condition that the other side would cease its attacks.
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"The Zionist entity thought Iran would collapse within a week, but that didn’t happen. Within hours, field commanders were appointed and responses were implemented. The enemy requested a cease-fire, and we delivered the final blow," Araghchi said.
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US President Donald Trump post on Truth Social platform
(Photo: Screenshot/Truth Social)
That day, Trump addressed the fragile situation in a conversation with reporters, even before the Israeli attack was called off, and attacked Jerusalem and Tehran: "I'm not happy with either side, and especially not with Israel. Both countries violated the ceasefire. I didn't like the fact that Israel 'unloaded a magazine' after announcing it."
On his way to the NATO summit, Trump issued an unprecedented rebuke of Israel: “The moment we signed the agreement—they went out and dropped bombs in quantities I’ve never seen before. The biggest payload we’ve seen. I’m not happy with Israel. When I say ‘you have 12 hours,’ you don’t go out in the first hour and drop everything on them. So I’m not happy with them. Not with Iran either, but I’m really not happy if Israel goes out in the morning over a single rocket that missed, that may have been fired by mistake, that didn’t hit anything. I’m not happy about that. We basically have two countries that have been fighting for so long and so fiercely that they no longer know what the hell they’re doing. You get that?”