Live: Iran holds funeral for top military, nuclear figures killed in Israeli strikes

Iran’s Supreme National Security Council has announced a halt to the conflict with Israel and its “terrorist supporters”, issuing a stark warning against further aggression.

The council vowed that “any further aggression will be met with a decisive, firm and timely response by Iran”.

It praised the Iranian people’s “awareness, resilience and unity”, attributing the “enemy’s defeat” to their “firm resolve, strategic patience, and refusal to accept humiliation or one-sided compromise.”

The statement also commended Iran’s forces for delivering “decisive and calculated blows” in retaliation to attacks against the country.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Tuesday that Moscow supports a ceasefire between Israel and Iran but warned it remains uncertain whether it will hold, according to a report from Reuters.

"It is very difficult to make any final conclusions now and get a clear picture," Lavrov said, in Russia's first reaction to the ceasefire agreement after it was announced by the US President Donald Trump overnight.

"It's reported that the Americans convinced Israel to agree to a ceasefire and to establish an indefinite truce, that our Qatari friends played a similar role with regard to Tehran," he said.

"But after it was announced, there were reports of strikes, of an exchange of strikes between Israel and Iran. Therefore, let us not make any hasty conclusions based on fragmentary information," he added.

Iranian state media have denied reports of a missile attack on Israel following the ceasefire, Reuters reported.

Earlier, the Israeli military alleged that it detected missile launches from Iran. Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz warned that Israel would respond “forcefully” to any violations. There has been no independent confirmation of the Israeli claims.

Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz says he has instructed the military to launch “intense strikes” on Iranian targets in central Tehran in response to what he called Iran’s breach of the ceasefire.

“I have ordered the Israel Defense Forces to respond forcefully to Iran’s violation of the ceasefire with intense strikes against regime targets in the heart of Tehran,” Katz said in a statement.

Iran has not confirmed any new attacks. Earlier, Iran’s foreign minister said Tehran would halt its operations only if Israel stopped its assaults.

Parts of Evin prison’s administrative building in Tehran were damaged in Monday’s Israeli strike, judiciary spokesperson Asghar Jahangir said on state television, according to a report from Reuters.

Jahangir confirmed that several people, including inmates, staff, and visiting family members, were injured in the attack.

“Following the damage, some administrative and judicial coworkers ... as well as inmates and members of their family were injured,” he said. “We had martyrs as well but the number is not yet defined."

Iran’s nuclear chief, Mohammad Eslami, has said that an assessment is being carried out to determine the extent of the damage to the country’s nuclear facilities, following joint Israeli and US strikes.

According to remarks reported by Mehr News on Tuesday, arrangements have been made to begin restoration work.

“The plan is to prevent interruptions in the process of production and services,” Eslami said

The Israeli army has said that its air defence systems are being used to intercept missiles launched from Iran towards Israeli territory.

The public has been instructed to enter protected areas and stay there until further notice.

The statement was issued shortly after Israel confirmed it had accepted a ceasefire proposal put forward by US President Donald Trump. There has been no confirmation from Iran on the latest strikes.

Iranian state media say six people have been arrested in the western province of Hamadan on suspicion of spying for Israel’s Mossad intelligence agency.

Ali Akbar Karimpour, a local official with the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), said the “traitor elements” were detained in the cities of Hamadan, Razan, and Nahavand.

He accused them of conducting “targeted activity” online aimed at stirring public fear and damaging the reputation of the Iranian state.

Since the war began, Iran has detained dozens of people and executed several accused of espionage for Israel.

The number of people killed in the Iranian missile strike on an apartment block in Beersheba has climbed to five, according to Israel’s Fire and Rescue Service, the Times of Israel reported.

Twenty others were injured in the attack, with two reported to be in moderate condition.

Former US ambassador to Iraq, James Jeffrey, says the confusion surrounding the ceasefire declared by Donald Trump between Israel and Iran is typical of how truces usually unfold.

“Over the past 50 years … I’ve seen a dozen ceasefires. They’re all messy,” Jeffrey told Al Jazeera. “Not all the troops get the orders … The timelines are [often] wrong.”

He added that while the situation appears chaotic, “this confusion is normal confusion”, noting that things seem to be “moving in a very, very positive direction” given Iran’s signal that it may halt strikes if Israel does the same.

Jeffrey warned that Israel’s right-wing cabinet could pose the greatest challenge to the truce taking hold. However, he said: “Trump is going to make it very clear” that he’s done Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu a major favour by striking Iran’s Fordow nuclear site - “and he’s not going to take no for an answer.”

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has declared that Israel achieved "all of the objectives" in its military campaign against Iran before agreeing to a ceasefire.

According to a government statement, Netanyahu convened a late-night meeting with his cabinet, the defence minister, and the Mossad chief, where he reported that "Operation Rising Lion" had reached its goals - and beyond.

"Israel has removed a dual immediate existential threat – both in the nuclear and ballistic missile fields," the statement said.

The Israeli military, Netanyahu claimed, "achieved full air control over Tehran’s skies, inflicted severe damage on the military leadership, and destroyed dozens of central Iranian government targets".

"In light of the achievement of the operation’s objectives, and in full coordination with President Trump, Israel has agreed to the president’s proposal for a bilateral ceasefire," the statement added, warning that Israel would "respond forcefully to any violation of the ceasefire".

Avigdor Liberman, head of the right-wing Yisrael Beiteinu party, has warned that a poorly crafted ceasefire deal could pave the way for another war between Israel and Iran within just a few years, according to the Times of Israel.

Liberman, a former defence and foreign minister, described Iran’s final strikes on Israel as “particularly jarring and bitter,” especially following what he called Israel’s “incredible military achievements” over the past 10 days.

“Instead of unconditional surrender, the world has entered into difficult and tedious negotiations, with the ayatollah regime having no intention of giving up – not on uranium enrichment on Iranian soil, not on the production and equipping of ballistic missiles, nor on supporting and financing terrorism in the region and around the world,” he said.

Liberman also said: “Already at the beginning of the war, I warned that there is nothing more dangerous than leaving a wounded lion. A ceasefire without a clear and unambiguous agreement will certainly lead us to another war in two or three years, and under much worse conditions.”

After several hours of radio silence, Israel says it has accepted a ceasefire proposal put forward by former US President Donald Trump.

In a statement, the government said: “Israel will respond forcefully to any violation of the ceasefire.”

The pernicious deception led by the US charlatan-in-chief, President Donald Trump, culminated this weekend in a massive attack on the heels of unprovoked Israeli warmongering in Iran.

Israel’s aggression against Iran’s industrial infrastructure, along with its military and scientific leadership, has also killed hundreds of civilians - a trademark of the vicious Israeli army, on the model of what it has done in Palestine, Lebanon, Syria and Yemen.

With the US directly entering the conflict on Saturday night with a stealth operation to bomb Iran’s nuclear sites in Fordow, Natanz and Isfahan, this warmongering is now on steroids. 

The resolve of Iranians to defend their homeland will not leave a single stone unturned. Complicit Arab countries with active American military bases on their soil could face severe consequences for this attack on yet another sovereign nation in the region. 

Trump’s gaudy ruse of pretending to negotiate ahead of the weekend bombing was not just a silly political decoy. Israel is not an independent entity. It is a garrison arms depot, there to serve the interests of its owners and benefactors.  

Read more:  The Iranian people will never forgive or forget US-Israeli attacks