24 Jun, 2025 09:06

Iran confirms ceasefire with Israel

Tehran has warned that it will deliver a “decisive response” to any violations of the truce by West Jerusalem

Iran has agreed to a ceasefire with Israel sinceTehran’s military objectives have been achieved, the Iranian Supreme National Security Council has announced.

US President Donald Trump announced earlier that there would be a truce after nearly two weeks of tit-for-tat strikes. Trump claimed that Israel and Iran had approached him “almost simultaneously, and said, ‘PEACE!’, adding that the Middle East and the whole world would be “winners” in a cessation of hostilities.

Iran’s top security body announced “the national decision to impose the cessation of war on the Zionist enemy [Israel] and its vile supporters” in a statement on Tuesday.

The Iranian military “without any trust to the words of the enemy and with their hands on the trigger, are ready to deliver a decisive and deterring response to any violating act by the enemy,” it warned.

Tehran delivered a “humiliating and exemplary responseto the enemy’s cruelty,” including a missile attack on theUS base in Qataron Monday and the latest wave of strikes against Israel. (KEK, it was humiliating to the “enemy”, when they warned Qatar and Trump admin “we” are coming into bomb please, and thank you!)

“The courage and sacrifice” of theIranian military “forced the enemy into regret and accepting defeatand theunilateralcessation of its aggression,” it added.

A few hours before,Israel also officially confirmed agreeing to the ceasefire.

The office of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that Israel would “respond forcefully to any violation of the ceasefire.”

The statement thanked Trump and the US military, which hit targets in Iran on Sunday, for “their support in defense and their participation in eliminating the Iranian nuclear threat.”

Netanyahu’s office also said he held a cabinet meeting to report that“Israel has removed a dual immediate existential threat– both in the nuclear and ballistic missile fields” posed by Iran.

Moscow welcomes the ceasefire between Israel and Iran, andhopesthat it will be “sustained,”Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov has said.

“This is what Russia has been calling for from the very beginning of this conflict.So yes, this can and should be welcomed,” Peskov told journalists.

(Both countries have to save face, but these two announcements are kind of funny)

Pphttps://www.rt.com/news/620403-israel-iran-ceasefire-announce/

20 Jun, 2025 19:09

EU ministers name Russians they want banned from bloc

Officials from the Baltic and Nordic states want Russians with military ties barred from entering the Schengen area even after Ukraine conflict ends

Top officials from several Baltic and Nordic countries have called for banning all Russians with past or current ties to the military from entering the Schengen Zone, claiming they could pose a “criminal threat” to the EU, even after the Ukraine conflict ends.

The ban was proposed in a joint statement by theinterior ministers of Estonia, Lithuania, Latvia, Norway, Poland, Sweden, and Finlandafter a meeting in Tallinn on Thursday. All of the represented countries, except Sweden,have already effectively shut down their borders to Russian citizens.

In their statement, which was shared by the Estonian Interior Ministry, the officials claimed that “even after the end of the military operation against Ukraine,threats emanating from Russia to the internal security of the European Union will remain.”

They claimed that hundreds of thousands of Russian nationals who have taken part in military operations against Ukrainenow have combat experienceand could supposedly join organized crime groups in Europe.

The statement urges EU member states to take all necessary steps to prevent individuals withmilitary backgrounds from Russia from moving freely within the Schengen areaand undermining the bloc’s security. It calls for a completeban on residence permits and visasfor these individuals.

The officials also highlighted the need for drone detection and disruption capabilities along the eastern borders to counter threats from organized crime networks and hostile states.

Last month, Latvian Foreign Minister Baiba Braze urged all EU member states to stop issuing Schengen visas to Russian citizens, citing risks to the bloc’s internal security. Latvian Interior Minister Rihards Kozlovskis also insisted the EU must acknowledge it is “in a hybrid war”with Russia and claimed that Russian tourists are a danger to the bloc.

In recent months, a number of Eastern European governments have argued that Russia could pose a military threat to the EU even after the Ukraine conflict concludes and have enacted draconian policies specifically targeting Russian nationals and Russian speakers.

Moscow has vehemently accused Western officials, particularly those in the Baltics, offearmongering to justify a military buildup and “blatant discrimination against Russians.”

The country’s Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova previously also stated that the EU’s Russophobia has turned out to be an “expensive obsession” for the bloc, noting that it has dealt a significant blow to its economy and citizens.

(This is crazy and they will never stop trying to isolate Russians, it would be like banning all Germans that family members were part of the Nazis, even today.)

https://www.rt.com/russia/620039-eu-russia-schengen-ban/

LIVE NOWUPDATED 13MIN AGO

Trump: ‘I need Israel to calm down. Do not drop those bombs. Bring your pilots home, now!’

Katz instructs IDF to ‘respond forcefully in heart of Tehran’ after missile attack; 4 killed, several wounded in earlier, pre-ceasefire missile strike on residential building in Beersheba

13 minutes ago

32min ago

Qatari PM says he hopes Israel, Hamas will restart hostage-ceasefire talks in coming days

43min ago

Merz hopes US, Israeli strikes on Iran permanently blocked Tehran's nuclear goals

https://www.timesofisrael.com/liveblog-june-24-2025/

2:22 pm

Trump: ‘Iran, Israel have been fighting so long they don’t know what the f**k they’re doing’

By LAZAR BERMAN

A visibly angry US President Donald Trump blasts Israel for its strikes after he announced a ceasefire would be starting in the coming hours, and for preparing airstrikes in response to an Iranian missile fired after the truce went into effect.

Before stepping on to his helicopter to head to the NATO summit in The Netherlands, Trump tells reporters, “we basically have two countries that have been fighting so long and so hard that they “don’t know what the f*ck they’re doing.”

He says he believes Iran is still dedicated to peace: “I do. They violated, but Israel violated it too.”

“Israel, as soon as we made the deal, they came out and theydropped a load of bombs the likes of which I’ve never seen before,” says Trump.

“I’m not happy with Israel,” he continues. “You know, when I say you have 12 hours, you don’t just go in the first hours and say you’re going to drop everything you have on them.”

“So I’m not happy with them. I’m not happy with Iran either.But I’m really unhappy if Israel’s going out there this morning, because of one rocket that didn’t land, that was shot, perhaps by mistake, that didn’t land. I’m not happy about that.”

https://www.timesofisrael.com/liveblog-june-24-2025/

>>23230398

13min ago

Trump: ‘I need Israel to calm down. Do not drop those bombs. Bring your pilots home, now!’

By TOI STAFF and AGENCIES

US President Donald Trump makes his way to board Marine One before departing from the South Lawn of the White House in Washington, DC on June 24, 2025

US President Donald Trump says that both Israel and Iran violated a ceasefire he announced hours earlier, and that Israel needed to turn its planes around and not strike Tehran in response to ballistic missile fire.

Speaking to reporters before leaving for the NATO summit in The Hague, Trump saysIsrael “unloaded” right after agreeing to the deal. “They didn’t have to unload,” he says.

“Now Israel is going out [to strike Iran]because of one rocket that didn’t land anywhere,” he says.

A short time later, Trump writes on social media that Israel must turn its planes around. Israel had said it would “forcefully strike the heart of Tehran” after Iran fired ballistic missiles at Israel after the start of the ceasefire.

“I gotta get Israel to calm down now,” he says. “I’m gonna see if I can stop it.”

“Israel. Do not drop those bombs.If you do it is a major violation. Bring your pilots home, now! Donald J. Trump, president of the United States,” he writes on Truth Social.

The exact timing of the start of the ceasefire is unclear. Israel’s most recent strikes in Iran targeted missile launchers primed to fire an early morning barrage — the Israel Defense Forces says that the action resulted in the salvos were less severe.

Prior to that, Israel carried out more intense strikes in the hours before Trump said the truce was in effect.

https://www.timesofisrael.com/liveblog-june-24-2025/