Israel and Iran exchanged military strikes after Israeli attacks in Lebanon shattered an April ceasefire, raising fears of a wider war. Iran fired missiles at northern Israel, and Israel retaliated with airstrikes. U.S. President Donald Trump called for an immediate halt, while Iran threatened to resume attacks if Israel strikes Lebanon again. Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu stated the war is not over, vowing to defend Israel.
Israel-Iran military exchange in Lebanon
- ▪Israel launched airstrikes on Iran after Iran fired missiles at northern Israel, the first direct exchange since an April 8 ceasefire
- ▪Yemen’s Iran-aligned Houthi rebels fired at Israel and declared a ban on Israeli-affiliated shipping in the Red Sea
- ▪Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) said it targeted two Israeli military bases, Tel Nof and Nevatim, as part of "Operation Nasr"
- ▪The exchange was triggered by an Israeli strike on Beirut's southern suburbs on Sunday, June 7, 2026
- ▪The Israeli military said it struck an Iranian petrochemical complex and dismantled Iranian defense systems
- ▪An Iranian missile fragment damaged four houses in a West Bank settlement, but no injuries were reported
Trump ceasefire intervention
- ▪Trump told the Financial Times that he "calls all the shots" regarding the war, not Netanyahu
- ▪Trump told Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that he did not believe Israel needed to respond further to Iran's attack
- ▪A senior US official said Trump called Netanyahu to urge him not to retaliate and believed he had convinced him to wait
- ▪On June 8, 2026, Donald Trump posted on his Truth Social platform: “Israel and Iran must immediately stop ‘shooting’.”
Iranian conditional halt threat
- ▪On June 8, 2026, Iran's Revolutionary Guards and Israel's Prime Minister both announced they had halted their strikes
- ▪Iran's Foreign Ministry stated that Tehran will resume hostilities if the Israel Defense Forces continue to attack Lebanon
- ▪Iranian officials stated they believe the US approved Israel's attacks, rejecting suggestions that Netanyahu had defied Trump
Israeli response to Tehran demands
- ▪Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz warned that any attack on northern Israel will be met with an attack on the Dahiyeh suburb of Beirut
- ▪Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich reportedly proposed that Israel strike 20 to 30 buildings in Beirut's Dahiyeh for every Iranian missile launched
- ▪Hours after halting strikes, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the war against Iran and Hezbollah "has not yet ended."
- ▪Netanyahu stated that Israel has the "full right to defend itself, and it will use that right as much as needed."
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