A senior Israeli official said after a security cabinet meeting that Israel will halt strikes on Iran for now, following a request from President Donald Trump. Operations in Lebanon, however, continue unchanged—under a policy where any fire toward northern Israeli communities triggers strikes on targets in Beirut’s Dahieh district.
The official also addressed the phone call between Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Trump, calling it “very good” and emphasizing that Israel and the U.S. continue to operate in full coordination. At the same time, he noted that in the past 24 hours Israel made two operational decisions—the Beirut strike and the response in Iran—that didn’t align with the American president’s public position.
The official added that Israel has proven its ability to exercise its right to self-defense even when gaps exist with Washington, while maintaining the strategic relationship between the two countries. According to him, the assessment in Jerusalem is that the current escalation wave is now behind us.
Even before the senior official’s remarks, Tehran had announced the cessation of military operations against Israel in the current round of escalation. According to a report by the Iranian Fars News Agency, Emergency ‘Commander’ Hatem al-Anbiya said that Iranian forces had completed their mission following Israeli attacks in southern Lebanon and the Dahiyya district of Beirut.
The Iranian statement claimed that the attacks carried out by Iran against Israeli civilians were a response to Israeli activity in Lebanon, and that their purpose was to convey a message to Israel and its allies. “Iran’s forces gave a painful response to the regime,” it said, alongside the announcement of the cessation of military operations.