In expletive-laced remarks at the White House, President Donald Trump criticized Israel and Iran hours after they entered into a tenuous ceasefire agreement. Each country attacked the other Tuesday, June 24, after Trump announced they had agreed to end hostilities.
Both denied breaking the truce. However, Israel said it bombed a radar system near Tehran in retaliation for Iranian missile strikes early Tuesday. Iran said Israel fired first.
Trump did not hide his frustration with both countries, but he singled out Israel, a long-time U.S. ally, for the strongest criticism.
‘I’m not happy with Israel’
Trump spoke to reporters as he left the White House for a NATO summit in The Hague, Netherlands.
“I’m not happy with Israel,” he said. “You know, when I say, ‘OK, now you have 12 hours,’ you don’t go out in the first hour and just 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 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.”
As reporters continued asking questions, Trump leaned into the microphones.
“You know what, we basically have two countries that have been fighting for so long and so hard that they don’t know what the f— they’re doing,” he said. “Do you understand that?”
Then he walked off to Marine One, waiting on the White House lawn.
President Trump on Israel and Iran: "We basically have two countries that have been fighting so long and so hard that they don’t know what the fuck they’re doing." pic.twitter.com/xrztmebALZ
— CSPAN (@cspan) June 24, 2025
‘Firm and direct’ with Netanyahu
Israel-Iran war
Israeli airstrikes killed 610 Iranians, according to the country’s health ministry. Authorities say 28 Israelis died from Iranian attacks.
Trump announced the ceasefire Monday, June 23, two days after American warplanes dropped 30,000-pound “bunker-buster” bombs on multiple Iranian nuclear sites. The United States launched the attack at Israel’s request eight days after it began its own airstrikes on the Islamic Republic. Israel claimed Iran was on the verge of building a nuclear bomb, an assessment at odds with that of U.S. intelligence agencies. Iran says its nuclear program has only civilian, not military, applications.
On Tuesday, Trump spoke to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu before leaving for The Hague, The New York Times reported, citing a White House official. The official said Trump was “firm and direct” about his expectations that Israel would honor the ceasefire.
In Tehran, state-run media reported that Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian pledged to honor the ceasefire if Israel does.
Pezeshkian reportedly accused the United States of “violating international law,” but he said Iran is willing to resume talks over the country’s nuclear ambitions.
“The Iranian people, despite hardships and grievances, stood united and unwavering against the opposite side,” Pezeshkian said, according to A News, a Turkish media outlet.
In Tel Aviv, Netanyahu warned his country would “respond forcefully to any violation” of the ceasefire agreement, Newsweek reported. He said Israel’s military had achieved its aims.
“Israel has removed from itself an immediate existential double threat – both in the nuclear domain and in the field of ballistic missiles,” Netanyahu said.
Taking credit
While rebuking Israel and Iran, Trump took credit for the ceasefire deal, sharing social media posts that suggested he deserves the Nobel Peace Prize.
“Both Israel and Iran wanted to stop the War, equally!” he wrote on Truth Social after departing for the NATO summit. “It was my great honor to Destroy All Nuclear facilities & capability, and then, STOP THE WAR!”
He also posted a congratulatory message from NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte, who wrote: “Congratulations and thank you for your decisive action in Iran, that was truly extraordinary, and something no one else dared to do. It makes us all safer.”
Other leaders were more measured in their responses.
“If a ceasefire has indeed been achieved, then that can only be welcomed,” Dmitri Peskov, a spokesman for Russian President Vladimir Putin, said.
“The situation,” French President Emmanuel Macron said, “remains volatile and unstable.”
