By Bonface Mulyungi
Iran launched ballistic missiles at Israel on June 7, the Israeli military said, marking the first such attack since a ceasefire took effect in early April and raising fears of renewed escalation in the region.
The Israel Defense Forces said it identified missiles fired from Iran toward northern Israel and “defensive systems are operating to intercept the threat.” Sirens were sounded in several areas across the country after the missiles were detected, according to the Israel Defense Forces.
The attack occurred after Israel struck the outskirts of Beirut on June 7. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the strike on Beirut’s southern outskirts, a district known as Dahiyeh that has long been a Hezbollah stronghold, was ordered in response to Hezbollah firing toward Israel.
Iran has not targeted Israel directly since the United States and Iran agreed to the fragile ceasefire on April 7, though Hezbollah has continued attacks. Tensions have remained high since the ceasefire, and the two sides have launched attacks on each other multiple times in recent weeks.
Ebrahim Rezaei, a lawmaker who serves as spokesperson for the Iranian parliament’s national security committee, posted on X that Iran would deliver a “decisive and painful response” to Israel’s strikes on Lebanon on June 7. Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Corps Guard said its attacks on Israel were a “warning” of a broader response that would encompass all U.S. and Israeli targets in the region if “aggressions” are repeated.
Escalation threatens mediation efforts to end the war
President Donald Trump was briefed on the latest escalation between Iran and Israel. It was not immediately clear whether the Iranian missile attack caused damage in Israel.
Peace talks between the United States and Iran have shown little progress toward ending the war, which began in February with a joint U.S.-Israeli air campaign. Trump has repeatedly threatened to resume strikes if an agreement is not reached soon.
“We’re very close to a deal, or I’m going to blow the hell out of them,” Trump told NBC News’ “Meet the Press” in a contentious interview that was broadcast on June 7. The comments came as he has also pressured Israel to scale back its military operations in Lebanon amid mediation efforts.’They should be ashamed of themselves’: Trump bashes ‘bad Republicans’ who voted against Iran war.
Following Iran’s strikes on Israel, Trump told Fox News that Iran needs to “get back to the table and make a deal,” and noted that the attack was “certainly not going to help negotiations.”
“We’re very close. I would say an agreement would be signed on Monday, Tuesday, or Wednesday of this coming week. And now this takes place,” Trump said, according to Fox News. “You’ve shot your missiles, that’s enough. Get back to the table and make a deal.”
He criticized Israel’s strikes on Beirut, saying he was “not happy about it,” Fox News reported. Trump also told Axios’ Barak Ravid that he was going to call Netanyahu and tell him “not to attack Iran in response.”
Iranian officials have warned the conflict could widen, with the country’s Parliamentary Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, calling U.S. bases and Israeli assets legitimate targets because of hostile acts, including the “violation of agreements over Lebanon.”
“They showed that they only understand the language of power,” he wrote on X, signaling the potential for further escalation.
