Latest attacks send leaders scrambling to contain escalation, call for restraint

Iran's military command on Monday announced it was halting its operation against Israel after the two sides exchanged fire for the first time since a truce took effect in April.

Iran had delivered a "painful response" to Israel and "accordingly, the cessation of armed forces operations is hereby announced", the Khatam al-Anbiya command said in a statement carried by state television.

"However, it is emphasized that should acts of aggression and hostility continue, including in southern Lebanon, much more severe and crushing measures than before will follow," it added.

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A senior Israeli official later said Israel also halted its strikes on Iran, local media reported. Israel launched attacks on Iran in retaliation after Tehran fired missiles late on Sunday, marking the first direct strikes between the foes since the ceasefire.

Israel hit a petrochemical plant in southwestern Iran that it said was used to produce ballistic missiles. Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps said it retaliated with a strike aimed at a similar Israeli plant in the city of Haifa.

Tehran has cited Tel Aviv's violations of the Lebanon ceasefire.

In a statement earlier on Monday, Iran's Foreign Ministry declared that the country's defensive strikes against military targets in northern Israel were carried out within the framework of inherent self-defense under Article 51 of the United Nations Charter, "following repeated ceasefire violations" by Israel, according to Mehr News Agency. The ministry emphasized that the ceasefire in Lebanon is an inseparable part of the April 8 truce agreement.

Meanwhile, an Israeli security official said on Monday that Israel was preparing for "several days" of fighting with Iran.

The official, speaking on condition of anonymity at a news briefing, said the Israeli military was carrying out attacks in Iran according to "plans prepared in advance", intending to weaken the Iranian government.

Israeli Education Minister Yoav Kisch said schools and kindergartens across the country would remain closed for a second day on Tuesday, while planned matriculation exams would be postponed.

Calm urged

The latest attacks between Israel and Iran had sent regional, European and United States leaders scrambling to contain the escalation and calling for restraint.

US President Donald Trump called for calm on Sunday from both Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and the Iranian leadership.

In an interview with the Financial Times, Trump said, "I call all the shots. He (Netanyahu) doesn't call the shots."

Trump again demanded on Monday that Israel and Iran "immediately stop 'shooting'".

"Israel and Iran must immediately stop 'shooting'," Trump said in a post on Truth Social.

A few minutes later, he said:"Both sides, Israel and Iran, are looking to do an immediate ceasefire!"

"Final negotiations on 'peace' are proceeding, subject to ignorance or stupidity getting in its way," he added.

Kaja Kallas, the European Union's foreign policy chief, told reporters ahead of an EU defense ministers' conference in Cyprus on Monday that the Middle East region does "not need further escalation".

Kallas insisted that a "diplomatic solution" be found to the conflict and called on all sides to "sit down at the negotiating table and come to an agreement".

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"Iran's message is direct: Israel cannot keep bombing Gaza, striking Lebanon, pressuring Hezbollah and targeting Iran-linked positions while claiming a monopoly over self-defense," Arhama Siddiqa, a research fellow at the Institute of Strategic Studies Islamabad in Pakistan, told China Daily.

She said the Lebanon front "is now the key danger point" because Israeli escalation there pulls Hezbollah, the Tehran-backed militia, and Iran further into the conflict.

"Tehran's strike may be limited militarily, but politically it warns that attacks on Lebanon or Iran will not go unanswered. For the future, this means every Israeli move in Lebanon will now carry higher regional risks, ceasefire diplomacy will become harder, and the conflict could shift from contained retaliation to a broader Iran-Israel confrontation if either side miscalculates," she added.

Agencies and Xinhua contributed to this story.

Contact the writers at jan@chinadailyapac.com