Israeli warplanes continued a relentless bombardment of Iran on Monday, after US President Donald Trump claimed that Israel and Iran had agreed to a ceasefire.

For 12 days, Israel has waged a ferocious assault on Iran, killing over 400 people and wounding more than 3,000. On June 13, under the cover of negotiations, Israel murdered over 20 Iranian military and civilian leaders, including Maj. Gen. Hossein Salami, commander of Iran’s armed forces. The US joined the war on Sunday, dropping 14 massive bombs on three key Iranian nuclear installations.

Trump announced on Monday evening, “It has been fully agreed by and between Israel and Iran that there will be a Complete and Total CEASEFIRE,” to be implemented six hours after the announcement.

Trump made his statement after Iran launched ballistic missiles at US bases in Qatar and Iran.He claimed that Iran warned the US of the strikes, and that none of the missiles hit their target.

Iran’s Supreme National Security Council said the number of missiles launched at US bases mirrored the number of US bunker-buster bombs dropped on Iran. While the US bombs had a yield of 30,000 pounds of TNT, the Iranian missiles, which were shot down, had yields that were 15-30 times lower.

Trump said the “very weak response” was Iran’s reaction to “our obliteration of their nuclear facilities.” He concluded, “I want to thank Iran for giving us early notice.”

Early Tuesday, Iranian Foreign Minister Seyed Abbas Araghchi wrote in a post on X, “provided that the Israeli regime stops its illegal aggression against the Iranian people no later than 4 am Tehran time, we have no intention to continue our response afterwards. The final decision on the cessation of our military operations will be made later.”

Earlier on Monday, Trump made an implicit nuclear threat against Russia in the context of the war against Iran, after former Russian President Medvedev stated, “A number of countries are ready to directly supply Iran with their own nuclear warheads.”

To this, Trump replied, “By the way, if anyone thinks our ‘hardware’ was great over the weekend, far and away the strongest and best equipment we have, 20 years advanced over the pack, is our Nuclear Submarines.”

Earlier in the day, Trump called for regime change in Iran, declaring, “It’s not politically correct to use the term ‘regime change,’ but if the current Iranian regime is unable to MAKE IRAN GREAT AGAIN, why wouldn’t there be a regime change?”

The Iranian missile launches targeting US bases followed a meeting between Russian President Vladimir Putin and Iran’s top diplomat, Abbas Araghchi. While condemning the US attack on Iran, Putin made no commitments to defend Tehran, with which Russia has a strategic agreement.

The US media called the Iranian attacks on US bases “limited.” Bader al-Saif of Kuwait University told the Wall Street Journal, “This is something manageable when compared to closing [the Strait of] Hormuz or a direct ship-to-ship attack.”

The limited Iranian response to the US attack echoed the Iranian response in 2020 to the US murder of Gen. Qassem Soleimani, the top commander of Iran’s military operations abroad. Iran launched 12 ballistic missiles against a base in Iraq housing US troops, resulting in no fatalities.

Even as Trump has announced a ceasefire, sections of the US political establishment have called for the US to take advantage of the limited response from Iran and expand the US war aims.

In an editorial, the Wall Street Journal gloated that “Iran strongly signaled it doesn’t want the fight. The truth is it’s no longer in a position to put up much of a fight. Iran is weak, and if its regime continues to shoot at the US or Israel, it risks its survival.”

The editorial went on to endorse Trump’s statements earlier Monday about “regime change,” declaring, “It needn’t take a liberal democrat to topple the regime; a pragmatist would do. To the extent the Ayatollah held back in his retaliation against the US on Monday, he shows he recognizes the danger.”

Prior to Trump’s claimed ceasefire, Israel launched some of the heaviest bombardment of Tehran so far, targeting what it called “regime targets and government repression bodies.” The targets included a prison, as well as additional strikes on the Fordo nuclear facility.

A wave of “extensive” strikes carried out by over 50 IAF (Israeli Air Force) fighter jets hit “military headquarters of the Iranian regime, missile production sites, radar systems, and missile storage infrastructure” near Tehran early Monday, Israel’s military announced. The statement said that over 100 bombs were dropped over a 2-hour period.

Meanwhile, the Israeli genocide in Gaza continued on Monday, with Israeli forces killing 43 people in a 24-hour period, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry. The overall death toll of Israel’s genocide, launched in October 2023, stands at over 56,000.

Those killed on Monday included over 20 aid seekers, who were attempting to get food at a facility operated by the United States- and Israeli-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF).

Israel has carried out almost-daily massacres at the “aid” centers, which the United Nations condemned as an attempt to “weaponize” food aid. Since the GHF began operation, attacks by the Israeli military at its facilities have killed over 400 people and wounded over 1,000. Malnutrition is surging in Gaza as a consequence of a policy of deliberate starvation by the Israeli government.