For the first time since the April 7 ceasefire, Israel and Iran traded repeated blows on Sunday night and Monday until US President Donald Trump imposed a new ceasefire on the sides late in the afternoon.
Although the Islamic Republic demanded that the new ceasefire include all of Lebanon (including the southern part of the country currently controlled by the IDF), Hezbollah and the IDF continued their clash even at press time, with the future unclear.
Iran was the first to break the ceasefire, firing ballistic missiles at Israel’s North late on Sunday night.
The IDF responded on Sunday morning around 4 a.m., saying that it had completed extensive attacks on Iran’s newly installed air defenses in Tehran and western Iran.
Ever since the April 7 ceasefire, the regime has been rushing to rebuild its air defenses.
The IDF’s latest attacks further reduced the newly restored air defenses, which will enable the Israeli air force to attack more freely within Iran if the fighting were to continue.
IDF sources didn’t explain why the air force didn’t target any of Iran’s ballistic missiles or launchers. After all, the quickest way to reduce Iran’s missile fire on Israel is to destroy its ballistic missiles and launchers.
IDF expected conflict to last few days
At midday on Monday, prior to the ceasefire, the IDF said the newest conflict with Iran was expected to last at least a few days, and may initiate a return to full-blown war.
As of 11:30 a.m., Iran has fired three salvos, which cumulatively had reached between 22 and 24 ballistic missiles launched at Israel, while the Houthis in Yemen had fired two missiles.
One of the Houthi missiles fell short of Israeli territory, and the other was shot down by Israel’s air defenses.
All of the Iranian missiles were either shot down or fell short of their targets.
At midday, in two waves of Israeli air force attacks, fighter jets had struck nine different Islamic Republic air defense and radar systems, as well as a petrochemical complex, which included three separate facilities.
Some of these facilities assist with the process of producing ballistic missiles.
In addition, certain mid-to-senior-level Hezbollah commanders responsible for launching drones were recently assassinated by the IDF. This attack was connected to a video that surfaced on social media on late Monday morning, with incorrect rumors about the death of a top Iranian official.
US-Israel still coordinating defense
IDF Chief of Staff Lt.-Gen. Eyal Zamir had spoken to US Central Command (CENTCOM) Chief Adm. Brad Cooper three times between the start of the latest conflict and midday Monday, the IDF said.
According to the IDF, the US military stayed out of attacks on Iran, but it did assist in shooting down the missiles that were fired at Israel.
US sources confirmed that American forces had likely shot down a couple of Iranian ballistic missiles.
The IDF said that Iran was trying to regain its gravitas as the defender of its proxy Hezbollah in Lebanon, while also pressuring the US into better terms in the ongoing standoff between the two countries.
Some IDF officials believed that, until the new round of fighting ends, the Iranian regime is not ready to sign the deal that was currently proposed by the US.
If Iran makes nuclear-related concessions to the US, it will now be able to make other claims – whether true or not – about having intimidated the US and Israel with the most recent clashes.
On Monday afternoon, IDF Chief Spokesman Brig-Gen. Effie Defrin said that, if the current clashes continued for a day or so, the IDF’s goal would not be to merely restore the ceasefire. Instead, Defrin said, the IDF would seek to further destabilize and weaken the Islamic regime, which, to date, has held fast to its current control of Iran.
The IDF criticized much of the global media for presenting the conflict as if Iran and Israel were equally responsible. The IDF stated that it has been fighting only Hezbollah and had not attacked Iran since April 7.
The IDF said that the media and the world must understand that Iran was the one who unilaterally broke the bilateral ceasefire between the two countries.
IDF sources indicated that, while there were plans ready for any scenario with Iran, some top officials did not think that the Islamic Republic would break the ceasefire as it has. This delayed the Israeli response for several hours, along with the three-to-four-hour flight times.
However, this answer from IDF sources exposed that the IDF and the US no longer had sufficient air coverage to attack Iranian missile teams before they could launch missiles, as had occurred during Operation Roaring Lion.
Later in the afternoon, while the ceasefire situation was still unclear, defense sources told The Jerusalem Post that Israel had a long list of targets in Iran if the situation didn’t return to a ceasefire framework.
Less than an hour after Iran said that it would stop firing on Israel if the IDF stopped attacking it, Lebanese media reported that the IDF struck Hezbollah at Tyre and Hezbollah fired three rockets at IDF soldiers in southern Lebanon.
Originally, it was unclear if Hezbollah was acting without authorization from its higher-ups or Iran, or if its attacks were fully authorized and in anticipation that the fighting would continue in southern Lebanon.
There were also sirens for drones fired at Misgav Am and Metula, but the IDF later claimed that these sirens had been false alarms.
Strangely, the IDF at press time had not taken credit for the attacks on Tyre, with speculation that the military was trying to act against threats without further antagonizing Iran and Hezbollah.
In his speech, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu indicated that the IDF would not stop its activities in southern Lebanon; Defense Minister Israel Katz issued a statement to second that position.
Katz also said that any attack on Israel’s North would lead to retaliation in Beirut – an act that led to Iran breaking the ceasefire in the first place.
Meanwhile, IAEA Chief Rafael Grossi has demanded that the Islamic Republic restore access to its nuclear sites for his inspectors. This is occurring in the lead-up to an expected IAEA Board of Governors’ condemnation of Iran for a variety of nuclear violations.
Grossi said that, since the Israel-Iran-US war in June 2025, IAEA access has been nearly nonexistent.
Prior to that war, Iran had continually cut back on the IAEA’s access to its nuclear facilities – particularly when the agency started pressing it for answers about evidence that showed that Iran was violating its nuclear obligations.
Furthermore, the IAEA caught Iran as it was trying to enrich 60% enriched uranium up to 84% in one facility, which would, in essence, raise it to a weaponized level of 90%.