LIVE: Iran launches missile attack on US’s Al Udeid Air Base in Qatar

Al Jazeera is reporting from Jordan because it has been banned from Israel and the occupied West Bank.

The Israeli military says it has now detected a third launch of ballistic missiles by the Iranians.

Previously, in the first two barrages of rockets, there was a direct impact in southern Israel and the ambulance services are saying that three people are in critical condition and five others have been lightly injured from the direct hit. This was a seven-storey building in southern Israel that was targeted.

Now there are sirens across different parts of the country. It is still unclear how many missiles were launched in this third barrage but the Israeli army said that a total of six in the first two barrages were launched – two missiles in the first and then four in the second.

The military says they are now working to intercept all of the rockets that have been fired and they are calling on people to shelter in place, to stay in those bomb shelters because they are still unsure when this event is going to be over.

The Israeli prime minister has yet to comment on Trump’s announcement of a ceasefire deal between Israel and Iran.

According to The Jerusalem Post, Netanyahu convened a Security Cabinet meeting that lasted into the early hours of Tuesday morning. He also asked ministers to avoid making public statements on the ceasefire, it reported.

Iran, meanwhile, said it would stop its retaliation if Israel stop its attacks.

There have been several waves of strikes on Israel since then, with at least three people reported killed in the city of Beersheba.

We are dealing with a highly fragile situation.

At least for the past one or two hours, we can say that we haven’t received any reports about the continuation of strikes. We haven’t received any reports regarding the sounds of explosions here in the capital and other cities.

This is what we have so far but still, I can tell you this is a very fragile situation.

First, Iran is saying that it’s going to retaliate as long as Israeli strikes continue.

Second, we have to keep in mind that so many infrastructures related to nuclear facilities as well as military sites, as well as buildings in residential areas, were targeted by the Israelis and now there is this public pressure on the establishment in Iran to continue this retaliation.

We received reports about missiles being launched from the Iranian territory. On that we have no confirmation so far because, basically, when the IRGC launches missiles, we’ve got statements from them about details, confirming these strikes have taken place. We are waiting for further statements coming out.

We are dealing with a highly intricate situation in which any movement could run the risk of further escalation.

Ned Price, a former spokesperson for the US State Department, has criticised the ceasefire deal between Iran and Israel announced by Trump, describing it as “neither verifiable nor permanent”.

In a series of posts on social media, Price, who served under Trump’s predecessor, Joe Biden, wrote, “Success would’ve been permanently and verifiably preventing Iran from ever obtaining a nuke, just the type of arrangement Trump needlessly tore up in 2018.”

He was referring to Trump’s decision to abandon the nuclear agreement signed between Iran and world powers in 2015, under then-President Barack Obama.

Price said the Trump administration should “leverage this moment” to reach a new diplomatic deal, warning that the US involvement in the war could push Tehran “to sprint towards a nuclear device”.

According to Iran’s English language channel Press TV, nuclear scientist Sedighi Saber was “assassinated” in an Israeli strike in Tehran.

Earlier reports said the attack on Saber was carried out near the main streets of Ferdowsi and Vali Asr in the downtown area of the Iranian capital.

Several of Iran’s top nuclear scientists have been targeted by Israeli strikes since it launched its military operation against the country on June 13.

Japanese Prime Minister Ishiba Shigeru and South Korean President Lee Jae-myung have both cancelled their plans to attend a NATO leaders’ summit in The Hague this week following the US military strikes on Iran.

A spokesperson for South Korea’s presidential office said Lee’s absence would be due to “a confluence of domestic matters and the volatile situation in the Middle East”.

Ishiba’s office cited “various circumstances” as the reason for his last-minute cancellation, but Japan is also in the midst of a series of grim anniversaries marking 80 years since the end of World War II. They include the anniversary of the Battle of Okinawa this week, which killed 200,000 people – many of them civilians – and the atomic bombing of Nagasaki and Hiroshima in August.

Japan and South Korea were two of the four non-NATO countries invited to attend the event, alongside Australia and New Zealand.

Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said last week he would also not attend the summit in person.

All three leaders will send deputies in their place.

The US president says the world and the Middle East will benefit greatly from the ceasefire he claims to have brokered between Israel and Iran.

“Israel & Iran came to me, almost simultaneously, and said, ‘PEACE!’ I knew the time was NOW. The World, and the Middle East, are the real WINNERS! Both Nations will see tremendous LOVE, PEACE, AND PROSPERITY in their futures,” he wrote in a post on Truth Social.

“They have so much to gain, and yet, so much to lose if they stray from the road of RIGHTEOUSNESS & TRUTH. The future for Israel & Iran is UNLIMITED, & filled with great PROMISE. GOD BLESS YOU BOTH!”

As we’ve been reporting, despite Trump’s claim of a ceasefire, Israel and Iran are continuing to trade attacks.

Al Jazeera is reporting from Jordan because it has been banned from Israel and the occupied West Bank.

This would be something like the 25th missile attack the Iranians have launched, and actually the first since the announcement of that ceasefire agreement by US President Donald Trump.

The Iranian foreign minister had come out and said that Iran didn’t agree to anything but if the Israelis wanted to stop their aggression, Iran would stop firing as well.

So these missiles are continuing to get fired and the Israelis say they are going to keep pounding targets inside of Iranian territory.

Israeli officials speaking anonymously to Israeli media have also said that there are still a wide range of targets that Israel wants to strike inside Iran and that they are not finished with their goals.

But the main objective for them at this point has been achieved. Of depleting those nuclear capabilities. But when it comes to the missile fire that is still going to head toward Israel, well, it seems that is still in session.

From the very early hours of tonight, we were able to hear the sounds of massive explosions and interceptions by the air defence systems of the country and the capital in particular. Right now, we don’t hear that much.

Speaking of the latest post we saw from the Iranian foreign minister, Abbas Araghchi, on his X account, it seems that he is saying there is no ceasefire agreement as of date.

And also, he is saying that they have decided to stop their military operations. So, it could be implied that while Iran is ready for this ceasefire, at the same time it is not sure whether the Israeli side is going to strike. And if they continue to strike, the Iranian foreign minister is saying there is going to be no ceasefire on the ground.

So this is a sort of double-edged statement that we hearing from the Iranian foreign minister.

But right now, we can say that we see signs of de-escalation.

The Associated Press news agency has more details on the US push for a ceasefire between Israel and Iran.

A senior White House official told the AP that Trump communicated directly with the Israeli prime minister to secure the ceasefire. The person also said that Vice President JD Vance, Secretary of State Marco Rubio and special Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff also communicated with Iranians through direct and indirect channels.

The official said the Qatari government played an important role in brokering the coming ceasefire. Trump spoke to Qatar’s emir, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, to thank him for helping land the agreement.

The Qatari carrier says its flights have been reinstated following the opening of the country’s airspace.

“Our focus at this time is to help our passengers return home or reach their onward journey safely and smoothly,” it said in a statement.

“As operations resume, we anticipate significant delays to our flight schedule,” it said, urging passengers to check their website for the latest updates.

Qatar had earlier shut down its airspace over the Iranian attack on Al Udeid Air Base. Several Qatar Airways flights were also diverted after the Iranian attack.

Al Jazeera is reporting from Jordan because it has been banned from Israel and the occupied West Bank.

Since the announcement by US President Donald Trump, there has been no word from Israeli officials.

Netanyahu actually convened his Security Cabinet – those are top ministers with defence positions and also his security chiefs – to discuss the situation at hand. However, there is a gag order in place.

Netanyahu told his government not to talk about any sort of ceasefire with the Iranians just yet. An indication that perhaps there are details that need to be finalised. That perhaps Israel didn’t agree to this. But there has been nothing official from the Israelis.

In fact, within the last hour, the Israeli military’s Home Front Command… has said that there are no changes in place and people still need to listen to the directives of the government and military. That places are still going to be closed and there are still bans and limitations on public gatherings.

We are still waiting for a response to the Iranian announcement.

Certainly, this is not the “full agreement” that Trump posted about three hours ago, and perhaps those congratulations were premature.

That’s at least what it’s pointing to.

It’s also confusing how these timelines line up because, frankly, they don’t. Trump had said six hours from the time of his post, which was at 22:00 GMT – that would be the beginning of this so-called ceasefire.

Obviously, Iran is not on the same page about that.

So there is much fluidity in the air, and we are still waiting to see how Washington responds to all of that.

Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov says he does not see conditions for restoring the 2015 deal, known as the JCPOA, but that now is the time to ramp up diplomacy.

Ryabkov’s comments to the Izvestia news outlet came before Trump claimed Israel and Iran had agreed to a ceasefire.

“I do not see at the moment, conditions for restoring the [Iran deal],” Ryabkov told Izvestia. “But this does not mean abandoning diplomacy, quite the opposite. Now is the time to redouble our efforts to achieve… to come to some decisions that would help stabilise the situation.”

Ryabkov said that Russia “understood the logic and argumentation of our friends in Tehran, and of course, this means an end to the strikes, an end to further escalation by the other side”.

He said the cessation of attacks was the “clear pre-condition for our Iranian colleagues to consider their political-diplomatic options”.

The Iran nuclear deal, signed in 2015, aimed at limiting Tehran’s nuclear programme in exchange for sanctions relief. But Trump pulled Washington out of the pact in 2018, only to begin negotiations this year. Iran, however, cancelled the latest meeting after Israel launched attacks on the country.

This is what we heard from the Iranian foreign minister, Abbas Araghchi, coming out with a post on his X account saying that he cannot confirm so far that a deal has been reached.

Up until the very last hour, we have been able to hear the sounds of explosions across the capital and also reports about the sounds of explosions being heard in different Iranian cities, meaning that Israeli strikes continue.

And from previous statements, I can tell you that Iranians are saying that they are not going to stop as long as Israeli strikes continue.

US President Donald Trump’s fellow Republicans have rallied around him after he announced that a ceasefire deal had been reached between Iran and Israel.

In a brief post on X, House Speaker Mike Johnson wrote: “Peace through STRENGTH!”.

Johnson has been feuding with some members of his party who criticised Trump’s decision to strike Iran’s nuclear sites.

Republican Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene, one of the most outspoken voices opposed to US intervention in the Iran-Israel war, also welcomed the announced ceasefire, writing on X, “Thank you, President Trump, for pursuing peace!”.

Greene earlier criticised Trump’s decision to bomb Iran, saying it felt “like a complete bait and switch to please the neocons, warmongers, military industrial complex contracts, and neocon tv personalities that MAGA hates and who were NEVER TRUMPERS!”

Traditionally, we would be hearing about these developments from official channels.

But Donald Trump has really bucked all tradition and it is very much his style to be making this announcement on his own social media platform.

This is also telling of the timing of this announcement and why he is making it in this fashion. It is 7pm here in Washington, DC. It is not the middle of the night, as it is in the [Middle East] region.

So American people are paying attention. Ever since the US military strikes on the Iranian nuclear sites, people really have been paying attention for the first time.

This has really crossed into the majority of Americans’ minds, and there was a lot of trepidation.

People were questioning whether this had been the right move because the greatest fear had been that the US would enter yet another so-called “forever war”, which nobody wanted and which Trump said that he would not do.

Al Jazeera is reporting from Jordan because it has been banned from Israel and the occupied West Bank.

No word whatsoever from the Israeli government and Israeli officials, who have not been speaking to Israeli media.

Israeli media are reporting that there is a gag order in place for [Prime Minister Netanyahu] and all of his ministers and other government officials to not speak about the ceasefire.

That’s going to mean that if there is some sort of announcement from the Israelis, it is going to come directly from Netanyahu himself.

It’s also worth mentioning that, behind the scenes earlier in the day, there were Israeli officials saying that because of the pressure from President Trump, the Israelis were now trying to wrap all of this up by the end of the week.

This is before the announcement from the American president.

So it is still a little bit unclear where we stand now because there has been no word from Israeli officials.

We’ve been reporting on a series of explosions in Tehran.

Moments before those blasts, Iranian news agencies reported that the country’s air force also shit down an Israeli Hermes surveillance drone over the capital.

An image posted by Iran’s Mehr news agency showed burning debris scattered all over a street as people gathered around the scene.

Similar images were also posted by Iran’s Tasnim news agency and the Fars news agency.

Al Jazeera’s Tohid Asadi, speaking from Tehran, said that Trump’s announcement possibly “paves the way” for a ceasefire but the reality on the ground is very different, with sounds of explosions heard over the Iranian capital as air defence systems battle Israeli attacks.

“We haven’t received any official reaction from Tehran regarding the latest statement that came out from the US President Donald Trump,” Asadi said, adding that previous statements by Iran’s senior leaders signalled that an “imposed peace” would not be accepted.

“We have to keep in mind the previous statements that we heard from the Iranian leaders including the supreme leader of the country, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who came out to say a couple of days ago in a video message that we are not going to accept an imposed peace,” Asadi said.

“Whether the statement that we heard from the US president is going to be interpreted as an imposed peace or an agreed peace is something that we have to keep waiting for,” he said.

“A new emerging development on the ground here in Tehran is more sounds of explosions that we can hear related to the interception by air defence systems.”

We are still waiting for confirmation from Iran, from Israel, about the terms of this deal.

But as announced by Trump, and if it takes effect, as he said, it would indeed be a diplomatic coup and dramatic turnaround in just the last few days.

Going from Trump saying that he was open to regime change in Iran to now saying, “God bless, Iran.” And then after this air strike from Iran against the US airbase in Doha – all of this happening in just the last few hours, and certainly giving Trump that much sought-after ceasefire as the dealmaker that he said he would be as president.

He didn’t get one so far in Gaza. He hasn’t got one between Ukraine and Russia, and now he is announcing to the world – he says at least – that he is getting one between Iran and Israel.

Al Jazeera’s Dorsa Jabbari says Qatar was the “obvious choice” for Iranian retaliation against the US because it hosts the largest US military base in the Middle East, while also acting as a trusted intermediary for Tehran.

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Here’s what the US president said on social media:

“CONGRATULATIONS TO EVERYONE! It has been fully agreed by and between Israel and Iran that there will be a Complete and Total CEASEFIRE (in approximately 6 hours from now, when Israel and Iran have wound down and completed their in progress, final missions!), for 12 hours, at which point the War will be considered, ENDED!

“Officially, Iran will start the CEASEFIRE and, upon the 12th Hour, Israel will start the CEASEFIRE and, upon the 24th Hour, an Official END to THE 12 DAY WAR will be saluted by the World. During each CEASEFIRE, the other side will remain PEACEFUL and RESPECTFUL.

“On the assumption that everything works as it should, which it will, I would like to congratulate both Countries, Israel and Iran, on having the Stamina, Courage, and Intelligence to end, what should be called, “THE 12 DAY WAR.”

“This is a War that could have gone on for years, and destroyed the entire Middle East, but it didn’t, and never will! God bless Israel, God bless Iran, God bless the Middle East, God bless the United States of America, and GOD BLESS THE WORLD!”

• US President Donald Trump says Israel and Iran have agreed to a “complete and total” ceasefire that will bring an end to what he called “the 12-day war”.
• Neither Israel nor Iran has confirmed that they have agreed to such a ceasefire.
• Israel continues to attack Iran, with blasts heard in Tehran, and Iranian officials issuing an evacuation warning for residents of the Ramat Gan area near Tel Aviv.
• Trump’s announcement comes after Iran launched a missile attack on Al Udeid Air Base in Qatar, which houses US troops, in retaliation for the US strikes that targeted nuclear facilities in Iran on Sunday.
• Qatar has condemned the attack as a violation of its sovereignty and said it reserves the right to respond. It says its air defences intercepted 18 of the 19 missiles fired and that the incident did not cause any deaths or injuries.
• Israeli forces also continue attacking Gaza, killing at least 43 people in the Strip, including 13 aid seekers.

Hello and welcome to our live coverage of the conflict between Israel and Iran, as well as Israel’s war on Gaza.

Stay with us for the latest updates, reactions and analysis.

You can find all our updates from Monday, June 23, here.