Tehran Urges U.S. President to Push for Ceasefire with Israel

Reuters

Site of Iranian attack on Tel Aviv.

Iran called on U.S. President Donald Trump on Monday, 16 June 2025, to compel Israel to agree to a ceasefire as the only means to end the four-day aerial conflict, while Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu declared that his country was on the “path to victory.”

Israeli forces intensified their bombardment of Iranian cities, as Iran demonstrated its capability to penetrate Israeli air defences with one of its most effective retaliatory missile barrages to date.

"If President Trump is genuine about diplomacy and interested in stopping this war, next steps are consequential," Iran's Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi said on X.

"Israel must halt its aggression, and absent a total cessation of military aggression against us, our responses will continue. It takes one phone call from Washington to muzzle someone like Netanyahu. That may pave the way for a return to diplomacy."

Sources told Reuters that Tehran had approached Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and Oman to urge the U.S. President to use his influence to persuade Israel to agree to an immediate ceasefire. In exchange, Iran would show flexibility in nuclear negotiations, according to two Iranian and three regional sources.

Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu, speaking to troops at an airbase, said Israel was on course to achieving its two primary objectives: eliminating Iran’s nuclear programme and destroying its missile capabilities.

“We are on the path to victory,” he stated. “We are telling the citizens of Tehran: ‘Evacuate’ — and we are taking action.”

President Trump has repeatedly said that the Israeli offensive could end swiftly if Iran accepts U.S. demands to impose strict limits on its nuclear programme.

Talks between the United States and Iran, due to be hosted by Oman on Sunday, were cancelled, with Tehran stating that negotiations could not proceed under military assault.

The two adversaries continued to exchange missile attacks for a fourth consecutive day. In the early hours of Monday, Iranian missiles struck Tel Aviv and Haifa, killing at least eight people and destroying several homes. Israeli authorities reported that a total of seven missiles had landed in Israel overnight, injuring at least 100 individuals.

Iran’s Revolutionary Guards said that the latest assault utilised a new strategy which caused Israel’s multi-layered defence systems to target each other, thereby allowing missiles to breach their defences.

Twenty-four people, all of whom civilians were killed in Israel since Friday, while Iran says more than 224 Iranians have been killed so far,, most of them were civilians.



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