Explosions heard in Iraq's Baghdad minutes after Trump's Israel-Iran ceasefire announcement

Explosions were heard in Iraq's capital city of Baghdad, minutes after United States President Donald Trump announced a ceasefire between Israel and Iran. An Iraqi military official said that an unidentified drone had targeted Camp Taji, a military installation located to the north of Baghdad, adding that there were no casualties, the state news agency reported. The drone allegedly hit a radar system at the military base, a security official told AFP news agency.

Trump announces ceasefire between Iran and Israel

US President Donald Trump late on June 23 announced a ceasefire between Israel and Iran, stating that it is an end to 12-day war. This came on a day when Iran struck an American base in Qatar in retaliation for US strikes on its nuclear sites using B-2 bombers. Trump wrote on Truth Social, "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!"

Iranian missiles targeted the largest US military base in West Asia, Al-Udeid. Al-Udeid is home to the US military's headquarters for all air operations in the region. Some British military personnel also serve there on rotation.

US enters Iran-Israel war

In a major escalation of tensions in West Asia, the US bombed three nuclear sites - Fordow, Natanz and Esfahan - in Iran and warned the Islamic Republic of more "precision strikes" if it did not end its conflict with Israel. This came days after the US president said that he would decide within ‘two weeks’ if he needs to bomb Iran. The US strike came on the ninth day of Operation Rising Lion, under which Israel hit several nuclear facilities inside Iran, killing top military officials and nuclear scientists. The Israel Defence Forces said that US strikes “were in coordination with the IDF” and it was a “crucial step stopping the Iranian regime's aggression.”

As America entered the war, Donald Trump said that ‘there will either be peace or tragedy.’ "This cannot continue. There will either be peace or tragedy for Iran, far greater than what we have witnessed over the last eight days," Trump told a press briefing at the Oval Office. He also conveyed the goal of the US' strikes, saying, "Our Objective was the destruction of Iran's nuclear enrichment capacity, and a stop to the nuclear threat posed by the world's number one state sponsor of terror. Tonight, I can report to the world that the strikes were a spectacular military success. Iran's key nuclear enrichment facilities have been completely and totally obliterated.”