Ceasefire? No ceasefire? Regime change? Depends on when you tune in
Start with an alleged ceasefire between Israel and Iran. That would be ceasefire by Israeli Prime Minister Ahab Netanyahu endorsed by Donald I-Run-The-World Trump.
Early indications?
"In light of the severe violation of the ceasefire carried out by the Iranian regime, we will respond with force," the Israel Defense Force's chief of general staff said, with Defense Minister Israel Katz saying he had ordered "intense strikes against regime targets in the heart of Tehran."
Later on Tuesday, a visibly frustrated Trump condemned Israel and Iran for violating a ceasefire that he had heralded one day earlier.
“We have two countries that have been fighting so long and so hard that they don’t know what the fuck they’re doing,” Trump told reporters on the White House lawn before departing to meet with NATO allies in the Netherlands.1
PM Ahab has a long-established modus operandi of violating ceasefires and claiming it’s the Other Side that really violated it. In any case, if you’re reading this within 10 minutes of it being posted, Ahab and the Very Presidential Orange Anomaly may have declared another ceasefire and already ended that one because The Other Side.
Here we see Orange MAGA statecraft at work:
■ The cease-fire was announced by President Trump and later confirmed by Israel and Iranian media. Around an hour after the Israeli government announced a cease-fire, the Israeli army said it had identified a missile launch from Iran, as Israel vowed to "respond forcefully to Iran's violation."
■ The Iranian armed forces also said that the country did not launch any missiles recently, as Iran's state television denied any news of a missile attack on Israel.
■ Israel struck Iran in three stages up until 5:30 A.M GMT on Tuesday, the spokesman of Iran's Khatam al-Anbiya central military headquarters said.
■ U.S. President Donald Trump said that both Israel and Iran violated the cease-fire, and he was not happy with either country, but especially Israel. Trump later wrote on social media that Israel would not attack Iran. After Trump demanded Israel to 'calm down,' IDF jets flew back to Israel, as plans were scaled back to solely strike Iranian military radar.2
While I was typing this, Reuters put up the following report3:
Giordano, Elena (2025): Israel, Iran enter shaky ceasefire. Politico 06/24/2025. https://www.politico.eu/article/israel-ceasefire-iran-missiles-donald-trump-us-military-defense-ursula-von-der-leyen-eu-friedrich-merz-germany/ (Accessed: 2025-24-06).
IDF Planes Turn Back After Trump Tells Israel to 'Calm Down'; Explosions Heard in Tehran. Haaretz 06/24/2025. <https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/2025-06-24/ty-article-live/hinting-at-start-of-cease-fire-iranian-fm-thanks-armed-forces/00000197-9f96-d4d3-a1bf-bfde44a50000> (Accessed: 2025-24-06).
Bose, Nandita (2025): Explosions ring out in Tehran despite Trump's order to Israel to stop strikes. Reuters 06/24/2025. <https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/trump-announces-israel-iran-ceasefire-2025-06-23/> (Accessed: 2025-24-06).
I've given up trying to write about this latest exchange of ordinances. It's almost impossible because everything you read, see and hear is instantly outdated. There's no coherence coming from the White House. Increasingly, I see Trump as more of a puppet than ever, of even darker forces. That doesn't let him off the hook but he's malleable and a great distraction - as other nefarious agendas march forward.