US President Donald Trump said on Monday night that Iran and Israel have agreed to a 12-hour ceasefire, but Tehran has pushed back on this claim.
The ceasefire is expected to be enacted at about 12am Washington time, “at which point the War will be considered ended”, Mr Trump said on his Truth Social platform.
“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,” he said.
“This is a war that could have gone on for years, and destroyed the entire Middle East, but it didn’t, and never will,” Mr Trump wrote. “God bless Israel, God bless Iran, God bless the Middle East, God bless the United States of America, and God bless the world.”
But Iran's Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said that there was currently no agreement on a ceasefire.
"As Iran has repeatedly made clear: Israel launched war on Iran, not the other way around," he said in a post on X.
Mr Araghchi added, however, that if Israel stops its "illegal aggression against the Iranian people no later than 4 am Tehran time, we have no intention to continue our response afterwards".
"The final decision on the cessation of our military operations will be made later," he said.
Iranian media outlets had earlier cast doubt on Mr Trump's claims. Mehr news agency described it as an "imaginary plan" by "liar Trump". It quoted a denial by Mohammad Marandi, an Iranian pro-government pundit and former adviser to Iran's nuclear negotiating team.
"No ceasefire. Fake news," he said.
The Israeli military had warned Tehran residents earlier on Monday that it was preparing for several more days of strikes on the city.
Israel and Iran have been engaged in retaliatory air strikes over the past 12 days. Israel launched a “pre-emptive” strike against Iran, attacking the infrastructure of its nuclear programme. Iran retaliated.
The US entered the war on Saturday, launching attacks on three of Iran's nuclear sites. Mr Trump claimed that the US had "obliterated" Iran's uranium enrichment capabilities, which he said had put Tehran close to obtaining a nuclear weapon – something he has reiterated could not be allowed to happen.
The announcement comes after Iran fired a barrage of missiles at a major US military base in Qatar, but Mr Trump said Tehran had warned Washington before the attack.
A Qatari military official said two waves comprising 19 missiles were launched at the base. All but one were shot down and there were no injuries.
US Central Command said it had “successfully defended against the attack".
Washington had warned Iran against retaliation, but Mr Trump said after the strikes that Tehran had warned the US beforehand to lower the risk of casualties.
Mr Trump earlier said he hoped Iran's attack meant it had "gotten it all out of their 'system'," and expressed a hope for peace.
