Netanyahu signals pause in Iran strikes but warns conflict could resume

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has stated that the attack against Iran is currently "on hold," but warned that Israel will respond forcefully if Iran resumes its attacks.

"At the moment, the fire is on hold because after ... it (Iran) stopped attacking us," Netanyahu said in his first televised statement more than 20 hours after Iran first launched missiles at Israel on Sunday night.

If Iran "makes the mistake of attacking us again, we will respond with force," he added.

Netanyahu said he had ordered the military to strike military and economic targets across Iran on Monday, Xinhua news agency reported.

Following Netanyahu's statement, Israel's Home Front Command said it will lift most civil defence restrictions across the country on Tuesday morning.

The current restrictions would remain in place until 6:00 a.m. on Tuesday, the Home Front Command said. From then, most of the country will return to full activity, while restrictions will remain in place in several northern communities near the Lebanese border.

Earlier in the day, Iran's main military command, Khatam al-Anbiya Central Headquarters, announced the cessation of the Iranian armed forces' operations against Israel, the semi-official Fars news agency reported.

In a statement, the headquarters warned that any further Israeli "aggression and malicious acts," including in southern Lebanon, would trigger a much more "severe and crushing" response.

Iran's President Masoud Pezeshkian on Monday said that they have neither abandoned the field nor the negotiating table.

"Our priority is national security and the peace of our people. We will defend the rights of the nation with authority and will not retreat in the face of any threat. Diplomacy and defence are the two wings of national power; we have neither abandoned the field nor the negotiating table. God willing, with unity and rationality, Iran will emerge triumphant from this trial as well," Pezeshkian wrote on X.

The headquarters said that the Iranian armed forces' actions were carried out in support of the Lebanese people following Israeli attacks in southern Lebanon and the Dahieh district south of the Lebanese capital, Beirut.

–IANS