President Donald Trump’s enthusiastic announcement about a ceasefire between Israel and Iran marked the latest wild swing from the president concerning Iran.
The ceasefire is in effect, but ceasefires in the Middle East are often fragile and fleeting.
RELATED: Analyzing the tenuous ceasefire between Israel and Iran
Questions are swirling about how long this one will last, despite Trump’s claim that this is the “end of the war.”
It took a while, but both sides, Iran and Israel, finally said they accepted the ceasefire plan to end their 12-day war that roiled the Middle East.
What is unclear is how quickly both sides will begin complying with the terms of the ceasefire. Early Tuesday morning, both continued the fighting.
There was an onslaught of missiles launched by Iran targeting Israel that killed at least four and wounded eight. Israel launched a barrage of airstrikes targeting locations across the Islamic Republic before dawn.
We also don’t know the terms and conditions. At least they have not been revealed publicly.
Qatar was reportedly involved in mediation between Israel and Iran to achieve the deal. Ironically, Qatar reportedly was also given advanced warning about the Iranian retaliatory missile attack against the U.S. base there that it successfully repelled.
A face-saving move for Iran that allowed it to accomplish what it wanted to move on? Interesting question!
Trump, in announcing the ceasefire, said, “This is a war that could have gone on for years.”
Interesting to note that Israeli officials confirmed to the Jerusalem Post not so long ago that the IDF intended to wrap up operations in Iran in the coming days. Is timing here a coincidence?
And there are still a lot of unanswered questions. Questions about what the U.S. strikes on Iran’s nuclear facilities accomplished.
Chair of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Dan Caine said that it was “way too early” to comment on whether Iran still retains some nuclear capabilities.
The big unknown is the location of Iran’s enriched uranium. Trump said several times that the key nuclear sites were completely “obliterated”; however, the US appears to have held back its most powerful bombs against one of the three facilities included in the operation, raising questions about whether it finished the job.
Reports indicate there are questions about whether the U.S. destroyed the bulk of the country’s enriched nuclear material with the weekend strikes.
The bottom line is, at this point, there are a lot of questions and very few definitive answers about the ceasefire, the end of the war and the status of Iran’s ability to make nuclear weapons.
Political analyst Daniel Cronrath joined me to discuss the latest and get to the bottom of these questions on this week’s episode of “Politics and Power.” Watch at 7 p.m. or 9 p.m. on News4JAX+ or catch it any time on demand on News4JAX+, News4JAX.com or our YouTube channel.