United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres offered rare praise for President Donald Trump on Tuesday, after the president announced a ceasefire between Israel and Iran. Guterres, a vocal critic of Trump, issued the positive statement just days after condemning the U.S. strikes in Iran.
“I very much welcome President Trump’s announcement of a ceasefire between Israel and Iran. I urge the two countries to respect it fully. The fighting must stop,” Guterres wrote. “The people of the two countries have already suffered too much. It is my sincere hope that this ceasefire can be replicated in the other conflicts in the region.”
President Donald Trump shakes hands with UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres (L) as he attends a United Nations event on Religious Freedom at UN Headquarters in New York, Sept. 23, 2019, during his first term in office. (SAUL LOEB/AFP via Getty Images)
Trump announced a ceasefire just over 48 hours after Guterres’ warning, putting an end to what the president called the “12-Day War” — likely a reference to Israel’s historic 1967 Six-Day War.
On Tuesday, Trump expressed frustration with both Israel and Iran as the ceasefire appeared to be on the verge of faltering. He told reporters he was “not happy with Israel” after the country took what he saw as aggressive action just before the ceasefire went into effect. The president was also upset when Israel vowed to retaliate after Iran allegedly broke the ceasefire, something that Tehran denied.
Trump lashes out at Israel and Iran with profanity for breaking ceasefire. (Tasos Katopodis/Getty Images)
Trump later announced that Israel would not attack Iran and that the country’s planes would “turn around and head home.” In a subsequent post, he reaffirmed his opposition to Iran possessing a nuclear weapon and vowed that Tehran would “never” rebuild its facilities. The president also insisted that both sides wanted to end the war “equally.”
