Special Envoy to the Middle East Steve Witkoff declared the Iran-Israel war “over” on Tuesday, pointing to the lack of “shooting” since the cease-fire deal negotiated by President Trump went into effect.
“Since this conflict began, we’ve been talking to [Iran] about having some sort of peaceful settlement, and Iran’s one caveat has always been that Israel had to stop its campaign,” Witkoff explained during an interview with Fox News host Laura Ingraham.
“And once Israel fulfilled its objective, which they did, and once the United States fulfilled its objective, which it did … the president was able to go to both parties and get a cease-fire done,” the Trump administration official continued. “And by the way, the proof is in the pudding.”
“No one’s shooting at each other. It’s over.”
Despite claims of violations from both sides, the cease-fire between Iran and Israel “appears to be holding,” according to the Institute for the Study of War (ISW), a Washington-based think tank.
ISW noted Tuesday that Israel has responded to perceived violations of the agreement from the Iranian side but has “not resumed its campaign at this time.”
“The cease-fire is very much in effect,” Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One Tuesday as he traveled to the Netherlands for a NATO summit, “and I think we’re going to keep it there for a long time.”
The president added that he told Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to “hold back the planes” sent to retaliate against the Iranian regime.
“And they did, which I respect very greatly,” Trump said.
Earlier, the president indicated that he believes “both” nations “violated” the cease-fire and expressed his displeasure with Israel’s military actions after the deal went into effect.
“Israel, as soon as we made the deal, they came out and dropped a boatload of bombs the likes of which I’ve never seen before. The biggest load that we’ve seen, I’m not happy with Israel,” Trump said.
Witkoff, during his appearance on “The Ingraham Angle,” said the president wants to see “a comprehensive peace agreement that goes beyond even the cease-fire,” and the talks are ongoing.
“We’re already talking to each other, not just directly, but also through interlocutors,” Witkoff said. “I think that the conversations are promising. We are hopeful that we can have a long-term peace agreement that resurrects Iran, that brings it into the league of nations, that creates long-term prosperity for Iran, and, most importantly, allows for the [six Arab nations in the Gulf region] to grow economically.”
“I’m very confident that we’re going to achieve that.”
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