Iran-Israel ceasefire appears to hold under pressure from Trump

A shaky ceasefire began to take hold between Israel and Iran on Tuesday under pressure from U.S. President Donald Trump, raising hopes for an end to the biggest ever military confrontation between the Middle East arch-foes.

Trump scolded both sides for early violations of the truce he announced at 0500 GMT, but directed especially stinging criticism at Washington's close ally Israel over the scale of its strikes, telling it to "calm down now".

He later said Israel called off further attacks at his command to preserve the deal to end a 12-day air war with Iran.

Both Iran and Israel sent signals the conflict was over, at least for now.

President Masoud Pezeshkian hailed a "great victory" in a war he said Iran had successful ended, according to Iranian media.

Iran's official news agency IRNA earlier reported Pezeshkian as saying during a phone call with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman that Iran was ready to resolve differences with the U.S. based on international frameworks.

Israel's military, meanwhile, said all regions of the country had moved to full activity level without restrictions from 8 p.m. local time (1700 GMT). Its airport authority said Ben Gurion Airport had reopened.

Israeli armed forces chief of staff Eyal Zamir said the military was at "the conclusion of a significant chapter but the campaign against Iran is not over", though he added the military was refocusing on its war against Hamas in Gaza.

Whether the Israel-Iran truce can hold is a major question. Signaling a difficult path ahead, it took hours for Israel and Iran to even acknowledge that they had accepted the ceasefire that Trump said he had brokered.

Still, oil prices plunged and stock markets rallied worldwide in a sign of confidence arising from the ceasefire pact, which was taken to mean there would be no threat of disruption to critical oil supplies from the Gulf.