Two men examine fallen missile debris half-buried in the ground on the outskirts of Jericho. (June 8, 2026)
‘Israel’, Iran trade fire despite Trump's call for restraint
Note: AI technology was used to generate this article’s audio.
Israel and Iran traded fire on Monday, seriously testing a fragile truce and threatening hopes for a deal to end the Middle East war.
The new attacks, including a strike on an Iranian petrochemical complex, came hours after US President Donald Trump called on ‘Israel’ to refrain from retaliating against Tehran's missiles.
AFP journalists in Jerusalem heard a series of explosions as they took shelter and the ‘Israeli’ army said it worked to intercept a new wave of Iranian missiles.
The retaliation followed ‘Israel’ saying it fired on western and central Iran, tit-for-tat action against Tehran's assault on Sunday of 11 missiles, all of which were intercepted, with no casualties.
‘Israel's’ military and Iranian local media said Monday that ‘Israel’ struck a petrochemical company in Mahshahr in southwestern Iran.
Trump had sought to rein in ‘Israeli’ Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, as ‘Israel’ accused Tehran of making a "grave mistake".
"I am going to call Bibi right now and tell him not to retaliate," Trump was quoted as saying by Axios journalist Barak Ravid in a phone interview, using Netanyahu's nickname.
"Israel had its strike and Iran had its strike. We don't need another one," Trump reportedly said.
In a separate interview with Fox News, Trump said: "What I would suggest to Iran: You've shot your missiles, that's enough, get back to the table and make a deal."
Ravid later posted that a US official said Trump spoke with Netanyahu, although the White House and Trump have yet to comment.
