President Donald Trump said Monday night that the ceasefire deal he brokered between Israel and Iran, halting a nearly two-week conflict, will go on "forever."
"I think the ceasefire is unlimited," Trump told NBC News in a telephone interview. "It's going to go forever."
Trump made his first public statements on the ceasefire, which he announced earlier in the day in a Truth Social post. Although neither Israel nor Iran has reportedly commented publicly on the ceasefire, Trump said their conflict was over.
"Yes. I don't believe they will ever be shooting at each other again," Trump said.
The ceasefire announcement came on the same day Iran fired six short-to-medium-range ballistic missiles at the U.S. military base in Qatar, but that appeared to be carefully planned to avoid escalation and caused no reported casualties.
"It's a great day for America," Trump said. "It's a great day for the Middle East. I'm very happy to have been able to get the job done. A lot of people were dying, and it was only going to get worse. It would have brought the whole Middle East down."
A senior White House official reportedly said Trump brokered the deal in a call to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and with Trump's team in contact with Iranian officials.
Reuters reported that Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani secured Iran's agreement to the ceasefire on a call with Iranian officials held after Iran's strikes on the U.S. base in Qatar.
Michael Katz ✉
Michael Katz is a Newsmax reporter with more than 30 years of experience reporting and editing on news, culture, and politics.