The FBI is reassigning some agents who focus on national security — and who had been pulled from their duties to work on immigration cases — back to their old jobs, out of concern for potential Iran-related threats, four people with direct knowledge of the matter told NBC News.
Don Holstead, assistant director for the FBI’s counterterrorism division, issued guidance over the weekend reassigning agents who work on counterterrorism, counterintelligence and cyber issues, but had been sidetracked to immigration duties, two people said.
All four sources said the move was related to the possibility of Iranian retaliation for the recent U.S. military strike. NBC News has reported that Iran threatened American officials that they could unleash so-called sleeper cells inside the United States.
Many current and former agents had expressed concern for months about new requirements to help the Department of Homeland Security track down undocumented immigrants. This shift, they had said, diverted their attention from crucial national security threats.
“Guess they are realizing this whole national security thing is important, after all,” one of the sources said.
The FBI did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Reporting from Tel Aviv, Israel
Israel’s leadership was “stunned” and “embarrassed” by the American president’s harsh rebuke of both Iran and Israel this morning, said a person familiar with the discussions, after Israel continued attacking Iran in the hours before Trump’s ceasefire took effect.
“They were surprised that he went and did all that in such a public way and basically switched on them very quickly,” the person said. “They just ended this war on a high and then this is kind of a little … nick.”
The person verified Trump’s own retelling of events: The president said he personally contacted the Israelis to prevent them from striking back against Iran.
But despite the ceasefire’s rocky morning, during which both Iran and Israel accused each other of violating the deal, top Israeli leaders are convinced the ceasefire will hold.
The atmosphere among Israel’s leadership was ebullient on Tuesday, the person said, even as Israel continues to determine just how much damage days of American and Israeli strikes did to Iran’s nuclear program.
Despite Israeli leaders regularly invoking the prospect of changing Iran’s regime, the country’s leadership is satisfied with the “massive achievements” Israel managed before the ceasefire came into effect several hours ago.
In a statement today, IDF Chief of General Staff Eyal Zamir said that Israel’s campaign against Iran is not over despite the ceasefire agreement.
“We have concluded a significant phase, but the campaign against Iran is not over,” Zamir said in the statement. “We are entering a new phase based on the achievements of the current one.”
Zamir applauded the military for its efforts, which he said “set Iran’s nuclear project back by years,” but stressed that Israel “must stay focused,” adding that “the focus shifts back to Gaza” and dismantling Hamas.
“Despite the phenomenal achievement — we must keep our feet on the ground,” Zamir said. “Many challenges still lie ahead.”
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., lambasted the Trump administration in a statement today over its decision to postpone today’s classified briefing about the situation in Iran.
“This last-minute postponement is outrageous, evasive, and derelict. Senators deserve full transparency, and the administration has a legal obligation to inform Congress precisely about what is happening,” Schumer said.
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer at the U.S. Capitol on June 17.Anna Moneymaker / Getty Images
“What is the administration so afraid of?” he continued. “Why won’t they engage with Congress on the critical details: the results of the recent strike, the scope and trajectory of this conflict, the administration’s long-term strategy to prevent Iran from obtaining nuclear weapons, and the potential risks facing American citizens and our servicemembers?”
The House and Senate were set to receive classified briefings on Iran on Capitol Hill this afternoon, but the one for the Senate has been delayed until Thursday to allow for Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth to return from the NATO summit and attend the briefings, three sources familiar with the change told NBC News. It’s unclear when the House will receive its briefing.
Schumer said that neither Cabinet secretary was set to attend the briefing today.
“If Rubio and Hegseth want to come up on Thursday, in addition, not in replacement, to the planned briefing, fine,” he said.
Following President Donald Trump’s move to strike Iran’s nuclear facilities, other Middle Eastern nations have been largely silent on the U.S. getting involved in the conflict between Israel and Iran.
Eurasia Group Managing Director Firas Maksad joins Ana Cabrera to share his analysis.
In a call with Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim, Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian said Iran will not violate the ceasefire if Israel doesn’t violate it.
“If the criminal Zionist regime does not violate the ceasefire, Iran will not violate it as well,” Pezeshkian said.
Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One today that he opposes the idea of regime change in Iran, which comes in the wake of a new ceasefire between Iran and Israel and a day after Iran targeted a U.S. base in the Middle East in retaliatory strikes.
“No, I don’t want it,” Trump said about regime change in Iran as he flew to the NATO summit in the Netherlands. “I’d like to see everything calm down as quickly as possible. Regime change takes chaos, and ideally, we don’t want to see so much chaos.”
His remark comes just two days after he expressed openness on Truth Social to supporting regime change in Iran, a comment he made a day after he authorized U.S. strikes on the country’s nuclear facilities.
He reiterated that Iran can’t have a nuclear weapon and said, “I think it’s the last thing on their mind right now.”
Former Secretary of State Antony Blinken argues in a new op-ed that Trump’s strike on Iran’s three major nuclear facilities was a “mistake” that was “unwise and unnecessary.”
In the op-ed published today in The New York Times, Blinken said it never would have come to this if Trump, during his first term in office, hadn’t torn up the Iranian nuclear agreement negotiated by the Obama administration. Blinken wrote that Iran accelerated its uranium enrichment after the U.S. withdrew from that deal and now Trump is “trying to put out a fire on which he poured gasoline.”
Blinken, who led the State Department under Biden and played a key role in U.S. policy toward Iran under Obama, said that there was “still time for diplomacy to work” before a strike and it “wasn’t nearly the emergency that Mr. Trump portrayed it to be.”
The former secretary of state suggested that the strikes may have further provoked Iran and have “risked precipitating what we want to prevent.”
“While there is no doubt the American strike set back Iran’s nuclear ambitions, Iran could rebuild quickly, in locations and at depths virtually immune to airstrikes, while pursuing weaponization at the same time,” he warned.
Trump’s nominee to serve as the admiral and commander of U.S. Central Command, Vice Adm. Charles B. Cooper II, told Congress that the U.S. has to pay attention to collaboration among Iran, Russia, China and North Korea.
“I think at the strategic level, that emerging axis is troubling and one that we’ll have to keep our eye on, and if confirmed, I will absolutely do that,” Cooper told the Senate Armed Services Committee at his confirmation hearing.
“We’ve certainly seen the tactical implications of support from Iran to Russia. We’ve seen tactical implications of Chinese companies providing sensors and weapons and components to Iran who ship them to the Houthis who shoot them at Americans,” Cooper said about the Iranian-backed group in Yemen. “I think we need to call those types of things out more, but clearly that emerging force, that axis, is one that we need to pay attention to.”
Reporting from Beersheba, Israel
The truce between Israel and Iran was always going to be complicated.
After Trump’s statement about a ceasefire came out, both Israel and Iran said they had agreed to it. But there was an initial missile salvo from Iran early this morning Israel time, just as the sun was coming up and air raid sirens wailed.
That was before the ceasefire took effect and, according to local authorities, a 1,000-pound missile hit an apartment building in the southern city of Beersheba.
It was clearly a civilian building. People’s personal belongings were strewn about, books were on the floor and guitars hanging on walls. Bottles were strewn around. Most of the damage was on the fifth and sixth floors.
At least four people were killed, officials on the scene said, adding that they were in a safe room but it took a direct hit from the missile.
Technically, in terms of timing, it was launched before the ceasefire came into effect. But after that, Iran fired more missiles, according to the Israelis, who said they were all shot down.
Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz and the country’s military then suggested they would forcefully respond.
But after Trump urged restraint, they took out a radar installation outside of Iran’s capital, Tehran, but limited it to that.
You could argue this was a proportionate response, but we’ll see where we’re at by the end of the day.
U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres welcomed Trump’s announcement of a ceasefire between Israel and Iran and urged the two countries to “respect it fully.”
U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres speaks during a United Nations Security Council emergency meeting in New York on Sunday.Bryan R. Smith / AFP – Getty Images
“The fighting must stop,” Guterres wrote on X. “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.”
Several Republican members of Congress are renewing their calls for Trump to receive the Nobel Peace Prize for his involvement in the ceasefire struck between Israel and Iran.
“I just nominated @realDonaldTrump for the Nobel Peace Prize in recognition of his historic role in brokering a ceasefire between Israel and Iran and preventing the world’s largest state sponsor of terrorism from obtaining the most lethal weapon on the planet,” Rep. Buddy Carter, R-Ga., wrote in a post on X this morning.
Sen. Katie Boyd Britt, R-Ala., said in a post on X that Trump “deserves to win the Nobel Peace Prize for the historic deals he’s made across the Middle East and world.”
A few GOP lawmakers said that Trump deserved the prize for his role in his first term in reaching the Abraham Accords, including Rep. Abe Hamadeh, R-Ariz., who said on the social media platform about Trump: “what he just pulled off in dismantling Iran’s nuclear program and securing a ceasefire between Israel and Iran just 55 hours later may be an even more impressive achievement.”
Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Calif., said on X, “Now the world can see why I nominated @realDonaldTrump for the Nobel Peace Prize way back in March.”
Trump was involved in brokering the new ceasefire, according to a senior White House official, NBC News reported last night.
Four U.S. presidents have won the Nobel Peace Prize: Theodore Roosevelt, Woodrow Wilson, Jimmy Carter and Barack Obama.
Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian called the emir of Qatar, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, today, according to a statement from the Amiri Diwan of Qatar, the kingdom’s administrative office.
Al Thani reiterated to Pezeshkian his condemnation of Iran’s attack on Al Udeid Air Base, to which the Iranian president expressed his regret, adding that Qatar and its people “were not the target of this operation,” per the statement.
Pezeshkian “stressed that the State of Qatar will remain a neighboring, Muslim, and brotherly state, and expressed his hope that relations between the two countries will always be based on the principles of respect for the sovereignty of states and good neighborliness,” according to Qatar.
Trump posted on his Truth Social account from Air Force One that he was heading to the NATO summit.
He said that “at worst, it will be a much calmer period than what I just went through with Israel and Iran.”
“I look forward to seeing all of my very good European friends, and others. Hopefully, much will be accomplished!” he wrote.
Trump will meet with other NATO leaders at the summit, which will take place at The Hague in the Netherlands.
The deputy chief of Iran’s Faraja police intelligence unit was killed in an Israeli strike, the state-run FARS news agency reported today.
Brig. Gen. Alireza Lotfi was killed Monday, as both countries traded fire before a ceasefire came into effect early this morning.
Iran’s attack on the biggest American base in the Middle East was “unacceptable,” Qatar said in a statement today.
The tiny Gulf kingdom which is home to Al Udeid Air Base, said its “air defenses intercepted all missiles” fired at the facility where thousands of U.S. troops are stationed, “except for one missile that landed in an empty area.”
Missiles and air-defense interceptors over Doha after Iran launched an attack on Al Udeid U.S. Air Base yesterday.Getty Images
Blaming Israel for generating instability which may “lead the region to an even more difficult situation,” it added, “We hope the ceasefire between Iran and Israel will continue and urge all parties to abide by it.”
Netanyahu’s office said that Israel is refraining from carrying out further attacks on Iran following a phone call with Trump.
“In the conversation, President Trump expressed his immense appreciation for Israel — which achieved all of its war goals,” it said in a statement. “The President also expressed his confidence in the stability of the ceasefire.”
The office also provided more details on Israel’s attacks on Iran overnight and early this morning.
Iranians beneath a patriotic billboard in Tehran on June 21.Morteza Nikoubazl / NurPhoto via Getty Images
It said Israel first struck Tehran at 3 a.m. local time in an attempt to target Iranian security forces. Shortly before the ceasefire went into effect at 7 a.m. local time, Iran launched a barrage of missiles, one of which claimed the lives of four Israelis in Beersheba in Tel Aviv, it said.
The statement added that Iran then fired a missile into Israeli territory at 7:06 a.m. local time, after the ceasefire came into effect, followed by two other missiles a few hours later at 10:25 a.m. local time.
“The missiles were intercepted or fell in open areas without casualties or damage,” it said, adding that the air force destroyed a radar array near Tehran in response to the violations.
Iran’s prison officials said they transferred inmates from Evin prison in Tehran to other prisons in the Tehran province, after Israel yesterday bombed the detention facility, damaging parts of it. The prison is notorious for incarcerating the Iranian regime’s political dissidents.
They added that the inmates’ transfer to other prisons took place “in order to respect prisoners’ rights and provide better services,” according to the Iranian state media outlet ISNA.
Trump spoke with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on the phone once aboard Air Force One, urging him to turn around Israeli planes set to target Iran, a White House official said.
“President Trump was exceptionally firm and direct with Prime Minister Netanyahu about what needed to happen to sustain the ceasefire,” the official told NBC News.
“The prime minister understood the severity of the situation and the concerns President Trump expressed.”
Iran’s military, the IRGC, said earlier that it fired 14 missiles at Israel during the final hours before the ceasefire came into effect, calling the military operation “a historic and unforgettable lesson.”
The IRGC said the missiles came in response to “a brutal attack” carried out by the Israeli government that had killed several Iranians, after the country was “begging its American partners for a ceasefire,” according to the Iranian state media outlet FARS.
President Trump in his latest post on Truth Social insisted that the ceasefire between Israel and Iran was in effect after earlier rebuking both sides for violating the truce by launching fresh attacks.
“ISRAEL is not going to attack Iran. All planes will turn around and head home, while doing a friendly ‘Plane Wave’ to Iran,” Trump wrote.
“Nobody will be hurt, the Ceasefire is in effect!” he added.
Trump, in more comments made to reporters ahead of the NATO summit in The Hague, said he was “not happy” that Israel fired fresh rockets at Iran.
“These guys got to calm down. Ridiculous,” Trump said.
President Donald Trump speaks to the press this morning.Mandel Ngan / AFP via Getty Images
The president said that he didn’t like “plenty of things” he saw, including “the fact that Israel went out this morning at all.”
“I’m not happy with Iran either, but I’m really unhappy if Israel’s going out this morning,” he added.
Earlier, Trump in a strongly-worded post on Truth Social urged Israel to refrain from striking Iran. “ISRAEL. DO NOT DROP THOSE BOMBS. IF YOU DO IT IS A MAJOR VIOLATION. BRING YOUR PILOTS HOME, NOW!” he wrote.
The warning came after Trump said a truce between Iran and Israel had come into effect. Israel’s military subsequently said it had intercepted a missile launched by Iran, which Tehran denied, before launching a counterattack.
Trump said that both Iran and Israel violated the ceasefire he announced yesterday.
“I think they both violated it,” he said. “I’m not sure they did it intentionally. They couldn’t rein people back. I don’t like the fact that Israel went out this morning at all, and I’m going to see if I can stop it.”
“We basically have two countries that have been fighting so long and so hard that they don’t know what the f— they’re doing,” he said.
Israel had earlier accused Iran of breaching the ceasefire by launching missiles and had vowed to “respond forcefully.”
The ceasefire agreement between Israel and Iran “must expand to include Gaza,” a group representing families of the hostages still being held in the Palestinian enclave said.
“We call on the government to engage in urgent negotiations that will bring home all the hostages and end the war. Those who can achieve a ceasefire with Iran can also end the war in Gaza,” the Hostages and Missing Families Forum said in a statement.
“The 12-day operation in Iran has concluded — now it’s time to end the 627-day war,” the group said. “To conclude this decisive operation against Iran without leveraging our success to bring home all the hostages would be a grave failure.”
Of the 251 people abducted by Hamas during its Oct. 7, 2023, terrorist attack against Israel, 50 are still being held by the militant group, less than half of them believed to be alive.
NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte reiterated the organization’s stance that Iran should not have a nuclear weapon.
“Allies have long agreed that Iran must not develop a nuclear weapon,” Rutte said yesterday at the 2025 NATO summit in The Hague. “Allies have repeatedly urged Iran to meet its obligations under the Non-Proliferation Treaty.”
Rutte also said that NATO is prepared to defend “every inch of ally territory should any potential adversary make the mistake of attacking any ally.”
NATO members have agreed on a defense investment plan, where 5% of the gross domestic product will be invested in defending member states, Rutte said. “This is a quantum leap that is ambitious, historic and fundamental to securing our future,” he added.
Qatar called for an end to Israel’s war in Gaza today as it criticized Iran for targeting a large base housing U.S. forces in the country.
Palestinians attend a funeral today for a relative who was killed by an Israeli strike in Gaza City.Khames Alrefi / Anadolu via Getty Images
“It is time for the world to stand together to put an end to Israel’s actions and halt its aggression against Gaza,” the Qatari government said today in a statement.
Qatar has mediated a number of conflicts, giving the tiny but rich Gulf kingdom an outsize influence in the region.
Trump just warned Israel against launching an attack.
“DO NOT DROP THOSE BOMBS. IF YOU DO IT IS A MAJOR VIOLATION,” Trump said on his social media platform Truth Social, adding, “BRING YOUR PILOTS HOME, NOW!”
At least five people were killed when a missile strike hit southern Israel early today, Israeli emergency services said.
The aftermath of an Iranian missile strike on Beer Sheva, Israel, this morning.Erik Marmor / Getty Images
“This is a very difficult scene, with extensive damage and destruction to residential buildings as a result of a direct and deadly missile hit,” a spokesperson for United Hatzalah, a volunteer-based emergency service, said in a statement.
Almost two dozen others were injured, including two who faced moderate injuries, said a spokesperson for the Israeli emergency service, Magen David Adom, as first responders continue combing the area.
A billboard has appeared in Tehran today that reads in Farsi and Hebrew, “A severe blow… The vile and villainous Zionist regime has made a grave mistake.”
Atta Kenare / AFP via Getty Images
Trump said last night that he expects the ceasefire that he announced between Israel and Iran will end all military hostilities between the two countries.
“I think the ceasefire is unlimited. It’s going to go forever,” Trump said in a phone interview.
Asked whether the war was completely over, Trump said: “Yes. I don’t believe they will ever be shooting at each other again.”
Trump said on Truth Social that the two countries had agreed to enter into a ceasefire, which would be rolled out in stages over the next 24 hours.
Israeli Finance Minister Betzalel Smotrich expressed his “deepest condolences” to the families of those killed this morning in Beersheba.
“We removed an immediate existential threat to the eternity of Israel and severely damaged the Iranian ayatollah regime, including by destroying dozens of targets in Tehran tonight,” he wrote in a post on X.
“Now with all our strength to Gaza, to complete the task — to destroy Hamas and return our hostages and, with God’s help, to ensure the people of Israel many years of security and growth from strength,” Smotrich continued.
Israel and Iran have confirmed a ceasefire despite a recent strike by Iran on an apartment building in Beer Sheva, Israel, killed at least five people. NBC News’ Raf Sanchez reports on whether this fragile ceasefire will hold.
Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz accused Iran of breaching the ceasefire, hours after it came into effect, saying in a statement that he had instructed the IDF to “forcefully respond.”
Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz in 2024.Kobi Wolf / Bloomberg via Getty Images file
“In light of Iran’s complete violation of the ceasefire declared by the US President and the launch of missiles towards Israel,” Katz said he has instructed the IDF to “continue the intense activity of attacking Tehran to thwart regime targets and terrorist infrastructures in Tehran.”
Qatar has submitted a complaint to the United Nations over Iran’s attack yesterday on Al Udeid Air Base southwest of Doha, where thousands of U.S. troops are stationed.
The Qatari Foreign Affairs Ministry said the attack, which was “successfully intercepted by Qatar’s air defenses,” was a “gravely serious escalation represented by a blatant violation of Qatar’s sovereignty and territorial integrity, posing a direct threat to regional peace and security.”
Qatar called for an immediate halt to all military activity and a “serious return” to the negotiating table, and said it reserved the right “to respond directly in a manner proportionate to the nature and scale of this blatant aggression.”
Iran has denied launching a missile at Israel after agreeing to a ceasefire between the two countries, state media has reported.
Iran’s state-run television IRIB, Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting, said reports claiming a missile was launched from Iran after the ceasefire “was imposed” were denied.
NBC News was not immediately able to independently verify the situation on the ground.
The Israeli military has said it will “respond with force” to what it described as a “severe violation” of its ceasefire with Iran.
The IDF’s chief of general staff, Eyal Zamir, made the statement not long after the truce was announced in a situational assessment, the military said in a statement.
Rocket trails above the Israeli coastal city of Netanya, amid Iranian missile attacks this morning.Jack Guez / AFP via Getty Images
A video purportedly showing an explosion at Iran’s Evin prison yesterday may have been partially AI-generated. The video was shared by Iranian state media and Israel’s foreign minister, as well as multiple regional and Western media outlets. It was also used by some NBC News platforms.
NBC News initially used the video after confirmation from both Iran and Israeli authorities of an Israeli attack on the prison, and precisely geolocated the scene in the video to the southern part of the prison by comparing it with street-level imagery and photos of the location.
The video was removed from NBC News platforms as subsequent analysis suggested it may have been partially AI-generated using a real, archival photo of the prison. Disinformation on social media has been a growing issue for journalists covering the war.
Israel has achieved “all of the objectives” of its military operations in Iran, the Israeli government said, announcing it had agreed to Trump’s proposal for a ceasefire.
“Israel has removed a dual immediate existential threat — both in the nuclear and ballistic missile fields,” it said.
“In light of achieving the objectives of the operation, and in full coordination with President Trump, Israel has agreed to the president’s proposal for a bilateral ceasefire,” it said, adding it will respond to any ceasefire violations.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is expected to make a statement later today.
Iran has launched its last round of missiles at Israel as a ceasefire takes effect, according to Iranian state media.
“Ceasefire begins following four waves of Iranian attacks on Israeli-occupied territories,” the English-language state media Press TV said on X.
In a post on his Truth Social site, Trump also said a ceasefire had taken effect.
“THE CEASEFIRE IS NOW IN EFFECT. PLEASE DO NOT VIOLATE IT!” he wrote.
Iran’s military operation to “punish Israel for its aggression continued until the very last minute, at 4am,” Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said early today, referring to the ceasefire deadline (8:30 p.m. ET) that Trump had mentioned.
Destruction from an Iranian missile strike in Beersheba in southern Israel today.John Wessels / AFP via Getty Images
“I thank our brave Armed Forces who remain ready to defend our dear country until their last drop of blood, and who responded to any attack by the enemy until the very last minute,” Araghchi said.
He did not explicitly say whether Iran had agreed to a ceasefire, having disputed the idea of a ceasefire in an earlier X post. Iran would stop attacking Israel as long as Israel ceases its strikes, he had said earlier.
