THE fragile ceasefire between Iran and Israel appeared to be holding today after the deal brokered by the United States initially faltered.

The false start in the truce sparked a testy response from US President Donald Trump.

An Israeli military official who spoke on the condition of anonymity in line with military regulations accused Iran of launching two missiles at Israel hours into the tenuous ceasefire. Both were intercepted, the official said.

Iranian television reported that the military denied firing missiles after the start of the ceasefire, while condemning Israel for pre-dawn strikes of its own.

Mr Trump told reporters at the White House before departing for a Nato summit that, in his view, both sides had broken the deal.

The president had particularly strong words for Israel, a close ally, while suggesting Iran may have fired on the country by mistake.

Mr Trump said: “We basically have two countries that have been fighting so long and so hard that they don’t know what the fuck they’re doing.”

But later he said the deal was saved.

“Israel is not going to attack Iran. All planes will turn around and head home, while doing a friendly ‘plane wave’ to Iran. Nobody will be hurt. The ceasefire is in effect,” Mr Trump said on a social media post.

But the Israelis did “retaliate,” although it appeared to consist of dropping a bomb onto an open field near Tehran.

The conflict began when Israel launched an illegal and unprovoked attack against Iranian military and residential sites on June 13.

Tel Aviv has claimed for decades, without evidence, that Tehran was on the verge of developing atomic weapons.

Iran has long maintained that its nuclear programme is peaceful.

Many worried the war might widen after the US dropped bunker-buster bombs on Iranian sites over the weekend.

But there is mounting evidence that the Iranians were warned of the attack in advance by the US giving time for the site to be evacuated.

Tehran’s limited retaliatory strike on a US military base in Qatar on Monday, also appeared to be well choreographed to enable a de-escalation in hostilities.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that Israel agreed to a bilateral ceasefire with Iran, in co-ordination with Mr Trump, claiming to have achieved all of Israel’s war goals.

The deal will have been signed off by Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

Mr Trump insisted on Tuesday that he wasn’t seeking regime change in Iran, two days after floating the idea himself in a social media post.