Israel and Iran exchanged missiles on Monday, May 8th—with the Islamic Republic firing the first shot.
Despite the formal cessation of the combat that began in October 2024, hostilities between the two states have continued in the form of a war of words. Iran has also backed various proxies against the Jewish State including Hezbollah, which it claims to have been defending from Israel when it launched a number of projectiles earlier on Monday. Israel retaliated in kind, reportedly hitting an Iranian petrochemical complex.
There was also a missile attack on Israel by Yemen’s Tehran-backed Houthi militias.
The renewed fighting comes despite some diplomatic activity over the weekend. Pakistan’s Mohsin Naqvi visited Tehran, bearing what he called a “special letter” to Iran’s supreme leader. Far from the action, European Union representative, Kaja Kallas called on both sides to “sit down to a negotiation table and agree.”
U.S. president Donald Trump was not pleased, having already criticized Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu in the Financial Times (“I call the shots. I call all the shots. He doesn’t call the shots”) and warning Tehran on Fox News:
What I would suggest to Iran: You’ve shot your missiles, that’s enough, get back to the table and make a deal.
