US President Donald Trump has announced Israel and Iran have agreed to a ceasefire and that the war could be "considered ended" within 24 hours.
But the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) continued alerting residents to incoming missiles right up until the reported ceasefire cut-off time.
Earlier today, just after 8am AEST (6pm Washington time), Mr Trump posted on social media and said a ceasefire would begin at about 2pm AEST.
"It has been fully agreed by and between Israel and Iran that there will be a Complete and Total CEASEFIRE … for 12 hours, at which point the War will be considered, ENDED," he wrote.
He said 24 hours after the ceasefire began, an "official end" to the war would be "saluted by the world".
For about 2 hours after Mr Trump's announcement neither Israel nor Iran publicly responded, although the Reuters news agency said a senior Iranian official had confirmed the ceasefire.
Then, at roughly 12pm, conflicting information emerged about whether Iran had agreed to a ceasefire.
Iran's Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi posted on social media saying "no 'agreement' on any ceasefire or cessation of military operations" had been made. He added that if Israel stopped its attacks, Iran did not intend to continue its strikes.
Minutes later, he followed up with another post that said Iran's military operations had "continued until the very last minute".
"Together with all Iranians, 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," he said.
Meanwhile, local media in Iraq and Israel reported that Iran had agreed to the ceasefire on the condition it could carry out a final strike.
Israel is yet to publicly comment on the ceasefire announcement.
Iran continued firing waves of missiles at Israel after Mr Trump's announcement.
Israeli residents were alerted to incoming rocket fire in the minutes after the ceasefire was due to begin, but according to Reuters, Iranian state media said the missiles were fired before the ceasefire came into effect.
Israel's Magen David Adom, the national ambulance service, said four people had been killed in a strike in southern Israel.
Iran firing at US military bases was 'expected': Trump
Mr Trump's announcement came just hours after Iran fired a barrage of missiles at a US military base in Qatar, in retaliation for the US bombing three Iranian nuclear sites over the weekend.
Iran had notified Qatar of the attack on the Al Udeid base in advance, allowing time for its evacuation to prevent casualties.
Mr Trump subsequently thanked Iran in a social media post, and described the attack as "expected" and "very weak".
Iran and Israel have been trading missile fire since Israel attacked Iran on June 13, in what the Israel Defense Forces called a "pre-emptive, precise, combined offensive … on Iran's nuclear program". Israel's initial targets included military leaders and nuclear scientists.
A senior White House official told Reuters that Mr Trump had brokered the ceasefire deal in a call with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Israel had agreed so long as Iran did not launch further attacks.
US Vice-President JD Vance said the war between Iran and Israel was effectively over, and it was time to "restart a real peace process" in the Middle East.
"We have to talk to Iran and, of course, to Israel about what the future holds because while we have obliterated the Iranian nuclear program, our hope and our expectation is that they're not going to try to rebuild that program," he told Fox News.
Asked about an earlier social media post in which Mr Trump raised the prospect of regime change in Iran, Mr Vance said: "I think what the president was saying … is if the Iranian people want to do something about their own leadership, that's up to the Iranian people."
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said Australia welcomed the ceasefire announcement and had consistently called for "dialogue, diplomacy and de-escalation".
"The safety of Australians in the region is our priority," he said in a statement that was issued before Iran denied an "agreement" had been reached.
"We continue to closely monitor the situation in the Middle East and are deeply concerned about keeping Australians safe."
