US President Donald Trump says the ceasefire between Iran and Israel is in place. His words came shortly after he criticised both sides and accused them of violating the truce.

"ISRAEL will not attack Iran. All planes will turn around and go home, while making a friendly 'plane wave' to Iran. No one will get hurt," Trump wrote on the social network Truth.

Minutes earlier, he chastised Iran and also close US ally Israel for violating the ceasefire he initially announced.

The two countries "have been fighting so long and so hard they don't know what the hell they're doing, do you understand that?", Trump told reporters at the White House.

Iran has violated the ceasefire, "but Israel has violated it, too," the Republican said before leaving for the NATO summit in The Hague. 

"So I'm not happy with them. I'm not happy with Iran either. But I'm really unhappy if Israel attacks this morning. I have to get Israel to calm down. Israel, right after we made the deal, came out and dropped a bunch of bombs like I've never seen before," the president added.

In an unusually public display of anger toward Israel, the American leader was clearly trying to goad his ally into calling off the warplanes in real time.

Earlier that morning, he tweeted, "ISRAEL. Don't drop those bombs" - without being clear which bombs he was referring to.

"IF YOU DO, IT'S A SERIOUS VIOLATION. GET YOUR PILOTS HOME, NOW!" the post added.

If upheld, the truce would be a major political victory for Trump after his risky decision to send US bombers over the weekend to attack three nuclear facilities in Iran that Israel and the US say are being used to secretly create an atomic bomb. 

The US leader had said that the ceasefire would be a phased 24-hour process that would begin around 04:00 GMT on 24 June (6 a.m. Bulgarian time), with Iran first unilaterally halting all operations. Trump said Israel would follow suit 12 hours later.

Israel bombed Iran as part of an offensive that began on June 13. The United States joined the attack with a mission against the underground Fordow complex and two other sites.

Speaking to reporters at the White House, Trump insisted that the US bombing mission was a success. | BGNES