US, Iranian Officials Will Talk Next Week As Ceasefire Holds: Trump

US, Iranian Officials Will Talk Next Week As Ceasefire Holds: Trump

Dubai: Israel and Iran seemed to honor the fragile ceasefire between them for a second day Wednesday and U.S. President Donald Trump asserted that American and Iranian officials will talk next week, giving rise to cautious hope for longer-term peace. Trump, who helped negotiate the ceasefire that took hold Tuesday on the 12th day of the war, told reporters at a NATO summit that he was not particularly interested in restarting negotiations with Iran, insisting that U.S. strikes had destroyed its nuclear program. Earlier in the day, an Iranian official questioned whether the United States could be trusted after its weekend attack . 鈥淲e may sign an agreement, I don鈥檛 know,鈥 Trump said. 鈥淭he way I look at it, they fought, the war is done.” Iran has not acknowledged any talks taking place next week, though U.S. Mideast envoy Steve Witkoff has said there has been direct and indirect communication between the countries. A sixth round of U.S.-Iran negotiations was scheduled for earlier this month in Oman but was canceled after Israel attacked Iran. Earlier, Trump said the ceasefire was going 鈥渧ery well,鈥 and added that Iran was 鈥渘ot going to have a bomb, and they鈥檙e not going to enrich.鈥 Iran has insisted that it will not give up its nuclear program. In a vote underscoring the tough path ahead, its parliament agreed to fast-track a proposal that would effectively stop the country鈥檚 cooperation with the International Atomic Energy Agency , the U.N. watchdog that has monitored the program for years. Ahead of the vote, Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf criticized the IAEA for refusing 鈥渢o even pretend to condemn the attack on Iran’s nuclear facilities鈥 that the U.S. carried out Sunday. 鈥淔or this reason, the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran will suspend cooperation with the IAEA until security of nuclear facilities is ensured, and Iran鈥檚 peaceful nuclear program will move forward at a faster pace,” Qalibaf told lawmakers. IAEA Director General Rafael Mariano Grossi said he wrote to Iran to discuss resuming inspections of their nuclear facilities. Among other things, Iran claims to have moved its highly enriched uranium ahead of the U.S. strikes, and Grossi said his inspectors need to reassess the country鈥檚 stockpiles. 鈥淲e need to return,鈥 he said. 鈥淲e need to engage.鈥 French President Emmanuel Macron said he hoped Tehran would come back to the table. France was part of the 2015 deal with Iran that restricted its nuclear program, but the agreement began unraveling after Trump pulled the U.S. out in his first term. Macron spoke multiple times to Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian during the war. International Atomic Energy Agency Director Rafael Grossi said Wednesday that Iran must quickly resume cooperation with international inspectors, telling French broadcaster France 2 that the IAEA had lost visibility over sensitive nuclear materials since the onset of hostilities. Grossi said Iran is legally obligated to cooperate with the IAEA under the Non-Proliferation Treaty. 鈥淒uring a war, inspections are not possible. But now that hostilities have ceased, and given the sensitivity of this material, I believe it is in everyone鈥檚 interest that we resume our activities as soon as possible,” he said. Iran has long maintained that its nuclear program is peaceful, and U.S. intelligence agencies have assessed that Tehran is not actively pursuing a bomb. However, Israeli leaders have argued that Iran could quickly assemble a nuclear weapon. Israel is widely believed to be the only Middle Eastern country with nuclear weapons, which it has never acknowledged . Questions over effectiveness of the US strikes The Israel Atomic Energy Commission said its assessment was that the U.S. and Israeli strikes have 鈥渟et back Iran鈥檚 ability to develop nuclear weapons by many years.鈥 It did not give evidence to back up its claim. The U.S. strikes hit three Iranian nuclear sites, which Trump said 鈥渃ompletely and fully obliterated鈥 the country’s nuclear program. When asked about a U.S. intelligence report that found Iran鈥檚 nuclear program has been set back only a few months , Trump scoffed and said it would at least take years to rebuild. Iran鈥檚 Foreign Ministry spokesman, Esmail Baghaei, confirmed that the strikes by American B-2 bombers using bunker-buster bombs had caused significant damage. 鈥淥ur nuclear installations have been badly damaged, that鈥檚 for sure,鈥 he told Al Jazeera on Wednesday, refusing to go into detail. He seemed to suggest Iran might not shut out IAEA inspectors for good, noting that the bill before parliament only talks of…

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