Israel and Iran seemed to honour the fragile ceasefire between them for a second day Wednesday (June 25, 2025) 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.
Also read: Israel-Iran war highlights on June 25, 2025
Mr. Trump, who helped negotiate the ceasefire that took hold Tuesday (June 24, 2025) on the 12th day of the war, told reporters at a North Atlantic Treaty Organization (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.
“We may sign an agreement; I don’t know,” Mr. Trump said. “The 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 cancelled after Israel attacked Iran.
Earlier, Mr. Trump said the ceasefire was going “very well” and added that Iran was “not going to have a bomb, and they’re not going to enrich.”
Iran has insisted that it will not give up its nuclear programme. In a vote underscoring the tough path ahead, its parliament agreed to fast-track a proposal that would effectively stop the country’s cooperation with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), the U.N. watchdog that has monitored the programme for years.
Ahead of the vote, Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf criticised the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) for refusing “to even pretend to condemn the attack on Iran’s nuclear facilities” that the U.S. carried out Sunday (June 22, 2025)
“For this reason, the Atomic Energy Organisation of Iran will suspend cooperation with the IAEA until security of nuclear facilities is ensured, and Iran’s peaceful nuclear programme will move forward at a faster pace,” Mr. 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’s stockpiles.
“We need to return,” he said. “We need to engage.”
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.
The Israel Atomic Energy Commission said its assessment was that the U.S. and Israeli strikes have “set back Iran’s ability to develop nuclear weapons by many years.” It did not give evidence to back up its claim.
The U.S. strikes hit three Iranian nuclear sites, which Mr. Trump said “completely and fully obliterated” the country’s nuclear program. When asked about a U.S. intelligence report that found Iran’s nuclear program has been set back only a few months, Trump scoffed and said it would at least take years to rebuild.
Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokesman, Esmail Baghaei, confirmed that the strikes by American B-2 bombers using bunker-buster bombs had caused significant damage.
“Our nuclear installations have been badly damaged, that’s for sure,” 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 suspending work with the agency, not ending it. He also insisted Iran has the right to pursue a nuclear energy program.
“Iran is determined to preserve that right under any circumstances,” he said.
Published – June 26, 2025 03:23 am IST
