Iran-Israel truce continues; Trump announces resumption of talks with Tehran
The fragile ceasefire between Iran and Israel entered its third day on Thursday (26), as the international community awaits a meeting between Washington and Tehran on the Islamic Republic's nuclear program.
Negotiations between the United States and Iran were interrupted by the Israeli offensive launched on June 13 against the Islamic country, with the claim that it intended to prevent the Tehran regime from producing an atomic bomb.
US President Donald Trump has drawn his country into the conflict with Sunday's bombings of three nuclear facilities in Iran, which he said had set back the country's nuclear program by "decades."
“We hope to reach a global peace agreement,” Trump’s special envoy for the Middle East, Steve Witkoff, told CNBC.
“We have conversations with the Iranians, multiple interlocutors have reached out to us and I believe they are prepared,” said Witkoff, who led the US delegation in the negotiations with Iran that began in April.
The US president said the ceasefire was “working very well” and that Israel and Iran were “tired, exhausted” by the conflict.
Iran's latest official toll, which only counts civilian casualties, says the Israeli military campaign has left 627 people dead and more than 4,870 injured. Tehran's missiles and drones launched in response have killed 28 people in Israel, officials said.
Iran insists on its right to have a civilian nuclear program, but is willing to resume negotiations with the United States to limit its development in exchange for the lifting of sanctions that are suffocating its economy.
"We're going to talk next week with Iran, we may sign a deal, I don't know yet," Trump said at the end of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) summit in The Hague, Netherlands.
The Republican president reiterated that Iran's nuclear facilities in Fordo, Natanz and Isfahan were "totally destroyed" by US bombings.
“They won’t be making bombs for a long time,” he stressed, adding that Iran’s nuclear program had gone back “decades.”
Iran has admitted that the complexes were “considerably damaged” by strikes by Israel and the United States.
But experts warn that the country could have preemptively removed its nearly 400 kilograms of uranium enriched to 60%, a level close to the 90% needed to produce an atomic bomb.
Furthermore, according to a confidential document revealed on Tuesday by CNN, the bombings would have blocked the entrances to some facilities without destroying the underground areas, which would have delayed the nuclear program by just a few months.
The White House acknowledged that the document was authentic but “completely misleading.” The Iranian facilities were “buried under miles and miles of rubble,” spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt said.
The Israeli military was more cautious. The war dealt a “heavy blow” to Iran’s nuclear program, but “it is still too early to assess the results of the operation,” said its spokesman, Brigadier General Effie Defrin.
In the same vein, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) considered it impossible to calculate the damage and requested access to Iranian nuclear facilities.
The UN agency has “lost visibility” over its enriched uranium reserves “since hostilities began,” said its director general, Argentine Rafael Grossi.
The fragile truce announced on Tuesday by Trump allowed a certain return to normality in Tehran, but still far from the usual movement and with many commercial establishments closed.
Saeed, a 39-year-old shopkeeper, welcomed the improved situation. “People are getting back to work and their lives,” he told AFP.
Authorities announced the progressive lifting of internet restrictions, which were tightened during the conflict, and the reopening of airspace in the eastern region of the country.
At the same time, the regime continues its campaign of arrests of alleged Israeli spies. In the Khuzestan region, in southwestern Iran, the press reported the arrest of at least 26 people accused of collaborating with the enemy country.
During the week, the Judiciary announced the execution by hanging of three men convicted of collaborating with Israel.
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