Trump claims US-Iran talks next week, says nuclear deal may…; Iran’s response is…
Iran nuclear weapons: US President Donald Trump Wednesday claimed that talks between Iran and United States will be held next week, and nuclear deal with the Islamic Republic might also be on the table. “I’ll tell you what, we’re going to talk with them next week, with Iran. We may sign an agreement, I don’t know,” Trump told reporters at a press conference during the NATO summit in the Netherlands, Associated Press reported.
Iran says no talks with US
Notably, Iran has not acknowledged any talks taking place with the US next week, though Trump’s Mideast envoy Steve Witkoff has said there has been direct and indirect communication between the countries. Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has suggested that no talks will be held with Washington, stating that the United States had “betrayed” diplomacy by joining Israel in attacking Iran.
Earlier, Donald Trump helped negotiate a ceasefire that ended the 12-day long Israel-Iran war. According to Trump, the ceasefire, which took hold on Tuesday, was going “very well”, and Iran was “not going to have a bomb and they’re not going to enrich.”
The US President said he wasn’t particularly interested in restarting negotiations with Iran, insisting that US strikes had destroyed its nuclear program, a claim challenged by various media reports and independent sources. “The way I look at it, they fought, the war is done,” Trump said.
Iran to bar IAEA monitoring
Meanwhile, Iran has insisted that it will not give up its nuclear program. In a vote underscoring the tough path ahead, the Iranian parliament agreed to fast-track a proposal that would effectively stop the country’s cooperation with the UN nuclear watchdog, International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).
Ahead of the vote, Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf criticized the IAEA for having “refused to even pretend to condemn the attack on Iran’s nuclear facilities” that the United States carried out on Sunday. “For this reason, the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran will suspend cooperation with the IAEA until security of nuclear facilities is ensured, and Iran’s peaceful nuclear program will move forward at a faster pace,” Qalibaf told lawmakers.
IAEA Director General Rafael Mariano Grossi said he had already written to Iran to discuss resuming inspections of their nuclear facilities.
Iran has also threatened to opt out of the Nuclear non-proliferation treaty (NPT) regime.
(With inputs from agencies)
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