The US will re-enter talks with Iran next week after a ceasefire with Israel that also raises the prospects of peace in Gaza, President Donald Trump has said.
Speaking at a Nato summit, Mr Trump said Iran is “not going to be building bombs for a long time” after US attacks, as mystery surrounded the fate of Iran's nuclear materials. He compared the US strikes to the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki that ended the Second World War.
A truce continued to hold after Israel and Iran halted a 12-day air war, their worst ever direct conflict. If Israel “does not take any aggressive actions, Iran will not react either”, an Iranian government official told The National.
Hamas said Gaza ceasefire talks had “intensified in recent hours” with the participation of mediators from Egypt and Qatar. Mr Trump said “great progress” was being made to end the Israel-Hamas war, and added that his special envoy Steve Witkoff had told him: “Gaza is very close.”
He linked his optimism about imminent “very good news” for Gaza to the ceasefire agreed on Tuesday between Israel and Iran. “It helped a little, and sowed a lot of power,” he said. “I think this helped.”
Mr Trump said the “war is done” after the US dropped “bunker-buster” bombs on three Iranian nuclear sites early on Sunday. Iran responded by launching missiles at an American airbase in Qatar, in an attack widely condemned in the Arab world.
“We're going to talk to them next week with Iran. We may sign an agreement, I don't know,” said Mr Trump. “The way I look at it, they fought, the war is done.
“I don’t want to use an example of Hiroshima. I don’t want to use an example of Nagasaki, but that was essentially the same thing – that ended a war.”
The bombing raid ordered by Mr Trump hit the Fordow, Natanz and Isfahan nuclear sites in Iran, which is suspected by the US and Israel of secretly developing a nuclear weapon. Iran denies this, insisting it is enriching uranium for peaceful purposes.
Tehran will re-enter nuclear talks only if the US offers clear aims and takes steps to rebuild trust, current and former Iranian officials said. Five rounds of meetings failed to produce a deal on curbing Iran's activities, before Israel attacked Iran almost a fortnight ago.
“We need to see whether the opposing sides will enter in good faith or not,” an analyst in Tehran who is close to the Iranian government told The National.
“The opposing side must prove that it is reliable this time with confidence-building measures,” the analyst said. “We will wait until there is good faith and a new initiative.”
Iran was believed to have a stockpile of near-weapons grade uranium before the air war broke out. The whereabouts of its nuclear materials are now unclear, amid speculation it could have moved them before the US bombing.
Mr Trump maintained on Wednesday that “there was obliteration” but conceded that early US intelligence findings were inconclusive. “It could've been very severe. That's what the intelligence suggests,” he said.
Iran said only that its nuclear sites were “badly damaged” in the bombing raids. Israeli strikes also killed nuclear scientists and several senior military commanders in Iran, as well as hitting symbols of government power in Tehran.
Rafael Grossi, the head of the International Atomic Energy Agency, said Iran informed him it had taken “precautionary measures” regarding its uranium stockpile. He said: “There is rubble, there could be unexploded ordnance, there are not normal inspections.”
A statement from Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office said the strike on Fordow “destroyed the site's critical infrastructure and rendered the enrichment facility inoperable”.
Israel said it assessed that the strikes had set back Iran's nuclear programme “by many years”. Mr Netanyahu is now coming under pressure from some quarters in Israeli politics to follow the Iran truce with a ceasefire deal in Gaza.
Sources reported that top Hamas officials, including Khalil Al Hayah, Zaher Jabareen, and Nazar Awadallah, have been holding talks with Egyptian officials since they arrived in Cairo on Monday.
A lone mid-level Israeli negotiator was also in Cairo, while a senior team from Israel's Mossad spy agency was expected later in the week, but only if the chances of making progress in the talks improve, according to the sources.
They told The National that the proposals on the table to pause the war and secure the release of the remaining hostages held in Gaza were not different from those discussed in previous rounds, and which mediators from Egypt, Qatar and the US could not get Hamas and Israel to agree to.
Life was returning to normal after the war. Israel has mostly lifted restrictions on schools and public gatherings put in place by a home front command. Iranian authorities announced the gradual easing of internet restrictions.
“The communication network is gradually returning to its previous state,” said the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps' cyber security command in a statement carried by state media.
Hezbollah meanwhile lauded what it described as Iran’s “divine victory” over Israel in the 12-day war. The Lebanese armed group and political party said Iran’s attacks “shattered the aura of [Israel’s] defence systems” and marked a “new historical stage” in the region.
Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El Sisi spoke by phone with Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian, condemning Iran’s attack on a US airbase in Qatar and reaffirming Cairo's support for “the sovereignty of Arab and Islamic states”.
According to a statement from Egypt's presidency, Mr El Sisi welcomed the ceasefire agreement between Iran and Israel, emphasising the need to “stabilise and uphold the agreement” to prevent escalation in the region.
