TEHRAN: Iran on Thursday (Jun 26) denied it’s set to renew nuclear talks with america after the top of a 12-day conflict with Israel, and accused Washington of exaggerating the impact of US strikes.
Probably the most critical battle but between Israel and Iran derailed nuclear talks between Iran and america, but President Donald Trump stated Washington would maintain discussions with Tehran subsequent week, along with his particular envoy Steve Witkoff expressing hope “for a complete peace settlement”.
However Iran’s Overseas Minister Abbas Araghchi shut down what he stated was “hypothesis” that Tehran would come to the desk and stated it “shouldn’t be taken significantly”.
“I wish to state clearly that no settlement, association or dialog has been made to start out new negotiations,” he stated on state tv. “No plan has been set but to start out negotiations.”
Araghchi’s denial got here as Iranian lawmakers handed a “binding” Invoice suspending cooperation with the UN nuclear watchdog and after supreme chief Ayatollah Ali Khamenei accused Trump of exaggerating the influence of US strikes on Iranian nuclear sites.
In a televised speech – his first look since a ceasefire within the conflict with Israel – Khamenei hailed what he described as Iran’s “victory” over Israel, vowed by no means to yield to US strain and insisted Washington had been dealt a humiliating “slap”.
“The American president exaggerated events in uncommon methods, and it turned out that he wanted this exaggeration,” Khamenei stated, rejecting US claims Iran’s nuclear programme had been set again by a long time.
The strikes, he insisted, had performed “nothing vital” to Iran’s nuclear infrastructure. Araghchi, for his half, referred to as the harm “critical” and stated an in depth evaluation was beneath method.
Trump stated key services, together with the underground Fordow uranium enrichment web site, had been “obliterated” by American B-2 bombers.
Posting on his Fact Social platform, he dismissed hypothesis Iran may need eliminated enriched uranium previous to the raid, saying: “Nothing was taken out … too harmful, and really heavy and laborious to maneuver!”
He added that satellite tv for pc photos confirmed vehicles on the web site solely as a result of Iranian crews have been trying to protect the ability with concrete.
Khamenei dismissed such claims, saying “the Islamic republic received, and in retaliation dealt a extreme slap to the face of America”.
Each side have claimed victory: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu referred to as it a “historic win”, whereas Khamenei stated Iran’s missile retaliation had introduced Israel to the brink of collapse.
US DEFENCE
In Washington, the true influence of the strikes has sparked sharp political and intelligence debates.
A leaked categorised evaluation steered the harm to Iran’s nuclear programme could also be much less extreme than initially claimed – probably delaying progress by only some months.
That contrasts with statements from senior US officers.
CIA Director John Ratcliffe stated a number of services would must be “rebuilt over the course of years”.
Pentagon chief Pete Hegseth accused the media of misrepresenting the operation.
He stated america used huge GBU-57 bunker-buster bombs on Fordow and one other underground web site, whereas submarine-launched Tomahawk missiles focused a 3rd facility.
“President Trump created the situations to finish the conflict, decimating – select your phrase – obliterating, destroying Iran’s nuclear capabilities,” Hegseth stated.
Doubts stay about whether or not Iran quietly eliminated some 400kg of enriched uranium from its most delicate websites earlier than the strikes – doubtlessly hiding nuclear materials elsewhere within the nation.
