The ceasefire brokered by US President Donald Trump remains in place in the Middle East, and peace talks are ongoing, with the US envoy calling them promising, Reuters news agency reports.
On the 24th of June, Israel and Iran signaled that, at least for now, the fighting has stopped. After 12 days of fighting, in which Israel was also supported by the US, both sides have declared victory.
Trump’s Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff has indicated that Washington hopes for a lasting peace, and in an interview with Fox News, he said: “We are already talking to each other, not just directly but also through interlocutors. I think that the conversations are promising. We are hopeful that we can have a long-term peace agreement that resurrects Iran. Now it’s for us to sit down with the Iranians and get to a comprehensive peace agreement, and I am very confident that we are going to achieve that.”
Trump announced over the weekend that US bombers had destroyed Iran’s nuclear program. Iran claims that uranium enrichment is only for civilian use. Meanwhile, US intelligence agencies have reportedly managed to determine that Iran’s nuclear program has not been destroyed, and its restoration is a matter of a few months. Most of Iran’s nuclear facilities are underground.
The White House has announced that the intelligence information is “flat out wrong”.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on the 24th of June that the strikes had eliminated a threat to Israel, and that he was determined to thwart any efforts by Tehran to restore its nuclear program. Netanyahu indicated that two threats had been eliminated: destruction by a nuclear strike and destruction by 20,000 ballistic missiles.
Iranian President Masoud Peshmerga has announced that it was Iran that ended the war, calling it a “great victory”. He also told the Saudi crown prince that Tehran was ready to resolve its differences with the United States.
Iran has detained 700 people suspected of collaborating with Israel, and three were executed on 25th of June. They were accused of collaborating with Israel’s spy agency, Mossad, and arms smuggling.
Read also: Iran: US joining Israel will open the gates of hell
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