The US President, Donald Trump, on Wednesday confirmed that American and Iranian officials will hold talks next week, reported the Associated Press (AP).
Meanwhile, Iran insisted it will not give up its nuclear program as its ceasefire with Israel entered its second day.
Resumption of Talks
On the sidelines of the NATO Summit in The Hague, Trump told reporters that he has little interest in resuming talks with Iran, suggesting that both sides could reach an agreement.
“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. The way I look at it, they fought, the war is done,” he said.
Iran-Israel Ceasefire
Trump’s remarks came on the second day of a fragile ceasefire between Iran and Israel, which the US President helped brokering and said was going “very well.” The ceasefire ended a 12-day war between the longstanding foes, during which the US struck Iran’s key nuclear facilities.
The US and Iran held five rounds of talks over Tehran’s nuclear program. However, Israel’s attack on Iran led to the cancellation of the sixth round of US-Iran talks, set to take place in Oman early June.
No Nuclear Weapon for Iran
Trump insisted that the US strikes had destroyed Iran’s nuclear program, emphasizing that Tehran was “not going to have a bomb and they’re not going to enrich” uranium.
He expressed confidence that Iran will not attempt to rebuild its nuclear sites and will seek diplomacy instead, according to Reuters. “I’ll tell you, the last thing they want to do is enrich anything right now. They want to recover,” Trump said.
He also added that the US will not allow Iran to rebuild its nuclear program. “We won’t let that happen. Number one, militarily we won’t,” he noted. “We’ll end up having something of a relationship with Iran” to resolve the issue, Trump said.
Suspending Cooperation with IAEA
For its part, Iran has not confirmed any talks scheduled for next week, insisting that it will not abandon its nuclear program.
In the light of this, the Iranian parliament approved on Wednesday a bill on suspending cooperation with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).
“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,” Parliament Speaker, Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf, told lawmakers.
