The fragile ceasefire between Israel and Iran appeared to be holding on Wednesday after a rocky start, giving rise to cautious hope that it could lead to a long-term peace agreement even as Tehran insists it will not give up its nuclear program.
The ceasefire took hold on Tuesday, the 12th day of the war between Israel and Iran, with each side initially accusing the other of violating it until the missiles, drones and bombs finally stopped.
On Wednesday, U.S. President Donald Trump, who helped negotiate the ceasefire, told reporters at a NATO summit in the Netherlands that it was going โvery well.โ
โTheyโre not going to have a bomb and theyโre not going to enrich,โ Trump said about Iran.
Iran has insisted, however, that it will not give up its nuclear program and in a vote underscoring the tough path ahead, Iranian parliament agreed to fast-track a proposal that would effectively stop the countryโs cooperation with the International Atomic Energy Agency, the Vienna-based U.N. watchdog that has been monitoring the Iranian nuclear program for years.
Ahead of the vote, Iranian Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf criticized the IAEA for having โrefused to even pretend to condemn the attack on Iranโs nuclear facilitiesโ that were carried out by the United States on Sunday.
โFor this reason, the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran will suspend cooperation with the IAEA until security of nuclear facilities is ensured, and Iranโs peaceful nuclear program will move forward at a faster pace,โ Qalibaf told lawmakers.
In Vienna, IAEA Director General Rafael Mariano Grossi said he had already written to Iran to discuss resuming inspections of their nuclear facilities.
Among other things, Iran claims to have moved its highly enriched uranium ahead of the American strikes and Grossi said his inspectors needed to re-assess the countryโs stockpiles.
โWe need to return,โ he said. โWe need to engage.โ
Questions over effectiveness of the U.S. strikes
The American strikes hit three Iranian nuclear sites, which Trump said had โcompletely and fully obliteratedโ the countryโs nuclear program.
From Tehran, Iranโs Foreign Ministry spokesman, Esmail Baghaei, confirmed that the strikes on Sunday by American B-2 bombers using bunker-buster bombs had caused significant damage.
โOur nuclear installations have been badly damaged, thatโs for sure,โ he told Al Jazeera on Wednesday, while refusing to go into detail.
Trumpโs special envoy to the Mideast, Steve Witkoff, said on Fox News late on Tuesday that Israel and the U.S. had now achieved their objective of โthe total destruction of the enrichment capacityโ in Iran, and Iranโs prerequisite for talks โ that Israel end its campaign โ had also been fulfilled.
โThe proof is in the pudding,โ he said. โNo oneโs shooting at each other. Itโs over.โ
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At the NATO summit, when asked about a U.S. intelligence report that found Iranโs nuclear program has been set back only a few months, Trump scoffed and said it would at least take โyearsโ to rebuild.
Israeli military spokesman Brig. Gen. Effie Defrin said Wednesday his countryโs assessment was also that Iranโs nuclear facilities had been โsignificantly damagedโ and its nuclear program โset it back by years.โ
Grossi said he could not speculate on how bad the damage was but that Iranโs nuclear capabilities were well known.
โThe technical knowledge is there, and the industrial capacity is there,โ he said. โThat no one can deny, so we need to work together with them.โ
Hopes for a long-term agreement
An Israeli official, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss internal deliberations, said the ceasefire agreement with Iran amounted to โquiet for quiet,โ with no further understandings about Iranโs nuclear program going ahead.
In the Fox News interview, Witkoff said Trump is now looking to land โa comprehensive peace agreement that goes beyond even the ceasefire.โ
โWeโre already talking to each other, not just directly, but also through interlocutors,โ Witkoff said, adding that the conversations were promising and โweโre hopeful that we can have a long-term peace agreement.โ
China, a permanent member of the U.N. Security Council and close Iranian partner, also weighed in on Wednesday, saying it hoped a โlasting and effective ceasefire can be achieved so as to promoteโ peace and stability in the region.
China is a major buyer of Iranian oil and has long supported its government politically, blaming Israel for starting the latest conflict and destabilizing the region.
Foreign Ministry spokesperson Guo Jiakun told reporters in Beijing that in the wake of the conflict, China is willing to โinject positive factors to safeguard peace and stability in the Middle East.โ
Grossi said Iran and the international community should seize the opportunity of the ceasefire for a long term diplomatic solution.
โOut of the โฆ bad things that military conflict brings, thereโs also now a possibility, an opening,โ he said. โWe shouldnโt miss that opportunity.โ
Iran executes three more prisoners on spying allegations
During the war with Israel, Iran executed several prisoners accused of spying for Israel, sparking fears from activists that it could conduct a wave of executions after the conflict ends.
It hanged three more prisoners on spying charges on Wednesday, bringing the total number of executions for espionage up to six since June 16.
The hangings took place at Urmia Prison in West Azerbaijan, Iranโs most northwestern province. State-run IRNA cited Iranโs judiciary for the news, saying the men had been accused of bringing โassassination equipmentโ into the country.
Iran identified the three as Azad Shojaei, Edris Aali and Iraqi national Rasoul Ahmad Rasoul. Amnesty International had previously raised concerns that the men could be executed.
During the 12-day war, at least 28 people were killed in Israel and more than 1,000 wounded, according to officials.
Tehran on Tuesday put the death toll in Iran at 606, with 5,332 people wounded. The Washington-based Human Rights Activists group released figures Wednesday suggesting Israeli strikes on Iran had killed at least 1,054 people and wounded 4,476.
The group, which has provided detailed casualty figures from multiple rounds of unrest in Iran, said 417 of those killed were civilians and 318 were security force personnel.
During the war, Israeli airstrikes also targeted Iranโs top military leadership and other sites associated with its ruling theocracy.
With the ceasefire in place, Iranians are trying to return to their normal lives.
State media described heavy traffic around the Caspian Sea and other rural areas outside of the capital, Tehran, as people began returning to the city.
โAssociated Press writers Josef Federman and Julia Frankel in Jerusalem and Geir Moulson in Berlin contributed to this report.
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