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Classified US intelligence suggests that American strikes on Iran set back its nuclear programme by just a few months, contradicting President Donald Trump’s claim of total destruction.Here are the latest developments as a truce between Iran and Israel appeared to be holding early Wednesday:- US intel report -US media on Tuesday reported that a classified US intelligence document had concluded that American strikes last weekend did not fully eliminate Iran’s centrifuges or stockpile of enriched uranium.B-2 bombers hit two Iranian nuclear sites with massive GBU-57 bunker-buster bombs while a guided missile submarine struck a third with Tomahawk cruise missiles.Trump initially said the attacks had “obliterated” the nuclear sites while Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said Washington’s forces had “devastated the Iranian nuclear programme”.But a preliminary report by the Defense Intelligence Agency said the bombings sealed off entrances to some facilities without destroying underground buildings, according to US media, which cited sources familiar with the findings.Trump rebuffed the media reports.”THE NUCLEAR SITES IN IRAN ARE COMPLETELY DESTROYED!” the president posted on his Truth Social.White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt has confirmed the assessment was authentic but said it was “flat-out wrong and was classified as ‘top secret’ but was still leaked.””The leaking of this alleged assessment is a clear attempt to demean President Trump and discredit the brave fighter pilots who conducted a perfectly executed mission to obliterate Iran’s nuclear programme,” Leavitt posted on X.- Iran-Israel ceasefire holds -A US-proposed ceasefire between Israel and Iran appeared to be holding early Wednesday.Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu hailed a “historic victory” in the 12-day conflict.In a national address Netanyahu vowed to thwart “any attempt” by Iran to rebuild its nuclear programme, which armed forces chief Lieutenant General Eyal Zamir said Israeli strikes had set back “by years”.Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian hailed his nation’s “heroic resistance” in a message carried by the official IRNA news agency.Pezeshkian has said Iran will respect the ceasefire as long as Israel holds to its terms, adding that Tehran will continue to “assert its legitimate rights” to the peaceful use of atomic power but was “ready to resolve the issues… at the negotiating table”.- Final salvos -Israel “refrained” from further strikes on Iran on Tuesday after a call between Trump and Netanyahu, the premier’s office said, though it did destroy a radar installation.Trump had accused both Iran and Israel of violating the ceasefire he announced late on Monday, but hours later he posted that it was in effect.”Following President Trump’s conversation with Prime Minister Netanyahu, Israel refrained from further strikes,” a statement said.Iran’s state media said on Tuesday that a wave of missiles was headed towards Israel around the time the ceasefire was expected to take hold.Israeli emergency services later said four people were killed in a missile strike in the southern city of Beersheba.At least 50 impacts have been acknowledged across Israel since the war began, and 28 people have been killed, according to official figures.Israeli strikes on Iran have killed at least 610 civilians, Iran’s health ministry said on Tuesday.- International relief -After mounting fears of regional spillover, the international community breathed a sigh of relief at the apparent Iran-Israel truce.Trump, who had previously toyed with “regime change” in Iran, rejected the idea en route to a NATO summit in the Netherlands.”If there was, there was, but no I don’t want it. I’d like to see everything calm down as quickly as possible,” Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One.Meeting Trump on the sidelines of the summit on Tuesday, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan “expressed his satisfaction with the ceasefire achieved between Israel and Iran through President Trump’s efforts, hoping it would be permanent,” his office said. Russia and Germany are among the other countries to hail the truce.burs-kir/mjw/pst

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu declared a “historic victory” against Iran despite a US intelligence report concluding that American strikes set back Tehran’s nuclear program by just a few months.Iran and Israel agreed a ceasefire on Tuesday ending 12 days of tit-for-tat strikes, after US President Donald Trump joined the conflict with bunker-busting bombs at the weekend that he said destroyed key Iranian nuclear sites.A classified preliminary US intelligence report, however, concluded that American strikes on Iran set back its nuclear program by just a few months.Trump rebuffed that claim on Tuesday, posting on his Truth Social account that “THE NUCLEAR SITES IN IRAN ARE COMPLETELY DESTROYED!”White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt had previously confirmed the authenticity of the assessment but said it was “flat-out wrong”.Netanyahu, in an address to the nation after the ceasefire, announced that “we have thwarted Iran’s nuclear project”.”And if anyone in Iran tries to rebuild it, we will act with the same determination, with the same intensity, to foil any attempt,” he said.Israel had said its bombing campaign, which began on June 13, was aimed at preventing Iran from acquiring a nuclear weapon, an ambition Tehran has consistently denied.Israel’s military said that its strikes had set back Iran’s nuclear programme “by years”.After Trump angrily berated both sides for early violations of the truce on Tuesday, Tehran announced it would respect the terms of the deal if Israel did the same, while Israel said it had refrained from further strikes.Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian said his country was willing to return to negotiations over its nuclear programme, but that his country would continue to “assert its legitimate rights” to the peaceful use of atomic energy.- Leaked intel -US media on Tuesday cited people familiar with the Defense Intelligence Agency findings as saying the American strikes did not fully eliminate Iran’s centrifuges or stockpile of enriched uranium.The strikes sealed off entrances to some facilities without destroying underground buildings, according to the report.White House Press Secretary Leavitt responded on social media: “The leaking of this alleged assessment is a clear attempt to demean President Trump, and discredit the brave fighter pilots who conducted a perfectly executed mission to obliterate Iran’s nuclear program.”While Iran and Israel have been locked in a shadow war for decades, their 12-day conflict was by far the most destructive confrontation between them.Israeli strikes hit nuclear and military targets — killing scientists and senior military figures — as well as residential areas, prompting waves of Iranian missile fire on Israel.The war culminated in US strikes on underground Iranian nuclear sites using bunker-busting bombs — which Israel lacks — followed by an Iranian reprisal targeting the largest US military facility in the Middle East.Trump shrugged off that response as “weak”, thanking Tehran for giving advance notice and announcing the contours of the ceasefire just hours later. – ‘Everyone is tired’ -Some Israelis welcomed the prospect of a truce.”Everyone is tired. We just want to have some peace of mind,” said Tel Aviv resident Tammy Shel. “For us, for the Iranian people, for the Palestinians, for everyone in the region.”In Iran, people remained uncertain whether the peace would hold. Amir, 28, fled from Tehran to the Caspian Sea coast and told AFP by phone, “I really don’t know… about the ceasefire but honestly, I don’t think things will return to normal.”Israeli strikes on Iran killed at least 610 civilians and wounded more than 4,700, according to the health ministry.Iran’s attacks on Israel have killed 28 people, according to official figures and rescuers.The international community reacted with cautious optimism to the truce.Saudi Arabia and the European Union welcomed Trump’s announcement, while Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Russia hoped “that this will be a sustainable ceasefire”.But French President Emmanuel Macron warned there was an “increased” risk that Iran would attempt to enrich uranium secretly following the strikes on its nuclear sites.After the truce was announced, Israel’s military chief Eyal Zamir said Israel’s focus would now shift back to Gaza.The Israeli opposition, the Palestinian Authority and the main group representing the families of Israeli hostages all called for a Gaza truce to complement the Iran ceasefire. burs-dcp/mjw/ecl

A classified preliminary US intelligence report has concluded that American strikes on Iran set back Tehran’s nuclear program by just a few months — rather than destroying it as claimed by President Donald Trump.US media on Tuesday cited people familiar with the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) findings as saying the weekend strikes did not fully eliminate Iran’s centrifuges or stockpile of enriched uranium.The aerial bombardments and missile strikes sealed off entrances to some facilities without destroying underground buildings, according to the report.US media coverage of the DIA assessment appeared to anger Trump, who insisted news outlets like CNN and The New York Times were out to “demean” the military strike by saying it only set back Iran’s nuclear program by a few months.”THE NUCLEAR SITES IN IRAN ARE COMPLETELY DESTROYED!” Trump posted in all caps on his Truth Social platform.White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt confirmed the authenticity of the DIA  assessment but said it was “flat-out wrong and was classified as ‘top secret’ but was still leaked” in an attempt to undermine Trump and discredit the military operation.”Everyone knows what happens when you drop fourteen 30,000 pound bombs perfectly on their targets: total obliteration,” Leavitt posted on X.Trump’s special envoy to the Middle East, Steven Witkoff, appeared on Fox News to trumpet the White House version. “The reporting out there that in some ways suggests that we did not achieve the objective is just completely preposterous,” he said Tuesday. Witkoff repeated the assertion that the nuclear facilities at Natanz, Isfahan and Fordo had been “obliterated.””All three of those had most if not all of the centrifuges damaged or destroyed,” he said. “In a way it will be almost impossible for them to resurrect that program for — in my view and in many other experts’ views who have seen the raw data, it will take a period of years.”US B-2 bombers hit two Iranian nuclear sites with massive GBU-57 bunker-buster bombs over the weekend, while a guided missile submarine struck a third with Tomahawk cruise missiles.Trump called the strikes a “spectacular military success” and said they had “obliterated” the nuclear sites, while Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said Washington’s forces had “devastated the Iranian nuclear program.”General Dan Caine, the top US military officer, has offered a more cautious tone, saying the strikes caused “extremely severe damage” to the Iranian facilities.Iran’s government said Tuesday it had “taken the necessary measures” to ensure the continuation of its nuclear program.”Plans for restarting (the facilities) have been prepared in advance, and our strategy is to ensure that production and services are not disrupted,” the head of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran, Mohammad Eslami, said in a statement aired on state television.An adviser to Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei meanwhile said his country still had stocks of enriched uranium and that “the game is not over.”Israel launched an unprecedented air campaign targeting Iranian nuclear sites, scientists and top military brass on June 13 in a bid to set back Tehran’s nuclear efforts.Trump had spent weeks pursuing a diplomatic path to replace the nuclear deal with Tehran that he tore up during his first term in 2018, but he ultimately decided to take military action.The US operation was massive, with Caine saying it involved more than 125 US aircraft including stealth bombers, fighters, aerial refueling tankers, a guided missile submarine and intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance aircraft.

Gaza’s civil defence agency said Israeli forces killed another 46 people waiting for aid in the Palestinian territory on Tuesday as rights groups and UN agencies slammed the US-backed food distribution system.Civil defence spokesman Mahmud Bassal told AFP that 21 people were killed and around 150 wounded by Israeli fire near an aid point in central Gaza early Tuesday, and that another 25 were killed in a separate incident in south Gaza.”Every day we face this scenario: martyrs, injuries, in unbearable numbers,” paramedic Ziad Farhat told AFP at Nasser Hospital in southern Gaza.”Hospitals cannot accommodate the number of casualties arriving,” he said.Israel’s opposition leader and the families of Israeli hostages being held in Gaza called on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to widen a ceasefire with Iran to include the Palestinian territory.But the country’s military chief later warned that Israel would now refocus on its campaign to crush the Palestinian Islamist group Hamas in the territory.”Now the focus shifts back to Gaza — to bring the hostages home and to dismantle the Hamas regime,” chief of staff Lieutenant General Eyal Zamir said in a statement shared by the army.- Aid distribution tensions -Pressure grew Tuesday on the US- and Israeli-backed privately run aid group Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF), which was brought into the Palestinian territory at the end of May to replace United Nations agencies.The head of the UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) called the system an “abomination” while a spokesman for the UN human rights office, Thameen Al-Kheetan, condemned the “weaponisation of food” in Gaza.According to figures issued on Tuesday by the health ministry in the Hamas-run Gaza Strip, at least 516 people have been killed and nearly 3,800 wounded by Israeli fire while seeking rations since late May.The territory of more than two million people is suffering from famine-like conditions after Israel blocked all supplies from early March to the end of May and continues to impose restrictions, according to rights groups.Writing in the Guardian newspaper, spokesman for the UN children’s agency UNICEF James Elder said 400 aid distribution points had dwindled to four under GHF while supplies in “jampacked” warehouses outside Gaza could not be brought in. – ‘Tank shells’ – Gaza civil defence spokesman Bassal reported a first deadly shooting Tuesday “with bullets and tank shells” near the Netzarim corridor in central Gaza where thousands of Palestinians gather each night for rations near a GHF site.The Israeli military said that a crowd had been identified in an area “adjacent” to its troops.Witness Ribhi Al-Qassas told AFP that troops had “opened fire randomly” at a crowd he estimated at 50,000 people.The second incident took place in south Gaza about two kilometres from another GHF centre in Rafah governorate, Bassal said.”Israeli forces targeted civilian gatherings near Al-Alam and Al-Shakoush areas with bullets and tank shells”, he told AFP.Israeli restrictions on media in the Gaza Strip and difficulties in accessing some areas mean AFP is unable to independently verify the tolls and details provided by rescuers and witnesses.UN agencies and major aid groups have refused to cooperate with GHF over concerns it was designed to cater to Israeli military objectives.GHF has denied responsibility for deaths near its aid points. On Monday, more than a dozen human rights organisations called on the organisation to cease its operations, warning of possible complicity in war crimes.- Ceasefire calls -After Israel agreed to a ceasefire with Iran on Tuesday after a 12-day war, Netanyahu faced renewed calls to agree a ceasefire with Hamas after more than 20 months of war in Gaza. “It’s time to finish it there too. Bring back the hostages, end the war,” opposition leader Yair Lapid of the centre-right Yesh Atid party wrote on X. Netanyahu said on Sunday that Israel’s war against Iran was “contributing to the successes in Gaza, but it will still take a bit more time”. The October 2023 attack on Israel by Palestinian militant group Hamas that sparked the Gaza war resulted in the deaths of 1,219 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official figures.Of the 251 hostages seized by Palestinian militants in October 2023, 49 are still held in Gaza, including 27 the Israeli military says are dead.Israel’s retaliatory military campaign has killed at least 56,077 people, also mostly civilians, according to the Gaza health ministry. The United Nations considers its figures reliable.

At his grocery store in an Iranian neighborhood of Los Angeles, Mohammad Ghafari is worried sick about his brothers and sisters since the United States bombed the Islamic republic’s nuclear sites.But as he stands among his dates, dried plums and pistachios, he also cherishes the hope of change in his native country. Iran “is not capable of providing food to the Persian people,” said Ghafari, who left to study abroad before the 1979 revolution and never returned. “If the people (there) were happy about a change of regime, I would be too.””Everyone would be happy,” agreed Fereshteh, one of his customers and a fellow resident of so-called “Tehrangeles” — a mash-up of Tehran and Los Angeles.For Fereshteh, who gave only her first name to protect her identity, “Donald Trump is a hero.” The American president ordered strikes against three Iranian nuclear sites last weekend, providing unprecedented support to Israel in its offensive against Iran.He even raised the possibility of “regime change,” before backing away and saying it would sow chaos.Any talk of ousting Iran’s clerical leadership resonates strongly in the Los Angeles area, where nearly 200,000 Iranian-Americans live, making the Californian metropolis the diaspora’s global hub. Many of its members live in the west end of the city, near the UCLA campus. Filled with Middle Eastern grocery stores, carpet merchants and bookstores selling books in Farsi, the neighborhood is also known as “Little Persia.” The immigrants who have made it their home include minorities often seen as discriminated against in Iran, such as Jews, Christians and Assyrians.- ‘Rise up’ -“It’s time for the Iranian people to rise up, because right now, the regime is very weak,” said Fereshteh, herself Jewish, who fled Iran in the 1980s during the war between her country and Iraq. Trump was elected on a promise to focus on America and stay out of foreign wars.But among the grocery store’s customers, some would like him to push his intervention in Iran to the limit. “We should send troops there,” says Mehrnoosh, a 45-year-old woman who arrived in the United States in 2010. “The people there have their hands tied,” she said, adding that “the regime killed so many Iranians three years ago during the protests following the death of Mahsa Amini,” a student arrested for allegedly flouting dress rules for women. But on the patio of the “Taste of Tehran” restaurant, one man hopes the United States will pull back to avoid its fate in Iraq and Afghanistan.”Change by force never pays off….Change must come from within, by the people, for the people, and we’re not there yet,” said the 68-year-old engineer, who wished to remain anonymous.The conflict has so far claimed more than 600 lives in Iran and 28 in Israel, according to authorities in both countries. A fragile ceasefire in the war between Iran and Israel war appeared to be holding on Tuesday — a relief for the engineer, who had recently spoken to his aunt on the phone. For several days, she fled Tehran for the northwest of the country to escape Israeli bombardments.”Is it worth it? Absolutely not,” he said, recalling he lost his grandparents to bombs during the Iran-Iraq War. “My hope is for all this to end soon.”

Elon Musk’s AI chatbot Grok produced inaccurate and contradictory responses when users sought to fact-check the Israel-Iran conflict, a study said Tuesday, raising fresh doubts about its reliability as a debunking tool.With tech platforms reducing their reliance on human fact-checkers, users are increasingly utilizing AI-powered chatbots — including xAI’s Grok — in search of reliable information, but their responses are often themselves prone to misinformation.”The investigation into Grok’s performance during the first days of the Israel-Iran conflict exposes significant flaws and limitations in the AI chatbot’s ability to provide accurate, reliable, and consistent information during times of crisis,” said the study from the Digital Forensic Research Lab (DFRLab) of the Atlantic Council, an American think tank.”Grok demonstrated that it struggles with verifying already-confirmed facts, analyzing fake visuals, and avoiding unsubstantiated claims.”The DFRLab analyzed around 130,000 posts in various languages on the platform X, where the AI assistant is built in, to find that Grok was “struggling to authenticate AI-generated media.”Following Iran’s retaliatory strikes on Israel, Grok offered vastly different responses to similar prompts about an AI-generated video of a destroyed airport that amassed millions of views on X, the study found.It oscillated — sometimes within the same minute — between denying the airport’s destruction and confirming it had been damaged by strikes, the study said. In some responses, Grok cited the a missile launched by Yemeni rebels as the source of the damage. In others, it wrongly identified the AI-generated airport as one in Beirut, Gaza, or Tehran. When users shared another AI-generated video depicting buildings collapsing after an alleged Iranian strike on Tel Aviv, Grok responded that it appeared to be real, the study said.The Israel-Iran conflict, which led to US air strikes against Tehran’s nuclear program over the weekend, has churned out an avalanche of online misinformation including AI-generated videos and war visuals recycled from other conflicts.AI chatbots also amplified falsehoods.As the Israel-Iran war intensified, false claims spread across social media that China had dispatched military cargo planes to Tehran to offer its support.When users asked the AI-operated X accounts of AI companies Perplexity and Grok about its validity, both wrongly responded that the claims were true, according to disinformation watchdog NewsGuard.Researchers say Grok has previously made errors verifying information related to crises such as the recent India-Pakistan conflict and anti-immigration protests in Los Angeles.Last month, Grok was under renewed scrutiny for inserting “white genocide” in South Africa, a far-right conspiracy theory, into unrelated queries.Musk’s startup xAI blamed an “unauthorized modification” for the unsolicited response. Musk, a South African-born billionaire, has previously peddled the unfounded claim that South Africa’s leaders were “openly pushing for genocide” of white people.Musk himself blasted Grok after it cited Media Matters — a liberal media watchdog he has targeted in multiple lawsuits — as a source in some of its responses about misinformation.”Shame on you, Grok,” Musk wrote on X. “Your sourcing is terrible.”

Oil prices sank for a second straight day and stock markets mostly rose Tuesday as a ceasefire between Iran and Israel appeared to be holding firm.Crude futures slumped in volatile trading after US President Donald Trump announced a ceasefire, extending Monday’s steep losses in oil after Iran’s response to the US attack did not hit …

Oil slides, stocks rise as Iran-Israel ceasefire holds Read More »

With his surprise announcement of a ceasefire between Israel and Iran, US President Donald Trump has turned his flair for social media into diplomatic deftness, despite continued uncertainty in the Middle East.Israel, Iran and Trump himself all declared victory after 12 days of conflict that culminated Saturday in the United States bombing Iran’s key nuclear sites.After facing criticism — even within his base — for breaking his campaign promises against military intervention abroad, Trump was able to show a quick way out, and to portray himself, despite the bombing, as a peacemaker.”I don’t think the Israeli government was able to sustain a long-term war, but I think the main factor here was President Trump. He did not want to see a new war in the region break out under his watch,” said Will Todman, a senior fellow at the Middle East program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies.”That is what changed the calculation for Israel and for Iran as well.”Trump startled even close aides and allies by announcing the ceasefire on social media late Monday — the middle of the night in the Middle East — just after Iran fired missiles at a US base in Qatar, in what appeared to be a choreographed response as the rockets were easily shot down.Trump chose not to retaliate against Iran and on Tuesday, returned to his electronic bully pulpit to urge Israel to abort new attacks on Iran.Iran needed an off-ramp as it suffered its worst assault since the 1980-88 war with Iraq. Trump also appeared to offer incentives to sanctions-bound Iran by suggesting an easing of US pressure on China to stop buying Iranian oil.Israel’s military, while proving itself to be the region’s strongest, has been stretched by campaigns in Gaza, Syria and Lebanon, and with Iranian strikes this month, the Israeli population endured the most prolonged, deadly air attacks seen in decades.After Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu hailed Trump’s intervention, the president’s warning Tuesday likely also showed him the limits to US support, Todman said.- What was achieved? -Trump hailed his intervention as a monumental success, although critics have long warned that an attack could make Iran rush, more clandestinely, to a nuclear bomb.While Trump claimed Iran’s nuclear program was “obliterated,” a classified report found that the US bombing did not destroy the core parts of the three nuclear sites, according to CNN and The New York Times. Brian Katulis, a senior fellow at the Middle East Institute, said it’s too early to know if the ceasefire would hold, either.He said that Gulf Arab powers, led by well-connected Qatar, did the hard work of quiet diplomacy as they sought a return to calm in their region.”Trump vocally used his troll power to try to restrain the actions of Israel and Iran, but that matters less compared with the role that these countries continuously play,” Katulis said of Gulf Arab states.Katulis, who worked on the Middle East for former president Bill Clinton, said the Trump administration’s tactical military operations, combined with “a heavy dose of strategic communications” confused Americans and global actors alike “about what it is we’re actually trying to get done.”- Showing heft at home -One area where Trump’s diplomacy had clear — if short-term — benefits was at home.A prolonged US military campaign “had the potential to really fracture President Trump’s own base of support,” said Jonathan Panikoff, a senior fellow at the Atlantic Council.But now, “my guess is the majority of his MAGA and other Republican base will stay relatively unified, even if they were unthrilled in some quarters,” he said.While traditional hawks of Trump’s Republican Party largely cheered the Iran strikes, they were widely but not universally denounced by rival Democrats.Annelle Sheline, who resigned from the State Department to protest policies under former president Joe Biden and is now at the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft, said it was critical for Trump to enforce the ceasefire.She noted Israel has bombed Lebanon and Gaza during truces, saying Netanyahu believed he enjoyed “America’s unconditional support.””Trump demonstrated that he can rein in Israel when he chooses to do so. Now he must do the same to insist on a ceasefire in Gaza,” she said.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu declared a “historic victory” on Tuesday after agreeing a ceasefire with Iran and insisted that his country’s arch-foe would never achieve a nuclear weapon.The premier’s comments, delivered in an address to the nation, came after Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian said his country was willing to return to negotiations over its nuclear programme.Pezeshkian insisted, however, that Iran would continue to “assert its legitimate rights” to the peaceful use of atomic energy.”Iran will not have a nuclear weapon,” Netanyahu said after the ceasefire ended 12 days of deadly air and missile strikes between the arch foes.”We have thwarted Iran’s nuclear project. And if anyone in Iran tries to rebuild it, we will act with the same determination, with the same intensity, to foil any attempt.”Israel’s strikes eventually drew in the United States, which on Sunday hit Iran’s underground nuclear facilities with powerful “bunker-buster” bombs that Israel lacked.After Iran retaliated with a missile attack Monday night targeting a US base in Qatar, President Donald Trump called for de-escalation, announcing the contours of a truce deal hours later.In a phone call Tuesday, Pezeshkian told his Emirati counterpart “to explain to them, in your dealings with the United States, that the Islamic Republic of Iran is only seeking to assert its legitimate rights”. “It has never sought to acquire nuclear weapons and does not seek them,” he was quoted as saying by the official IRNA news agency, adding that Iran was “ready to resolve the issues… at the negotiating table”.Israel has said its war, which began on June 13, was aimed at preventing Iran from acquiring a nuclear weapon, an ambition Tehran has consistently denied.Israel’s military said that its strikes had set back Iran’s nuclear programme “by years” and that the campaign against the country was now “entering a new phase”.After Trump angrily berated both sides for early violations of the truce on Tuesday, Tehran announced it would respect the terms of the deal if Israel did the same, while Israel said it had refrained from further strikes.- Claims of victory -Before Netanyahu spoke, Israel’s government said its military had removed the “dual existential threat” of Iran’s nuclear and ballistic missile programmes.”We’ve set Iran’s nuclear project back by years, and the same applies to its missile programme,” Israel’s chief of staff Lieutenant General Eyal Zamir said in a later statement.Iran’s top security body, meanwhile, said the Islamic republic’s forces had “compelled” Israel to “unilaterally” stand down.Its Revolutionary Guards also hailed a last-minute missile salvo fired at Israel as “a historic and unforgettable lesson to the Zionist enemy”.- Strikes on US base -Israeli strikes hit nuclear and military targets — killing scientists and senior military figures — as well as residential areas, prompting waves of Iranian missile fire on Israel.While Iran and Israel have been locked in a shadow war for decades, it has been by far the most destructive confrontation between the arch-foes.The war culminated in US strikes on Iranian nuclear sites using massive bunker-busting bombs, followed by an Iranian reprisal targeting the largest US military facility in the Middle East.Trump shrugged off that response as “weak”, thanking Tehran for giving advance notice and announcing the outline of the ceasefire just hours later. – ‘Everyone is tired’ -Some Israelis on Tuesday welcomed the prospect of a truce.”Everyone is tired. We just want to have some peace of mind,” said Tel Aviv resident Tammy Shel, voicing hope for a lasting ceasefire. “For us, for the Iranian people, for the Palestinians, for everyone in the region.”In Iran, people remained uncertain whether the peace would hold. Amir, 28, fled from Tehran to the Caspian Sea coast and told AFP by phone, “I really don’t know… about the ceasefire but honestly, I don’t think things will return to normal.”Israeli strikes on Iran have killed at least 610 civilians and wounded more than 4,700, according to the health ministry.Iran’s attacks on Israel have killed 28 people, according to official figures and rescuers.The international community reacted with cautious optimism to the truce.Saudi Arabia and the European Union welcomed Trump’s announcement, while Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Russia hoped “that this will be a sustainable ceasefire”.But French President Emmanuel Macron warned there was an “increased” risk that Iran would attempt to enrich uranium secretly following the strikes on its nuclear sites.During their talks, Iran and the United States had been at odds over uranium enrichment, which Tehran considers a “non-negotiable” right and which Washington has called a “red line”. After the truce was announced, Israel’s military chief Zamir said Israel’s focus would now shift back to Gaza.The Israeli opposition, the Palestinian Authority and the main group representing the families of Israeli hostages all called for a Gaza truce to complement the Iran ceasefire. burs-dcp/kir