Trump Says US and Iran to Talk Next Week, Mideast War Is ‘Over’

US President Donald Trump during a news conference at the NATO summit in The Hague, on June 25. Photo by Simon Wohlfahrt /Bloomberg

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(Bloomberg) — President Donald Trump said the US would hold a meeting with Iran next week but cast doubt on the need for a diplomatic agreement, citing the damage that American bombing had done to its key nuclear sites. 

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“We’re going to talk to them next week,” Trump said Wednesday during a press conference during the NATO summit at The Hague. “We may sign an agreement. I don’t know, to me, I don’t think it’s necessary.”

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He reiterated that the US bombing of the Natanz, Isfahan and Fordow facilities had “obliterated” them, again disputing an American intelligence assessment that said the strikes only set back Tehran’s nuclear program by a matter of months. 

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Trump this week has taken credit for brokering an end to the conflict between Israel and Iran, which had threatened to escalate into a wider regional war and upend energy markets. 

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The president said Wednesday that the conflict was effectively “over” after the US bombing mission — though he also warned: “Can it start again? I guess someday it can. It could maybe start soon,” he said. 

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As the missiles fell silent and oil markets plunged — wiping out most of the increase during 12 days of war — focus has switched to the next stage of nuclear diplomacy with Iran. The United Nations atomic watchdog said Tuesday that inspections in the country should resume “as soon as possible” to determine what’s happened to Iran’s stocks of uranium enriched to 60% levels, not far short of the 90% required to build a bomb. 

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The IAEA says it last verified those inventories a few days before Israel’s June 13 attack, and their whereabouts is now unknown.

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Trump said the US bunker-buster strikes had eliminated some key risks by burying the country’s materials under “granite, concrete and steel.”

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“We think everything nuclear is down there,” he said. “They didn’t take it out.”

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Iran’s foreign ministry said Wednesday that its nuclear installations were “badly damaged” by US airstrikes, the first such comments by Tehran. The ministry didn’t give further details and said authorities were still reviewing the situation on the ground. 

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Trump cited that assessment during his NATO press conference, as well as a statement by Israel’s nuclear agency that said the Fordow site had been rendered inoperable and Tehran’s ability to make a nuclear weapon set back by “many years.”

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Earlier this month, Trump had said Iran was “weeks away” from having an atomic weapon, though some experts and US intelligence estimates said it could take months or years for the nation to develop a weapon. Iran maintains that its nuclear program has purely civilian purposes, and that it’s entitled to pursue that goal under international law. 

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Israel’s attacks on Iranian military and nuclear sites killed several top generals and atomic scientists. Iran countered by firing drones and ballistic missiles into Israel. Both sides have declared victory.

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Trump said both nations are “tired, exhausted. They fought very, very hard and very viciously, very violently, and they were both satisfied to go home and get out.”

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The president didn’t say at what level US-Iran talks would resume. Before the Israeli attack, his envoy Steve Witkoff had taken the lead in five rounds of talks with the Islamic Republic, seeking a nuclear deal that would effectively replace the 2015 agreement that Trump abandoned during his first term. 

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—With assistance from Romy Varghese, Kate Sullivan, Skylar Woodhouse and Hadriana Lowenkron.

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