The fragile ceasefire between Israel and Iran appeared to be holding on Wednesday while U.S. President Donald Trump said that U.S. and Iranian officials will talk next week.
Trump, who helped negotiate the ceasefire that took hold Tuesday on the 12th day of the war, told reporters at a NATO summit that he wasn’t particularly interested in restarting negotiations with Iran, insisting that U.S. strikes had destroyed its nuclear program.
However, Iran has insisted it will not give up its nuclear program and its parliament agreed to fast-track a proposal that would effectively stop the country’s cooperation with the International Atomic Energy Agency. Iran also has not acknowledged any talks taking place next week, and an Iranian official questioned whether the United States could be trusted after its weekend attack on Iranian nuclear sites.
Meanwhile, an Israeli military official said seven Israeli soldiers were killed Tuesday in the southern Gaza city of Khan Younis when their armored vehicle was struck by an explosive. The announcement comes a day after witnesses and hospitals in Gaza said Israeli forces and drones opened fire toward hundreds of Palestinians waiting for aid, killing at least 44.
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Here is the latest:
Israeli ambassador wants ‘to hold Iran’s feet to the fire,’ says Sen. Hawley
Sen. Josh Hawley said Israeli ambassador Yechiel Leiter expressed to Senate Republicans during a private meeting Wednesday “how grateful they were for the United States’ support.” The conversation was “mostly just for checking in,” said Hawley.
“They want to be sure to hold Iran’s feet to the fire going forward, so to speak. Make sure the nuclear program is shut down,” said Hawley, R-MO.
Hawley said the ambassador provided no updates on talks between Israel and Hamas.
UN chief welcomes Trump’s announcement of US talks with Iran
Secretary-General Antonio Guterres “very much hopes” the talks which President Donald Trump said will take place next week will lead to an end to the Israel-Iran conflict, U.N. spokesman Stephane Dujarric said.
Guterres also hopes the momentum from the Israel-Iran ceasefire will also lead to negotiations to end the conflict in Gaza between Israel and Hamas, Dujarric said.
Israel's military says Iran's nuclear program now has systematic damage
The Israeli military’s chief of Staff, Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir, said in a video statement Wednesday evening that according to the army’s assessment, the damage to Iran’s nuclear program “is not localized damage but systemic damage.”
“We hit the main facilities, factories, industries and knowledge centers,” Zamir said. “The cumulative achievement allows us to determine that the Iranian nuclear project suffered severe, broad and deep damage and was set back years.”
He added that the army “achieved all of its planned goals – and even more.”
Zamir revealed that Israeli ground commandos operated inside Iran during the war. “The forces operated covertly, deep inside enemy territory, and created operational freedom for us.”
Of the American strikes on Iran, he said “The operation of the U.S. forces was precise, powerful and impressive.”
Erdogan says peace with Israel impossible amid Gaza strikes
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has ruled out a “peaceful” relationship with Israel as long as the country continues its military actions in Gaza.
Speaking at the end of a NATO summit on Wednesday, Erdogan strongly criticized Israel’s blockade of humanitarian aid to Gaza, saying organizations like the Red Cross were being obstructed.
“Peace and harmony between us is not possible as long as they (Israel) continue in this manner,” Erdogan said. “Israel cannot ensure the safety of its own people by destabilizing the region.”
Turkey and Israel were once close allies, but ties have soured under Erdogan’s two-decade long rule. He has strongly criticized Israel’s treatment of Palestinians, while Israel objects to his support for Hamas.
Israel’s foreign intelligence chief says Israel will “keep a close watch” on Iran
In a rare video released by the Mossad, the agency’s chief, David Barnea, said Israel’s achievements in its 12-day war with Iran were “unimaginable at first.” Addressing Mossad agents at the agency’s command center, he said “We will continue to keep a close watch on all the projects in Iran, which we know very well. And we will be there, just as we have been there until now.”
Barnea expressed appreciation for “our key partner, the CIA,” and thanked his own agents for their work “over many months and even years” of doing “all of the right actions to get to the one right moment.”
In comments posted alongside the video on the agency’s official Facebook page, Israel’s military campaign was described as having “significantly thwarted” a “longstanding threat” posed to Israel by Iran.
“Thanks to accurate intelligence, advanced technologies, and operational capabilities beyond imagination, we helped the Air Force strike the Iranian nuclear project, establish aerial superiority in Iranian skies, and reduce the missile threat,” the statement said.
Trump says US and Iran officials to meet next week
President Donald Trump says U.S. and Iranian officials will talk next week, continuing a dialogue that was interrupted by the recent war between Israel and Tehran.
“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,” Trump told a press conference during the NATO summit in the Netherlands.
Trump said he wasn’t particularly interested in restarting negotiations with Iran, insisting that U.S. strikes had destroyed its nuclear program.
“The way I look at it, they fought, the war is done,” he said.
Iran did not immediately comment.
Iran’s mission to UN calls for a ‘return to the logic of diplomacy’
A day after Israel and Iran agreed to a ceasefire, Iranian officials hit the airwaves and spoke to journalists about what comes next for the Islamic Republic as it recovers from U.S. and Israeli strikes.
Iran’s mission to the United Nations posted on X that “threats, intimidation and use of military force” proved to be “futile.”
“The logic of war has failed—return to the logic of diplomacy,” the account posted.
Macron warns that Iran-Israel ceasefire is volatile
French President Emmanuel Macron has warned that the ceasefire between Iran and Israel is “volatile and fragile," and urged renewed diplomatic negotiations on Iran’s nuclear program.
After a NATO summit in the Netherlands attended by U.S. President Donald Trump, Macron said he hopes that the ceasefire holds.
Asked by The Associated Press about next steps, he said ″we should resume diplomatic and technical work on the nuclear question″ with Iran, the U.S. and European countries. ″In the coming weeks we will have a choice to make on this issue," he said.
Macron is meeting later Wednesday with the head of the International Atomic Energy Agency in Paris.
Trump lashes out at media over intelligence assessment
The White House, looking to support President Donald Trump’s contention that Iran’s nuclear program was devastated by U.S. airstrikes, distributed a statement from the Israel Atomic Energy Commission.
"We assess that the American strikes on Iran’s nuclear facilities, combined with Israeli strikes on other elements of Iran’s military nuclear program, has set back Iran’s ability to develop nuclear weapons by many years,” the statement said.
A U.S. intelligence assessment that was leaked on Tuesday said there was a delay of only a few months. Trump said Wednesday that media outlets were “disgusting” for reporting on the assessment, describing them as “very unfair" to the pilots, who risked their lives for our country.
Iranian defense minister arrives in China for security forum
Iran’s Defense Minister Aziz Nasirzadeh has arrived in China for the opening of a security forum, his first known trip abroad since the start of the war with Israel.
Nasirzadeh is expected to attend a meeting in the coastal city of Qingdao between defense ministers of the member states of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization. The security-focused group was established in 2001 by China and Russia, and includes Iran as a member alongside countries such as India, Pakistan and Kazakhstan.
A video of Nasirzadeh arriving at the forum was posted on social media by Yuyuantantian, a publication affiliated with state broadcaster CCTV.
Iran, which became an SCO member in 2023, has held joint military drills with Russia and China for the past five years.
Egyptian president tells Iran Egypt rejects Iranian attack on Qatar
Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah El-Sissi has told Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian that Egypt rejects the Iranian attack on a U.S. military base in Qatar and condemned any actions that infringe upon the sovereignty of states.
El-Sissi told his counterpart during a call Wednesday that Egypt welcomed the ceasefire between Israel and Iran. He emphasized the importance of abiding by the agreement, and said that Egypt will exert all efforts to ensure that the ceasefire holds.
He also stressed the importance of resuming negotiations on the nuclear program between Washington and Tehran, the need to address concerns related to nuclear nonproliferation, and the push toward establishing a zone free of weapons of mass destruction in the Middle East.
Iran's foreign ministry says nuclear facilities ‘badly damaged’ by US strikes
Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmail Baghaei confirmed Wednesday the country’s nuclear facilities had been “badly damaged” in American strikes over the weekend.
Speaking to Al Jazeera, Baghaei refused to go into detail but conceded the Sunday strikes by American B-2 bombers using bunker buster bombs had been significant.
“Our nuclear installations have been badly damaged, that’s for sure,” he said.
Palestinians frustrated that their war is still dragging on
Some Palestinians in Gaza City expressed frustration that the war in the territory has dragged on for nearly two years, while the conflict between Israel and Iran appeared to have ended after 12 days Tuesday when a fragile ceasefire was reached.
“I live in a tent and now my tent is gone too and we’re living in suffering here. The war between Israel and Iran ended in less than two weeks and we’ve been dying for two years,” said Um Zidan, a displaced woman from the north.
“We have been suffering for two years ... There are no houses, trees, or rocks, or humans left. Everything was destroyed,” said Mazen al-Jomla, a displaced resident of Shati camp.
Israel says it killed head of currency exchange in Lebanon
Israel’s military said it killed Haytham Bakri, the head of a currency exchange in Lebanon, in a strike on Tuesday, claiming he was transferring funds to Hezbollah for militant activities.
The military said Wednesday that Bakri was the head of the “Al Sadiq” exchange, which funneled funds from the Quds force -- the expeditionary arm of Iran’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard -- to Hezbollah.
Israel’s claims about Bakri could not be immediately verified and there was no immediate response from Hezbollah. Despite a ceasefire in Lebanon, Israel has continued to carry out near-daily airstrikes targeting what it says are Hezbollah sites and officials.
IAEA chief suggests Iran can rebuild nuclear infrastructure
The head of the U.N. nuclear agency has declined to offer an assessment of a report that the strikes against Iran’s nuclear sites only set back Iran’s atomic program a few months. But he suggested that Tehran could rebuild the infrastructure.
Some of the infrastructure has survived the attacks and “the reconstruction of the infrastructure is not impossible,” said Rafael Mariano Grossi, director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency, after meeting with senior Austrian officials Wednesday. “This is work that Iran knows how to do. It would take some time."
Grossi said he wants to try to “reengage” with Iran as soon as possible so that inspectors can return to its nuclear sites. He said that “we cannot afford that, because of this, the inspection regime is interrupted.”
He didn’t address criticism of the IAEA by Iran.
Asked about the possibility of Iran opting out of the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty, Grossi said that would be “very regrettable."
Grossi added that “hard words and emotions are of course, perhaps … if not normal, inevitable at times of war. But we are working for diplomacy. We are working for a solution that (is) really sustainable.”
Trump says ceasefire going ‘very well’
U.S. President Donald Trump described the ceasefire between Iran and Israel as going “very well” while speaking to journalists at a NATO summit at The Hague.
“They’re not going to have a bomb and they’re not going to enrich,” Trump added.
Official describes attack on Israeli soldiers in Gaza
Israel’s military spokesperson says that the seven Israeli soldiers killed in Gaza Tuesday died when a bomb was attached to their tank, setting the armored vehicle aflame.
“Helicopters and rescue forces were sent to the spot. They made attempts to rescue the fighters, but without success,” said Brig. Gen. Effie Defrin, the military’s spokesperson.
“This is a complex event that is still being investigated. When the investigation is completed, we will present it first to the families and then to the public. This our duty.”
Turning to Iran, Defrin claimed that Israel had “significantly damaged” its nuclear program and “set it back by years.”
China hopes for ‘lasting and effective’ ceasefire
China, a permanent member of the U.N. Security Council and close Iranian partner, says it hopes a “lasting and effective ceasefire can be achieved so as to promote the realization of peace and stability in the Middle East.”
Foreign Ministry spokesperson Guo Jiakun added Wednesday that China was “willing to maintain friendly cooperation with Iran to benefit the two peoples and inject positive factors to safeguard peace and stability in the Middle East.”
China is a major buyer of Iranian oil and has long supported the regime politically, blaming Israel for starting the latest conflict and destabilizing the region.
Iranian Parliament takes step toward ending cooperation with IAEA
Iran’s Parliament voted nearly unanimously Wednesday to fast-track a proposal that would effectively stop the country’s cooperation with the International Atomic Energy Agency, according to Iranian state TV.
The move comes a day after a ceasefire deal took hold between Iran and Israel following a destructive 12-day war.
If successful, the legislation would make any external oversight of the country’s nuclear program much more difficult.
Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi told Arab media Tuesday that it was too early to determine whether his government will continue working with the U.N.’s nuclear watchdog, saying that the IAEA treaty “failed to protect our rights and our facilities.”
While Iran’s Parliament has the ability to pass legislation, the final decision on any security-related matter would ultimately come from Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
Israeli forces kill a Palestinian woman in east Jerusalem, official says
A Palestinian official says Israeli forces shot and killed a 66-year-old Palestinian woman in east Jerusalem Tuesday night.
Israeli forces stormed the Shuafat refugee camp overnight, killing Zahia Obeidi with a shot to the head around 10 p.m. and seizing her body, said Marouf Al-Refai, an adviser to the Palestinian Authority in Jerusalem.
Israeli police said they were investigating her death, saying she arrived at the Shuafat checkpoint with “penetrating” injuries and was pronounced dead by paramedics on scene.
7 Israeli soldiers killed in Gaza
Israel’s military said Wednesday that seven soldiers had been killed the day before inside Gaza.
A military official, speaking on the condition of anonymity in line with military regulations, said that the seven were killed around 5 p.m. when an explosive affixed to their armored vehicle in the southern Gaza city of Khan Younis detonated.
The military said another soldier was badly wounded Tuesday from RPG fire.
The incident was an unusually deadly one for Israel’s troops operating inside Gaza.
The military says over 860 soldiers have been killed since the war began with the Oct. 7, 2023 Hamas attack — including more than 400 during fighting inside Gaza.
— By Julia Frankel in Jerusalem
Hamas claims attack on Israeli soldiers
Al-Qassam Brigades, Hamas’ military wing, said on its Telegram channel Tuesday it had ambushed Israeli soldiers taking cover inside a residential building in the southern Gaza Strip.
Some of the soldiers were killed and other injured after they were targeted by a Yassin 105 missile and another missile south of Khan Younis, Hamas said.
Al-Qassam fighters then targeted the building with machine guns.
It was not immediately clear whether the incident was related to the Israeli military's announcement that seven of its soldiers were killed Tuesday in Gaza.
Iran executes more prisoners
Iran executed three more prisoners Wednesday over allegedly spying for Israel, its state-run IRNA news agency reported, the latest hangings connected to its war with Israel.
Iran identified the three men executed Wednesday as Azad Shojaei, Edris Aali and Iraqi national Rasoul Ahmad Rasoul.
Iran is one of the world’s top executioners. After the brutal 1980s Iran-Iraq war, Iran carried out the mass execution of thousands of political prisoners and others, raising concerns among activists about a similar wave coming after the war with Israel.
The hangings happened in Urmia Prison in Iran’s West Azerbaijan province.
IRNA cited Iran’s judiciary for the news, saying the men had been accused of bringing “assassination equipment” into the country.
Wednesday’s executions bring the total number of hangings for espionage around the war up to six.
Israeli strikes killed more than 1,000 in Iran, group says
Israeli strikes on Iran have killed at least 1,054 people and wounded 4,476 others, according to figures released Wednesday by the Washington-based group Human Rights Activists.
The group, which has provided detailed casualty figures from multiple rounds of unrest in Iran, said of those killed, it identified 417 civilians and 318 security force personnel.
Iran’s government provided sporadic casualty information throughout the war. Its latest update on Tuesday put the death toll at 606 people killed, with 5,332 others being injured.
In Israel, at least 28 people have been killed and more than 1,000 wounded in the war.
The Associated Press
