Iran's president ready to resolve issues with US
Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian said Tehran was ready to resolve issues with the US based on international frameworks, in comments made in a phone call with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, Iran's official news agency IRNA reported on Tuesday.
The call comes a day after US President Donald Trump announced a ceasefire deal between Israel and Iran.
- Reporting by Reuters
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Before Israel's attack, Iran and the US were in talks to curb the Islamic Republic's nuclear programme in exchange for sanctions relief. Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian said on Tuesday that his country was willing to return to negotiations over its nuclear programme, according to state media. Pezeshkian held calls with Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and UAE President Mohamed bin Zayed. 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', referring to its nuclear programme. "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". But the sting of US-Israel strikes could make restarting talks more difficult. On Tuesday, Alaeddin Boroujerdi, a member of the national security and foreign policy commission in Iran's parliament, said cooperation with the IAEA should be suspended, the Iranian Students' News Agency reported. 'Victory' Iran and Israel on Tuesday both declared 'victory' after a US-brokered ceasefire ended 12 days of unprecedented conflict between the two foes, which culminated in the US bombing Iranian nuclear facilities. "We have achieved a historic victory," Netanyahu said in a televised speech on Tuesday, as he warned that Israel could again strike Iran at its discretion. "Iran will not have a nuclear weapon…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 added. But the Islamic Republic, the first country in the Middle East to go toe-to-toe with Israel since the 1973 war, also claimed a win. Pezeshkian said Iran had achieved a "great victory', according to state media. Israel achieved air superiority over Iran, knocking out its air defence systems. It killed scores of senior Iranian commanders, destroyed energy infrastructure and military production sites. But the Islamic Republic has set its benchmark on the fact that not only did it survive a war with Israel, but it also managed to strike major Israeli cities and military targets almost at will. Iran will come away feeling that it's domestically produced weaponry was able to keep up with cutting-edge western technology, poking holes in the widely assumed superiority of Israel's air defence systems. Israel and Iran's victory posturing suggests the fragile ceasefire announced by Trump on Monday night is holding. But despite the ceasefire mostly holding, the US president erupted in anger earlier on Tuesday, saying that Iran and Israel "have been fighting so long and so hard that they don't know what the fuck they're doing'. Although his anger was directed at both countries, Israel bore the brunt of Trump's fury for what he said was military action jeopardising the ceasefire. Trump accused Israel of bombing Iran after the ceasefire was announced and then preparing to launch massive strikes in retaliation for an Iranian missile that he said may have been fired 'by mistake'.
