President Donald Trump said Wednesday that the United States would hold nuclear talks with Iran next week, teasing the possibility of a deal even after boasting that recent US strikes had crippled the Islamic republic's atomic programme.
Trump credited the unprecedented US attacks with the "total obliteration" of Iran's nuclear capabilities, and said they had set the country's programme back "decades".
He told reporters that Israel and Iran were "both tired, exhausted" after 12 days of war, going on to say that talks with Tehran were planned for "next week".
"We may sign an agreement. I don't know," he added. "I mean, they had a war, they fought, now they're going back to their world. I don't care if I have an agreement or not."
Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian had said on Tuesday his country was willing to return to negotiations, but would continue to "assert its legitimate rights" to the peaceful use of nuclear energy.
But leaked US intelligence cast doubt on that assessment, saying the strikes had likely delayed Tehran by just a few months.
Before the agreement of a ceasefire on Tuesday, Israel had pounded Iranian nuclear and military sites over the course of 12 days of war, while Iran launched waves of missiles at its regional arch foe in their deadliest-ever confrontation.
The United States joined the fray in support of its ally, hitting two nuclear facilities with massive bunker-buster bombs over the weekend, while a guided missile from a submarine struck a third.
"They're not going to be building bombs for a long time," said Trump, adding the strikes had set back the programme by "decades" and that the ceasefire that he declared was going "very well".
He later told reporters that Israel and Iran were "both tired, exhausted", going on to say that talks were planned with Iran "next week".
"We may sign an agreement. I don't know," he added.
Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian had said on Tuesday his country was willing to return to negotiations over its nuclear programme, but that it would continue to "assert its legitimate rights" to the peaceful use of atomic energy.
US admin hits back
President Donald Trump's administration hit back Wednesday at accounts Iran may have moved enriched uranium before US bombing, as a row grew on how much the strikes set back Tehran's nuclear program.
Trump, seeking credit for ordering military action and then quickly announcing a ceasefire between Israel and Iran, has lashed out angrily at media accounts of a classified report that doubted the extent of damage to Iranian nuclear sites.
Another key question raised by experts is whether Iran, preparing for the strike, moved out some 400 kilograms (880 pounds) of enriched uranium -- which could now be hidden elsewhere in the vast country.
"I can tell you, the United States had no indication that that enriched uranium was moved prior to the strikes, as I also saw falsely reported," White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt told Fox News.
"As for what's on the ground right now, it's buried under miles and miles of rubble because of the success of these strikes on Saturday evening," she said.
Vice President JD Vance, asked about the uranium on Sunday, had sounded less definitive and said the United States would discuss the issue with Iran.
"We're going to work in the coming weeks to ensure that we do something with that fuel," Vance told ABC News program "This Week."
The quantity of uranium had been reported by the UN nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency, with which Iran is considering severing cooperation after the Israeli and US strikes on its nuclear program.
"The IAEA lost visibility on this material the moment hostilities began," the agency's chief, Rafael Grossi, told France 2 television.
But he added: "I don't want to give the impression that it's been lost or hidden."
- Trump lashes out -
The US military said it dropped 14 GBU-57 bunker-buster bombs -- powerful 13,600-kilogram (30,000-pound) weapons -- on three Iranian nuclear sites.
Trump has repeatedly said that the attack "obliterated" Iran's nuclear facilities, including the key site of Fordo buried inside a mountain.
But an initial classified assessment, first reported by CNN, was said to have concluded that the strike did not destroy key components and that Iran's nuclear program was set back only months at most.
Trump furiously lashed out at the CNN reporter behind the story, taking to his Truth Social platform to demand that the network fire her.
Trump also said that Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, whom he dubbed "war" secretary, would hold a news conference at 8 am (1200 GMT) on Thursday to "fight for the dignity of our great American pilots" after the media accounts on the efficacy of the strike he ordered.
Trump's intelligence chiefs also pushed back on Wednesday.
CIA Director John Ratcliffe in a statement said that new intelligence from a "historically reliable" source indicated that "several key Iranian nuclear facilities were destroyed and would have to be rebuilt over the course of years."
Iran's government has said that its nuclear facilities were "badly damaged."
The uranium in question is enriched to 60 percent -- above levels for civilian usage but still below weapons grade.
The IAEA, in a report cited by the United States and Israel to justify their attacks, said that Iran was not complying with obligations but did not find that Tehran was making a nuclear bomb.
Israel is widely known to have nuclear weapons but does not publicly confirm or deny its program. The United States is the only nation to have used nuclear weapons in war.
- 'Decades' of damage -
Trump insisted that US strikes had resulted in the "total obliteration" of Iran's nuclear capabilities, setting the country's programme back by "decades".
"They're not going to be building bombs for a long time," said Trump, who added that the ceasefire since Tuesday was going "very well".
But US media had earlier cited people familiar with a preliminary US intelligence report as saying that weekend strikes did not fully eliminate Iran's centrifuges or stockpile of enriched uranium.
The US bombardments sealed off entrances to some facilities without destroying underground buildings, setting Iran's nuclear programme back by several months, according to the Defense Intelligence Agency report.
- 'Significant hit' -
The Israeli military said it had delivered a blow to Iran's nuclear programme, but added that it was "still early to assess the results of the operation".
"I believe we have delivered a significant hit to the nuclear programme, and I can also say that we have delayed it by several years," military spokesman Brigadier General Effie Defrin said in a televised press conference.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Tuesday hailed a "historic victory" in the 12-day conflict and vowed to thwart "any attempt" by Iran to rebuild its nuclear programme.
- 'Disgraceful' -
Iran's foreign ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baqaei branded NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte's gushing note to Trump on the US strikes as "disgraceful, despicable and irresponsible".
While Iranian officials have yet to disclose the exact scale of the damage resulting from US and Israeli strikes on nuclear facilities, Baqaei told Al Jazeera English that they had been "badly damaged".
- Ground troops in Iran -
Israeli military chief Eyal Zamir said Wednesday that commandos had operated secretly inside Iran, "deep within enemy territory and created operational freedom of action for us" during the war.
He was the first Israeli official to say publicly that Israeli soldiers had operated on the ground in the Islamic republic.
The head of Israel's Mossad intelligence service, meanwhile, thanked the US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) for its help in "joint" operations during the war.
He said the CIA "supported Mossad in making the right decisions", spy chief David Barnea said.
The extent of the purported help provided by the CIA is unknown.
- Iran eases internet curbs -
Iranian authorities announced the gradual easing of internet restrictions imposed during the war.
"The communication network is gradually returning to its previous state," said the Revolutionary Guards' cybersecurity command in a statement carried by state media.
The Islamic republic also reopened the airspace over its eastern half, transport ministry spokesman Majid Akhavan said, according to the official IRNA news agency.
Flights in other parts of Iran, including the capital Tehran, "are not permitted until further notice", Akhavan noted.
- State funerals -
Iran will hold state funerals on Saturday for senior military commanders and top scientists killed during the war.
Hossein Salami, the Revolutionary Guards chief killed by Israel on the war's first day on June 13, will be laid to rest in central Iran on Thursday.
According to the Iranian health ministry, Israeli strikes during the war killed at least 627 civilians.
Iran's attacks on Israel killed 28 people, according to Israeli figures.