FLASH
Shkruar nga Pamfleti
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi acknowledged in an interview on state television that US strikes caused serious damage to Tehran's nuclear facilities, despite Ayatollah Ali Khamenei's insistence that the attacks had minimal impact.
Araghchi said in an interview that "the level of damage is high and it is serious damage," according to the Associated Press.
Post-attack assessments have shown that Iran's nuclear facilities suffered damage from both the US and Israeli strikes. All three countries - Iran, Israel and the US - have reached similar conclusions about the extent of the damage, despite what a leaked intelligence report showed.
The only leader who appears to disagree with the assessments is Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who said that "the Americans failed to achieve anything significant in their attack on nuclear facilities," according to reports.
Khamenei seems more focused on projecting force than reflecting reality. He described Iran's attack on Al-Udeid, the US air base in Qatar, as a "heavy slap in the face of the US". While President Donald Trump dismissed it as a "very weak response" and thanked Iran for giving the US "early notice".
The Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), Rafael Grossi, said in a statement on Tuesday that the agency had "observed significant damage to several nuclear facilities in Iran, including its uranium conversion and enrichment facilities."
Iran is trying to 'save face' after US attack on nuclear sites, expert says
In addition to discussing the damage caused to Iran's nuclear facilities, Araghchi also spoke about the possibility of resuming talks with the US. He said the US attacks "made it more complicated and more difficult" for Iran to sit at the negotiating table, but did not rule out the possibility of negotiations resuming.
Nuclear talks with the US may not be entirely off the table for Iran after last week's attacks, even if Tehran is not interested in immediately re-entering negotiations.
The possibility of negotiations was in question even before the operation, as Tehran saw the US as a "collaborator" in Israel's Operation Lion Rising, according to Reuters, citing Iranian Ambassador to the UN, Ali Bahreini.
Trump on Wednesday expressed optimism in the US's ability to resume nuclear talks with Iran.
"We'll talk to them next week. We might sign a deal, I don't know. To me, I don't think it's that necessary. I mean, they had a war. They fought. Now they're going back to their own world. I don't care if I have a deal or not. The only thing we would ask for is what we asked for before, we don't want any nuclear program. But we destroyed that nuclear program," Trump said.
Despite Trump's statement, there is still no clear indication that the countries have plans to meet in the near future.
Lini një Përgjigje