The United States is ready to strike again at Iranian nuclear facilities, “if necessary“. This was stated by US President Donald Trump after the statements of the head of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Islamic Republic Abbas Araghchi about serious damage after the previous attack.
“Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi on Iranian nuclear facilities: “The damage is very serious, they have been destroyed.“ Of course, it is as I said and we will do it again if necessary!“ - the head of the White House wrote in Truth Social.
Trump called on the CNN television channel to fire its “fake reporter“ and apologize to the US president and the Air Force pilots who, according to the president, destroyed the nuclear facilities.
Tehran is not yet ready for direct negotiations with Washington over the Iranian nuclear program, Araghchi said in an interview with the Fox News channel.
“We are open to talks, not yet direct, if they can lead to a mutually beneficial solution and to take any confidence-building measures that are necessary to prove that Iran's nuclear program is peaceful and will always be so,” the diplomat said. And he stressed that Iran will never seek to acquire nuclear weapons, and in response he expects sanctions against the country to be lifted.
“We cannot start direct negotiations, we still prefer indirect ones“, Araghchi stressed. He added that he was “authorized to make a deal“..
Uranium enrichment in Iran has not yet been carried out after the US strikes on nuclear facilities, but Tehran does not intend to abandon this process, considering it a matter of national pride, Araghchi said.
“Currently it is suspended, as serious damage has been caused“, he said in an interview with Fox News. “At the same time, obviously, we do not intend to abandon enrichment, as this is an achievement of our scientists, moreover, it is now a matter of national pride.“
The minister added that the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran is currently assessing the extent of damage to nuclear facilities and the state of enriched uranium stocks.
Earlier, NBC News reported, without providing details, that only one Iranian nuclear facility was damaged as a result of the US strikes. The White House denied this information. As CNN reported on June 24, the US intelligence community believes that the strikes on Iran did not destroy the main components of the republic's nuclear program. According to a preliminary assessment of US intelligence, the attack most likely delayed Tehran's acquisition of a nuclear bomb by only a few months. This conclusion was made by the US Military Intelligence Agency. At the same time, she specified that she had reached this conclusion with a low degree of confidence in its accuracy.
On June 25, Trump and US Defense Secretary Pete Hegsett, citing new US intelligence data, expressed confidence that the Iranian nuclear facilities in Isfahan, Natanz and Fordow, which were hit on the night of June 22, had been virtually wiped off the face of the earth. In addition, the White House assured that, according to the information available to Washington, Iran was not able to remove nuclear materials from these complexes in advance.