Trump announces US-Iran talks next week

US President Donald Trump has announced that the US plans to hold talks with Iran next week but expressed skepticism about the necessity of reaching a diplomatic agreement after the US airstrikes on Iran’s three primary nuclear sites.

“We’re going to talk to them next week with Iran, we may sign an agreement. I don’t know, to me, I don’t think it’s necessary,” Trump said during a press conference at the NATO summit in The Hague, Caliber.Az reports via foreign media. 

He did not specify the level at which the discussions would occur. Trump reaffirmed that the US bombings of the Natanz, Isfahan, and Fordow nuclear facilities “obliterated” them, challenging an American intelligence report that claimed the strikes only delayed Iran’s nuclear programme by a few months. He also stated that the bombings effectively signaled the conflict end.

“I dealt with both and they’re both tired, exhausted. They fought very, very hard and very viciously, very violently, and they were both satisfied to go home and get out. Can it start again? I guess someday it can. It could maybe start soon,” he added.

In recent months, the US and Iran conducted five rounds of negotiations aiming for a diplomatic resolution to concerns over Iran’s nuclear programme — essentially a potential successor to the 2015 nuclear deal that Trump withdrew from during his first term. No agreement had been reached, though a sixth round was planned before the Israeli strike on June 13.

By Naila Huseynova