United News of Bangladesh

President Donald Trump announced Wednesday that US and Iranian officials will talk next week, continuing a dialogue that was interrupted by the recent war between Israel and Tehran, while a fragile ceasefire appeared to be holding. “I’ll tell you what, we’re going to talk with them next week, with Iran. We may sign an agreement, I don’t know," Trump told a press conference during the NATO summit in the Netherlands. Trump said he wasn't particularly interested in restarting negotiations with Iran, insisting that US strikes had destroyed its nuclear program, reports AP. “The way I look at it, they fought, the war is done,” he said. Iran has not acknowledged any talks taking place next week, though US Mideast envoy Steve Witkoff has said there has been direct and indirect communication between the countries. The fragile ceasefire gave rise to cautious hope for longer-term peace even as Tehran insisted it will not give up its nuclear program. Trump, who helped negotiate the ceasefire that took hold on Tuesday, the 12th day of the war, earlier told reporters at a NATO summit it was going “very well," adding that Iran was "not going to have a bomb and they’re not going to enrich." Iran has insisted, however, that it will not give up its nuclear program. In a vote underscoring the tough path ahead, its parliament agreed to fast-track a proposal that would effectively stop the country’s cooperation with the International Atomic Energy Agency, the UN watchdog that has monitored the program for years. 'Daddy has to sometimes use strong language': Nato chief on Trump expletive Ahead of the vote, Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf criticized the IAEA for having “refused to even pretend to condemn the attack on Iran's nuclear facilities” that the United States carried out on Sunday. “For this reason, the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran will suspend cooperation with the IAEA until security of nuclear facilities is ensured, and Iran’s peaceful nuclear program will move forward at a faster pace," Qalibaf told lawmakers. IAEA Director General Rafael Mariano Grossi said he had already written to Iran to discuss resuming inspections of their nuclear facilities. Among other things, Iran claims to have moved its highly enriched uranium ahead of the US strikes, and Grossi said his inspectors need to re-assess the country’s stockpiles. “We need to return,” he said. “We need to engage.” French President Emmanuel Macron, whose country was part of the 2015 deal with Iran that restricted its nuclear program but began unraveling after Trump pulled the US out in his first term, said he hoped Tehran would come back to the table. Iran has long maintained that its nuclear program was peaceful, and US intelligence agencies have assessed that Tehran is not actively pursuing a bomb. However, Israeli leaders have argued that Iran could quickly assemble a nuclear weapon. Israel is widely believed to be the only Middle Eastern country with nuclear weapons, which it has never acknowledged.

Iran’s president said his country will continue talks with the United States over its rapidly advancing nuclear program but will not withdraw from its rights because of US threats. “We are negotiating, and we will negotiate, we are not after war but we do not fear any threat," President Masoud Pezeshkian said during a speech to navy officials broadcast by state television Saturday, reports AP. “It is not like that they think if they threaten us, we will give up our human right and definite right,” Pezeshkian said. “We will not withdraw, we will not easily loose honourable military, scientific, nuclear in all fields.” The negotiations have reached the “expert” level, meaning the sides are trying to reach agreement on the details of a possible deal. But a major sticking point remains Iran’s enrichment of uranium, which Tehran insists it must be allowed to do and the Trump administration increasingly insists the Islamic Republic must give up. President Donald Trump has repeatedly threatened to unleash airstrikes targeting Iran’s program if a deal isn’t reached. Iranian officials increasingly warn they could pursue a nuclear weapon with their stockpile of uranium enriched to near weapons-grade levels. Trump and US administration used power for massacre in Gaza: Ayatollah Khamenei Earlier on Friday, Trump said Iran received a proposal during the talks, though he did not elaborate. During his trip to region this week, Trump at nearly every event insisted Iran could not be allowed to obtain a nuclear bomb, something US intelligence agencies assess Tehran is not actively pursuing, though its program is on the cusp of being able to weaponise nuclear material. Mohammad Eslami, the head of Iran’s atomic organisation, stressed the peaceful nature of the program, saying it is under “continuous” monitoring by the UN nuclear watchdog, state TV reported Saturday. “No country is monitored by the agency like us,” Eslami said, adding that the agency inspected the country’s nuclear facilities more than 450 time in 2024. “Something about 25 per cent of all the agency inspections” in the year.

Iran said Wednesday the next round of negotiations over its rapidly advancing nuclear program it will have with the United States will be in Rome on Saturday. Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi made the comment on the sidelines of a Cabinet meeting, adding that Iran also anticipated having a meeting Friday with France, Germany and the United Kingdom to discuss the talks, AP reports. The talks with the US again will be mediated by Oman. The sultanate has hosted two rounds of talks in Oman's capital, Muscat, and one round at its embassy in Rome. Massive wildfire near Jerusalem triggers evacuations and closes key highway The talks seek to limit Iran’s nuclear program in exchange for the lifting of some of the crushing economic sanctions the US has imposed on the Islamic Republic closing in on a half-century of enmity. US President Donald Trump has repeatedly threatened to unleash airstrikes targeting Iran’s program if a deal isn’t reached. Iranian officials increasingly warn that they could pursue a nuclear weapon with their stockpile of uranium enriched to near weapons-grade levels.

Envoys from Iran and the United States arrived Saturday in Oman ahead of the first talks over Tehran's rapidly advancing nuclear program since President Donald Trump returned to the White House. No overall agreement is immediately likely, but the stakes of the negotiations couldn’t be higher for these two nations closing in on half a century of enmity. Trump repeatedly has threatened to unleash airstrikes targeting Iran’s nuclear program if a deal isn’t reached. Iranian officials increasingly warn that they could pursue a nuclear weapon with their stockpile of uranium enriched to near weapons-grade levels. Flight-tracking data analyzed by The Associated Press showed a private jet from Pulkovo Airport in St. Petersburg, Russia, arrived in Oman on Saturday morning. U.S. Mideast envoy Steve Witkoff had just met Russian President Vladimir Putin on Friday there. Meanwhile, Iran's Foreign Ministry released footage of Tehran's top diplomat, Abbas Araghchi, meeting with Omani Foreign Minister Badr al-Busaidi. Iran’s state-run IRNA news agency reported that Araghchi provided Iran’s “stance and key points for the talks to be conveyed to the U.S. side.” IRNA's report suggested the meeting would be held later Saturday. “If there is sufficient will on both sides, we will decide on a timetable. But it is still too early to talk about that,” Araghchi said, in an audio clip published by IRNA. “What is clear now is that the negotiations are indirect, and in our view only on the nuclear issue, and will be conducted with the necessary will to reach an agreement that is on an equal footing and leads to securing the national interests of the Iranian people.” Italy sends rejected migrants to detention centres in Albania Trump and Witkoff both have described the talks as being “direct.” “I think our position begins with dismantlement of your program. That is our position today,” Witkoff told The Wall Street Journal before his trip. “That doesn’t mean, by the way, that at the margin we’re not going to find other ways to find compromise between the two countries.” He added: “Where our red line will be, there can’t be weaponization of your nuclear capability,” While the U.S. side can offer sanctions relief for Iran’s beleaguered economy, it remains unclear just how much Iran will be willing to concede. Under the 2015 nuclear deal, Iran could only maintain a small stockpile of uranium enriched to 3.67%. Today, Tehran’s stockpile could allow it to build multiple nuclear weapons if it so chooses and it has some material enriched up to 60%, a short, technical step away from weapons-grade levels. Judging from negotiations since Trump unilaterally withdrew America from the deal in 2018, Iran will likely ask to keep enriching uranium up to at least 20%. One thing it won’t do is give up its program entirely. That makes the proposal of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of a so-called Libyan solution — “you go in, blow up the facilities, dismantle all the equipment, under American supervision, American execution” — unworkable. Iranians including Ayatollah Ali Khamenei have held up what ultimately happened to the late Libyan dictator Moammar Gadhafi, who was killed with his own gun by rebels in the country’s 2011 Arab Spring uprising, as a warning about what can happen when you trust the United States.

Iran 's foreign minister on Tuesday said that he'll meet with US envoy Steve Witkoff in Oman for the first negotiations under the Trump administration seeking to halt Tehran’s rapidly advancing nuclear program as tensions remain high in the Middle East. Speaking to Iranian state television from Algeria, Abbas Araghchi maintained the talks would be indirect, likely with Omani mediators shuttling between the two parties. US President Donald Trump, in announcing the negotiations on Monday, described them as being direct talks. Years of indirect talks under the Biden administration failed to reach any success, as Tehran now enriches uranium up to 60 per cent purity — a technical step away from weapons-grade levels. Both the US and Israel have threatened Iran with military attack over the program, while officials in Tehran increasingly warn they could potentially pursue a nuclear bomb. Macron urges Gaza ceasefire during Cairo visit “Our main goal in the talks, is naturally restoring rights of people as well as lifting sanctions and if the other side has a real will, this is achievable, and it has no relation to the method, either direct or indirect," Araghchi said. “For the time being, indirect is our preference. And we have no plan to alter it to direct.” Araghchi’s comments left space for Iran to potentially hold direct talks eventually with the Americans. Such talks aren’t known to have been held since the Obama administration. There was no immediate acknowledgement from the US that Witkoff would lead the American delegation. News of talks boosts Iran's ailing economy After Trump's comments on the talks went public, Iran's ailing economy suddenly showed new signs of life. Its rial currency, which hit a record low of over 1 million rials to the dollar, rebounded Tuesday to 990,000 rials. The Tehran Stock Exchange separately rose some 2 per cent on the news. Iran’s economy has been severely affected by international sanctions, particularly after Trump unilaterally withdrew America from Tehran’s nuclear deal with world powers in 2018. At the time of the 2015 deal, which saw Iran drastically limit its enrichment and stockpiling of uranium in exchange for lifting of international sanctions, the rial traded at 32,000 to the dollar. Economic upheavals have evaporated the public’s savings, pushing average Iranians into holding onto hard currencies, gold, cars and other tangible wealth. Others pursue cryptocurrencies or fall into get-rich-quick schemes.

Iran announced Saturday that its military "unintentionally" shot down the Ukrainian jetliner that crashed earlier this week, killing all 176 aboard, after the government had repeatedly denied Western accusations that it was responsible.

Confronted by persistent questions about his military action in the Middle East, President Donald Trump and his top officials offered a string of fresh explanations Friday, with Trump now contending Iranian militants had planned major attacks on four U.S. embassies.

Canada's top general says his country's military is temporarily relocating some soldiers from Iraq to Kuwait.