Iran-Israel: Tehran snubs IAEA, U.S. damage report 'inconclusive'

Iran's parliament approved a bill on Wednesday to suspend cooperation with the UN nuclear watchdog, state-affiliated news outlet Nournews reported.

The move follows an air war with Israel in which Iran's longtime enemy said it wanted to prevent Tehran developing a nuclear weapon.

The bill, which must be approved by Iran's unelected Guardian Council to become law, stipulates that any future inspection by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) would need approval by the Supreme National Security Council.

Parliament Speaker Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf was quoted by state media as also saying Iran would accelerate its civilian nuclear program.

Tehran denies seeking nuclear weapons and says an IAEA resolution this month declaring Iran in breach of its non-proliferation obligations paved the way for Israel's attacks.

Qalibaf was quoted as saying the IAEA had refused even to appear to condemn the attack on Iran's nuclear facilities and "has put its international credibility up for sale."

He said that "for this reason, the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran will suspend its cooperation with the Agency until the security of the nuclear facilities is guaranteed, and move at a faster pace with the country's peaceful nuclear program."

Parliament's national security committee approved the bill's general outline this week and the committee's spokesperson said the bill would suspend the installation of surveillance cameras, inspections and filing of reports to the IAEA.

The IAEA did not immediately comment on the Iranian parliament's approval of the bill. IAEA chief Rafael Grossi said on Wednesday he was seeking the return of inspectors to Iranian sites including the plants where it was enriching uranium until Israel launched strikes on June 13.

The full extent of the damage done to nuclear sites during the Israeli attacks and U.S. bombing of underground Iranian nuclear facilities is not yet clear.

"I think that our view on our nuclear program and the non-proliferation regime will witness changes, but it is not possible to say in what direction," Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi told Qatar's Al-Araby Al-Jadeed this week.

Trump says damage severe despite 'inconclusive' intelligence

U.S. President Donald Trump said on Wednesday that the damage from strikes was severe, though he also acknowledged that the available intelligence on the matter was inconclusive.

His comments followed media reports on Tuesday revealing that the U.S. Defense Intelligence Agency had assessed that the strikes had set back Iran's nuclear program by just a few months, despite administration officials saying the program had been obliterated.

"The intelligence was very inconclusive," Trump told reporters before joining a NATO summit in The Hague. "The intelligence says we don't know. It could've been very severe. That's what the intelligence suggests."

Later, during the same round of comments, Trump argued that Iran's nuclear deal had been set back "basically decades, because I don't think they'll ever do it again".

Trump was sitting alongside Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth, who both also cast doubt on the reliability of the DIA assessment.

Rubio said the U.S. was opening an investigation into the leak of the DIA report. He also suggested the report's contents had been misrepresented in the media.

Iran-Israel ceasefire holding as both sides claim victory 

The ceasefire between Iran and Israel appeared to be holding on Wednesday, a day after both countries signaled that their air war had ended, at least for now.

Each side claimed victory on Tuesday after 12 days of war, which the U.S. joined with airstrikes in support of Israel to take out Iran's uranium-enrichment facilities.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the war had removed the nuclear threat against Israel and he was determined to thwart any attempt by Tehran to revive its weapons program.

"We have removed two immediate existential threats to us: the threat of nuclear annihilation and the threat of annihilation by 20,000 ballistic missiles," he said.

Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian said his country had successfully ended the war in what he called a "great victory".

Pezeshkian also told Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman that Tehran was ready to resolve differences with the U.S., according to official news agency IRNA.

During the war, both Netanyahu and Trump publicly suggested that it could end with the toppling of Iran's entire system of clerical rule if its leaders did not yield. Israel struck sites identified with Iranian internal repression, including Evin prison in Tehran which houses political prisoners.

But after the ceasefire, Trump said he did not want to see "regime change" in Iran, which he said would bring chaos at a time when he wanted the situation to settle down.