A fragile ceasefire between Iran and Israel gives rise to hopes for a long-term peace

DUBAI United Arab Emirates AP The fragile ceasefire between Israel and Iran appeared to be holding on Wednesday after a rocky start giving rise to cautious hope that it could lead to a long-term peace agreement even as Tehran insists it will not give up its nuclear initiative The ceasefire took hold on Tuesday the th day of the war between Israel and Iran with each side initially accusing the other of violating it until the missiles drones and bombs ultimately stopped On Wednesday U S President Donald Trump who helped negotiate the ceasefire narrated reporters at a NATO summit in the Netherlands that it was going very well They re not going to have a bomb and they re not going to enrich Trump stated about Iran Iran has insisted however that it will not give up its nuclear venture and in a vote underscoring the tough path ahead Iranian parliament agreed to fast-track a proposal that would effectively stop the country s cooperation with the International Atomic Power Agency the Vienna-based U N watchdog that has been monitoring the Iranian nuclear project for years Ahead of the vote Iranian Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf criticized the IAEA for having refused to even pretend to condemn the attack on Iran s nuclear facilities that were carried out by the United States on Sunday For this reason the Atomic Vitality Organization of Iran will suspend cooperation with the IAEA until defense of nuclear facilities is ensured and Iran s peaceful nuclear activity will move forward at a faster pace Qalibaf recounted lawmakers In Vienna IAEA Director General Rafael Mariano Grossi disclosed he had already written to Iran to discuss resuming inspections of their nuclear facilities Among other things Iran indicates to have moved its highly enriched uranium ahead of the American strikes and Grossi announced his inspectors needed to re-assess the country s stockpiles We need to return he reported We need to engage Questions over effectiveness of the US strikes The American strikes hit three Iranian nuclear sites which Trump noted had entirely and fully obliterated the country s nuclear activity Trump s special envoy to the Mideast Steve Witkoff commented on Fox News late on Tuesday that Israel and the U S had now achieved their objective of the total destruction of the enrichment ceiling in Iran and Iran s prerequisite for talks that Israel end its campaign had also been fulfilled The proof is in the pudding he commented No one s shooting at each other It s over At the NATO summit when requested about a U S intelligence analysis that detected Iran s nuclear effort has been set back only a scarce months Trump scoffed and disclosed it would at least take years to rebuild Israeli military spokesman Brig Gen Effie Defrin mentioned Wednesday his country s assessment was also that Iran s nuclear facilities had been significantly damaged and its nuclear campaign set it back by years Grossi disclosed he could not speculate on how bad the damage was but that Iran s nuclear capabilities were well known The technical knowledge is there and the industrial ceiling is there he disclosed That no one can deny so we need to work together with them Hopes for a long-term agreement An Israeli official speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss internal deliberations reported the ceasefire agreement with Iran amounted to quiet for quiet with no further understandings about Iran s nuclear effort going ahead In the Fox News interview Witkoff revealed Trump is now looking to land a comprehensive peace agreement that goes beyond even the ceasefire We re already talking to each other not just directly but also through interlocutors Witkoff revealed adding that the conversations were promising and we re hopeful that we can have a long-term peace agreement China a permanent member of the U N Assurance Council and close Iranian partner also weighed in on Wednesday saying it hoped a lasting and effective ceasefire can be achieved so as to promote peace and stability in the region China is a major buyer of Iranian oil and has long supported its governing body politically blaming Israel for starting the latest conflict and destabilizing the region Foreign Ministry spokesperson Guo Jiakun described reporters in Beijing that in the wake of the conflict China is willing to inject positive factors to safeguard peace and stability in the Middle East Grossi announced Iran and the international group should seize the opportunity of the ceasefire for a long term diplomatic remedy Out of the bad things that military conflict brings there s also now a possibility an opening he announced We shouldn t miss that opportunity Iran executes more prisoners on spying claims During the war with Israel Iran executed several prisoners accused of spying for Israel sparking fears from activists that it could conduct a wave of executions after the conflict ends It hanged three more prisoners on spying charges on Wednesday bringing the total number of executions for espionage up to six since June The hangings took place at Urmia Prison in West Azerbaijan Iran s bulk northwestern province State-run IRNA cited Iran s judiciary for the news saying the men had been accused of bringing assassination equipment into the country Iran identified the three as Azad Shojaei Edris Aali and Iraqi national Rasoul Ahmad Rasoul Amnesty International had previously raised concerns that the men could be executed During the -day war at least people were killed in Israel and more than wounded according to functionaries Tehran on Tuesday put the death toll in Iran at with people wounded The Washington-based Human Rights Activists group disclosed figures Wednesday suggesting Israeli strikes on Iran had killed at least people and wounded The group which has provided detailed casualty figures from multiple rounds of unrest in Iran explained of those killed were civilians and were measure force personnel During the war Israeli airstrikes also targeted Iran s top military leadership and other sites associated with its ruling theocracy With the ceasefire in place Iranians are trying to return to their normal lives State media described heavy traffic around the Caspian Sea and other rural areas outside of the capital Tehran as people began returning to the city Associated Press writers Josef Federman and Julia Frankel in Jerusalem and Geir Moulson in Berlin contributed to this account Source