US-Iran peace talks 'promising' as fragile truce holds

The ceasefire brokered by US President Donald Trump between Iran and Israel appears to be holding a day after both countries signalled that their air war had ended, at least for now.

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

Trump's Middle East envoy, Steve Witkoff, said talks between the United States and Iran were "promising" and Washington was hopeful for a long-term peace deal.

"We are already talking to each other, not just directly but also through interlocutors. I think that the conversations are promising," Witkoff said in an interview on Fox News.

"We are hopeful that we can have a long-term peace agreement that resurrects Iran.

"Now it's for us to sit down with the Iranians and get to a comprehensive peace agreement, and I am very confident that we are going to achieve that."

Trump said at the weekend that US stealth bombers had "obliterated" Iran's program to develop nuclear weapons.

Iran says its enrichment activities are for civilian purposes only.

But Trump's claim appeared to be contradicted by an initial report by a US intelligence agency, according to three people familiar with the matter.

One said Iran's enriched uranium stocks had not been eliminated, and the country's nuclear program, much of which is buried deep underground, might have been set back only a month or two.

The White House said the intelligence assessment was "flat out wrong".

According to the report, which was produced by the Defense Intelligence Agency, the strikes sealed off the entrances to two of the facilities but did not collapse underground buildings.

Some centrifuges remained intact, the Washington Post said, citing an unnamed person familiar with the report.

Trump's administration told the United Nations Security Council on Tuesday that its weekend strikes had "degraded" Iran's nuclear program, short of Trump's assertion that the facilities had been "obliterated".

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the attack 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 US, according to official news agency IRNA.

Israel launched the surprise air war on June 13, attacking Iranian nuclear facilities and killing top military commanders in the worst blow to the Islamic Republic since the 1980s war with Iraq.

Iran retaliated with barrages of missiles on Israeli military sites and cities.

Iran has arrested 700 people accused of ties with Israel during the 12-day conflict, the state-affiliated Nournews reported, and Iran executed three men convicted of collaborating with Israel's Mossad spy agency.

Ben Gurion Airport, Israel's main airport near Tel Aviv, has reopened. Iran's airspace likewise will be reopened.

The truce appeared fragile: both Israel and Iran took hours to acknowledge they had accepted the ceasefire and accused each other of violating it.

Trump scolded both sides but aimed especially stinging criticism at Israel, telling the close US ally to "calm down now".

He later said Israel called off further attacks at his command.

Israel's defence minister, Israel Katz, said he told his US counterpart, Pete Hegseth, that his country would respect the ceasefire unless Iran violated it.

Pezeshkian likewise said Iran would honour the ceasefire as long as Israel did.

Israeli armed forces chief of staff Eyal Zamir said a "significant chapter" of the conflict had concluded but the campaign against Iran was not over.

He said the military would refocus on its war against Iran-backed Hamas militants in Gaza.

Iranian authorities said 610 people were killed by Israeli strikes and 4746 injured.

Iran's retaliatory bombardment killed 28 people in Israel.