US President Donald Trump said on Wednesday that talks with Iran are going “very well” and that Tehran has agreed to allow US personnel, in coordination with Iranian authorities, to enter Iran and recover buried nuclear material once the war ends.“It is very difficult to achieve this,” Trump told reporters at the White House. “But I want to achieve it nonetheless.”Despite recent strikes in the region, Trump said the US-Iran ceasefire that went into effect in early April remains in place, suggesting that a temporary agreement could be reached “over the weekend” as talks progress.“The negotiations themselves went very well — in fact, very well — even if that happens, and it may not happen, but if it does, it may happen over the weekend,” Trump said.Trump claimed that Iranian officials “have changed their minds several times, but as things stand now, we will get involved at some point in the not-too-distant future.”Read also | ‘I was a little upset’: Donald Trump confirms calling Netanyahu ‘crazy’ over strikes in LebanonIn stark contrast, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi said on Wednesday that no “tangible progress” had been made in negotiations to end the Middle East war.Tasnim News Agency quoted Araqchi as saying to the Lebanese Al-Mayadeen TV channel, “Communications with the Americans were not interrupted, and messages were exchanged regarding the need to stop the aggression against Beirut, but no tangible progress was made in the negotiation process.”
Araqchi warned that any Israeli attack on Beirut would lead to a “large-scale resumption” of the conflict. “Any attack on Beirut will have dire consequences and lead to a complete resumption of the war. Our armed forces are prepared to strike Israel if it attacks Beirut.”Iranian naval forces also targeted the “command center” on a US destroyer in the Gulf of Oman in response to US “violations of regulations” in the Strait of Hormuz and its “hostile” actions against Iranian ships, state broadcaster IRIB reported on Wednesday.
Minutes later, US Central Command denied this claim about X.American lawmakers dealt a political blow to Trump on Wednesday when the House of Representatives issued a resolution directing the withdrawal of American forces from the Iran war.“This is a loud and unequivocal message to Donald Trump on behalf of the American people: It is time to end his optional, illegal, and deeply unpopular war in Iran,” the Democrats posted on the X website.