Trump floats US inspection of Iran’s nuclear sites

US House Speaker Mike Johnson urges Tehran to negotiation face to face with Washington.

"We now need Iran to engage with us in direct, good-faith talks, negotiations. Not through third parties, not through other countries," Johnson said after a classified briefing on Friday.

"They need to sit down at the table with us and ensure that this peace is truly lasting," he added. "We're on the verge of a real peace in the Middle East for the first time in a long time."

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi has accused the head of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) of facilitating recent US and Israeli strikes on Iran’s nuclear facilities.

He said the Iranian parliament’s vote to suspend cooperation with the agency is a direct result of Rafael Grossi’s actions.

“Through this malign action, he directly facilitated the adoption of a politically-motivated resolution against Iran by the IAEA BoG as well as the unlawful Israeli and US bombings of Iranian nuclear sites, ”Araghchi wrote on X.

He added that Grossi’s planned visit to the bombed sites was “meaningless and possibly even malign in intent,” and warned that Iran “reserves the right to take any steps in defense of its interests, its people, and its sovereignty.”

Tehran's former lead negotiator Javad Zarif torches UN nuclear chief Rafael Grossi on X, accusing him of abetting strikes on Iran with comments on the whereabouts of highly enriched uranium.

"Having abetted the slaughter of innocents thru his fictitious IAEA report, @rafaelmgrossi is now conspiring to abet more war crimes through his reckless musing that Iran is hiding uranium at World Heritage Sites in Isfahan," Zarif posted on X on Friday.

"IAEA should rid itself of this disgrace," he added.

A senior Iranian cleric has dismissed diplomacy with Washington after the United States targeted Iran’s nuclear facilities amid Tehran's 12-day war with Israel.

“Iran once again saw and tasted the flavor of negotiations with the United States,” said Mohammadnabi Mousavi-Fard, Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei’s representative in Iran’s southwestern Khuzestan province, during a Friday sermon.

On Israel, he said: “They spent day and night in shelters, and some fled by boat,” referring to Iran’s retaliatory missile attacks during the conflict.

Iran still possesses enough enriched material to build a nuclear bomb despite recent Israeli airstrikes, The Telegraph reported, citing a senior Israeli military official.

"We understand that there is still enriched material in Iran," the official was quoted as saying.

Despite US strikes on Iran's nuclear sites, the prospect of Iran using its surviving enriched uranium to fashion a crude nuclear warhead in secret was “a concern,” the official added.

The official also warned that Israel would strike again if it detected renewed efforts to develop a nuclear weapon.