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"On June 13 [the day when Israel attacked Iran] somebody contacted me and said you have 12 hours to leave Iran or stay away from Tehran, otherwise you’ll suffer the fate of your friends like Bagheri and Rashid and join them," said Ali Larijani, a top advisor to Iran's Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei.
He said he “recognized from the caller ID where it was coming from and gave them the response Netanyahu deserved.”
US President Donald Trump said on Sunday he would consider lifting sanctions against Iran, including those targeting its oil exports, if the country shows it is willing to stop hostile behavior and pursue a more peaceful course.
“Sanctions cost us a lot of money but I would... start waiving them for countries like Iran, if they behave themselves, where they can sell oil and they can do the things that you want to be able to do," Trump told Fox News in an interview aired on Sunday.
Trump denied suggestions that his administration had allowed China to buy sanctioned Iranian oil, insisting that sanctions remained in place.
But he added that “if they do a job, and if they can be peaceful, and if they can show us they’re not going to do any more harm, I would take the sanctions off.”
US President Donald Trump said on Sunday he would consider lifting sanctions against Iran, including those targeting its oil exports, if the country shows it is willing to stop hostile behavior and pursue a more peaceful course.
“Sanctions cost us a lot of money but I would... start waiving them for countries like Iran, if they behave themselves, where they can sell oil and they can do the things that you want to be able to do," Trump told Fox News in an interview aired on Sunday.
On June 24, Trump declared on Truth Social that that China can now resume purchasing oil from Iran. One day later, he said he was not aiming to cut off Iran’s oil revenues as it needs it to rebuild after the war with Israel.
However, Trump said on Friday that he halted his work on lifting sanctions on Iran to support its recovery following Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei's "statement of anger, hatred, and disgust."
In his Sunday interview, Trump denied suggestions that his administration had allowed China to buy sanctioned Iranian oil, insisting that sanctions remained in place.
But he added that “if they do a job, and if they can be peaceful, and if they can show us they’re not going to do any more harm, I would take the sanctions off.”
Trump also touched on the Israel normalization deals called Abraham Accords, saying the Iranian threat had previously been a major obstacle to broader regional peace.
“Iran was the primary problem,” he said. “I actually thought we had a period of time where I thought Iran would join the Abraham Accords along with everybody else. And, frankly, they would have been better off than where they are right now.”
He added that new countries have shown interest in joining the accords following Iran’s setbacks, without naming specific states.
Iran’s Foreign Ministry has strongly condemned the US president's remarks targeting the country’s Supreme Leader, calling them offensive, undiplomatic, and a violation of international norms.
"Iran's foreign ministry strongly condemns the offensive remarks and undignified behavior of the President of the United States regarding the Supreme Leader and the people of Iran," the ministry said in a statement on Sunday.
It described the comments as an insult not only to Iran but to the broader Muslim world, saying they "deeply wounded the sentiments of hundreds of millions of Muslims in the region and around the world."
The statement warned that such rhetoric only deepens animosity toward the United States. "Undoubtedly, these insulting and bullying remarks and actions against Iran and the respected political and religious figures of Iranians and Muslims will only intensify disgust and hatred toward America’s short-sighted policies and further discredit its claims of seeking dialogue and engagement."
"We are now in a phase of temporary cessation of war, and it depends on the other side when they choose to resume the fighting," said IRGC general-turned-lawmaker Esmail Kowsari who sits on the parliament's national security committee.
