Netanyahu says third Iran confrontation possible ‘if necessary’

The arrangement follows months of confrontation and is designed to reduce the risk of renewed escalation. But it does not settle the core dispute between Washington and Tehran: how much uranium enrichment Iran will be allowed to retain, and under what conditions.

That question has long been the hardest part of any agreement. The latest understanding may ease immediate tensions, but it leaves unanswered what comes next and whether follow-on talks can produce a more durable settlement.

"The question is, do the follow-on talks yield a final deal that everyone can live with, do we go back to conflict, or do we just keep kicking the can down the road," Priddy said. "I think the most probable outcome is that they keep extending it."

Iran is unlikely to give up enrichment permanently, while the Trump administration has shown little interest in returning to a JCPOA-style framework that would allow limited enrichment under international safeguards.

Priddy said any long-term arrangement would probably need to include monitored enrichment, even if that remains politically difficult for Washington to accept.

"Iran is not going to concede to giving up enrichment forever," he said. "If we got to the point where the US could say yes, you could have limited enrichment under safeguards, a lot of other things start to become negotiable."

Priddy also said hardliners in Tehran may believe they have gained leverage after threatening the Strait of Hormuz, particularly after demonstrating they could use energy pressure to shape Washington's response.

"What I'm worried about at this point is I think there's a lot of hubris in Tehran right now among hardliners that they won the war," he said. "They can ask for everything now and get away with conceding very, very little."

Fears of higher gasoline prices and broader economic disruption helped push Washington toward restraint, while Persian Gulf energy infrastructure remained exposed.

Priddy described the situation as "mutually assured vulnerability," saying both sides now know they can target each other's energy infrastructure even if neither can eliminate the threat.

The regional fallout is likely to shape the next phase as much as the nuclear talks themselves. Persian Gulf states are likely to diversify their defence partnerships, while the United States may maintain a military presence in the region but with a smaller, more cautious footprint.

Israel remains the biggest wildcard in the next phase of negotiations. Washington appears intent on limiting further escalation, particularly in Lebanon, but Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu may still favour a more confrontational approach.

Priddy said he does not expect the current understanding to produce a grand bargain or a warmer relationship between Washington and Tehran. Instead, he said, the most likely outcome is a hostile but transactional relationship that is repeatedly extended rather than fundamentally resolved.

Ryu Hyun-woo, a former acting ambassador at North Korea’s embassy in Kuwait, made the remarks in an interview published this month by the Korea Development Institute, a prominent South Korean think tank.

“North Korea provided Iran with tunnel design and technology in the early 2000s, receiving about $25 million,” Ryu said.

“I understand that North Korean tunnel technology was applied to a considerable extent at underground nuclear facilities in areas such as Natanz and Isfahan,” he added.

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Possible transfer to Hezbollah and Hamas

Ryu said reports of direct North Korean links to Hezbollah and Hamas were inaccurate.

“Many media outlets talk about North Korea-Hezbollah and North Korea-Hamas links, but that is not true,” he said.

He said North Korea was unlikely to have directly transferred tunnel expertise to either group, but added: “It cannot be ruled out that Iran transferred tunnel-related technology it received from North Korea to Hezbollah or Hamas.”

Earlier reporting

The comments follow a March report by The Washington Times, which said North Korean entities had supplied Iran with underground construction expertise and missile technology.

The newspaper cited Bruce Bechtol, a former US Marine and political science professor at Angelo State University, as saying North Koreans helped build underground facilities in Iran, including at Isfahan, in the early 2000s.

“Most of Iran’s underground facilities – including Isfahan – were built in the early 2000s by North Koreans,” Bechtol told the newspaper.

Bechtol said North Korea’s support also included missile systems, help with arms-factory construction, specialized components and technical personnel. Iran and North Korea have not publicly confirmed the reported transfers.

The United States and Iran have given contradictory accounts about whether the sites would be inspected, but Grossi said the inspections were “going to happen.”

"I can understand political statements, they are part of the reality, but the fundamental thing I would like to remind you and draw your attention to is that there has been a memorandum of understanding, signed by both presidents," Grossi told journalists at a news conference at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant in Japan.

He said the agreement explicitly required IAEA supervision of nuclear activities involving Iran’s nuclear material and facilities.

"Obviously, to do that, we will have to inspect. Whether this happens the day after tomorrow or in one week or in 10 days, it's important, but not essential. This is going to happen," he said.

US President Donald Trump said on Tuesday that Iran had agreed to long-term, high-level nuclear inspections, adding that he would not allow further negotiations without such an agreement.

“Iran has fully and completely agreed to highest level Nuclear inspections long into the future (Infinity!!!). This will insure ‘Nuclear Honesty.’ If they did not agree to this, there would be no further negotiations,” he wrote in a post on Truth Social.

Meanwhile, Iran’s foreign ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baghaei said that Tehran had no plans to allow IAEA inspectors to visit nuclear sites damaged in war.

His comments came a day after US Vice President JD Vance also said Iran had agreed to invite IAEA inspectors back into the country, describing it as a first step toward a broader nuclear settlement.

Bennett said he began a "process of acquiring and smuggling into Iran tens of thousands of Starlink receptors" to keep internet and social media access available during protests.

The systems were meant to help protesters organize and eventually bring down Iran’s government, he told the JNS International Policy Summit in Jerusalem.

"Unfortunately, the current incompetent Israeli government stopped doing that," Bennett said. "And when the protest happened, that infrastructure was not there."

Internet shutdowns

Iranian authorities have repeatedly cut public access to the internet during unrest and during the US-Israeli war with Iran that began in late February.

Iran has accused Israel and the US of bringing Starlink equipment into the country to undermine its security.

During nationwide protests in January, activists and engineers used thousands of smuggled Starlink terminals to send images of security forces and protesters abroad, according to a New York Times report in January.

Iran responded by using military-grade electronic equipment to disrupt the GPS signals on which Starlink terminals rely, the report said.

Tougher penalties

Iran’s parliament later considered a draft anti-espionage law that would increase penalties for using or possessing unauthorized satellite internet equipment.

The draft, published in October after the 12-day war with Israel and the US, set prison terms of six months to two years for personal use of Starlink or other unlicensed satellite internet services.

It also set the death penalty for people found to have used such systems for espionage or to act against the state.

Crackdown during war

Iran intensified its crackdown on satellite internet access during the latest war, seizing terminals, blocking bank accounts and detaining people accused of using, selling or sharing access to the service. Officials have linked some cases to contact with foreign media and activities they describe as threats to national security.

Authorities said the suspects had traded access to the service, shared information with foreign-based media and taken actions against national security.

NetBlocks said at the time that internet connectivity in Iran had dropped to about 1% of normal levels, leaving satellite services among the few ways to reach the global internet.

In May, a source familiar with the case told Iran International that Hesam Alaeddin, a 40-year-old man arrested in Tehran over his alleged use of Starlink equipment, died after security agents beat him.

Regional risks

Iran has also signaled that it could target assets linked to Musk’s companies in the Middle East.

The IRGC-affiliated Fars news agency reported in June that Iran was considering adding Starlink-related infrastructure in Israel, Qatar, Jordan, the United Arab Emirates and Oman to a new target list.

Fars said the review followed what it described as evidence that the US and Israeli militaries had used infrastructure managed by Musk, including Starlink.

"Neither have we had a meeting with the director general of the IAEA, nor is there a plan for agency inspections of Iran's damaged nuclear facilities," Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmail Baghai told a news conference.

"There is no protocol for this issue," he said.

Vance said on Monday that talks in Switzerland between US and Iranian officials had laid a "very good foundation" for a final agreement to end the war.

Asked when International Atomic Energy Agency inspectors could return, he said the process would start "at a minimum this week" and that conversations with the agency "could happen as soon as today."

President Donald Trump said on Monday that Iran "will agree to have Major Weapons Inspections."

Iran suspended IAEA access to sites hit during last summer’s 12-day war. The UN nuclear watchdog later withdrew its remaining inspectors from the country.

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Frozen funds and US farm sales

Baghaei also rejected the idea that Iran had agreed to use frozen funds to buy US agricultural goods, after Vance said the issue had come up in the talks.

Vance said the US had asked Qatar to help set up a mechanism to direct the money.

"We could ensure that the money goes where we want it to go," Vance said. "That will obviously be a big part of the negotiation in the days to come."

He said the arrangement would help "American farmers" and the people of Iran, but added that the funds would not be released unless Washington saw further progress.

Baghaei said Iran would decide how to use its assets based on national interests and needs.

"Any decision will be made based on the interests and welfare of the country," he said.

He said Iran’s agriculture ministry and other bodies would decide on purchases based on price and quality.

Missiles outside talks

Baghaei said Iran’s missile and defense capabilities were not part of the negotiations and would not be discussed.

"Iran's defensive and missile capabilities have absolutely not been part of our talks and will never be a subject of negotiation with any party," he said.

He said Iran and the US had no direct contact after the four-party meeting in Switzerland stopped, and that messages continued through mediators Qatar and Pakistan.

"After the decision to stop the four-party negotiations, we had no direct contact with the American side," Baghaei said.

He said the sides had not held detailed talks on nuclear issues in Switzerland.

"Apart from the general presentation of positions by the American side, no detailed discussion on the nuclear issue took place," he said.

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Oil waiver

The US Treasury on Monday issued a 60-day license allowing Iran to produce, sell and deliver crude oil and petrochemicals, with related banking, insurance and transport services.

Baghaei said the oil-sale authorization had taken effect and Iran could use released or previously blocked assets to buy goods it needed.

"What is important for us is access to assets that have been unjustly blocked," he said.

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said the waiver was linked to Iranian commitments to keep the Strait of Hormuz open and allow IAEA inspectors back into the country.

Lebanon mechanism

Baghai said Iran, the US, Qatar, Pakistan and Lebanon had agreed in principle to a mechanism to oversee the ceasefire in Lebanon and prevent further clashes.

"The details of this mechanism require further examination and work," he said.

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi has said Lebanon would be the first "real test" of the agreement.