{"id":206082,"date":"2025-06-22T21:40:18","date_gmt":"2025-06-22T21:40:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/206082\/"},"modified":"2025-06-22T21:40:18","modified_gmt":"2025-06-22T21:40:18","slug":"us-signals-a-willingness-to-renew-talks-with-iran-and-avoid-a-prolonged-war","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/206082\/","title":{"rendered":"US signals a willingness to renew talks with Iran and avoid a prolonged war"},"content":{"rendered":"

WASHINGTON (AP) \u2014 The Trump administration on Sunday signaled a willingness to renew talks with Iran and avoid a prolonged war in the aftermath of a surprise attack<\/a> on three of the country\u2019s nuclear sites as U.S. officials assessed Tehran\u2019s nuclear ambitions and the threat of retaliation against American interests.<\/p>\n

The coordinated messaging by President Donald Trump\u2019s vice president, Pentagon chief, top military adviser and secretary of state suggested a confidence that any fallout would be manageable and that Iran\u2019s lack of military capabilities would ultimately force it back to the bargaining table.<\/p>\n

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said at a news conference that America \u201cdoes not seek war\u201d with Iran, while Vice President JD Vance said the strikes have given Tehran the possibility of returning to negotiate with Washington.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis mission was not and has not been about regime change,\u201d Hegseth said.<\/p>\n

But the unfolding situation is not entirely under Washington\u2019s control, as Tehran has a series of levers to respond to the aerial bombings that could intensify the conflict in the Middle East with possible global repercussions. Iran can block oil being shipped through the Strait of Hormuz, attack U.S. bases in the region, engage in cyber attacks or double down on a nuclear program that might seem like more of a necessity after the U.S. strike.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\"Defense<\/p>\n

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth speaks during a news conference at the Pentagon in Washington, Sunday, June 22, 2025, after the U.S. military struck three sites in Iran, directly joining Israel\u2019s effort to destroy the country\u2019s nuclear program. (AP Photo\/Alex Brandon)<\/p>\n

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth speaks during a news conference at the Pentagon in Washington, Sunday, June 22, 2025, after the U.S. military struck three sites in Iran, directly joining Israel\u2019s effort to destroy the country\u2019s nuclear program. (AP Photo\/Alex Brandon)<\/p>\n

Read More<\/p>\n

All of that raises the question of whether the strikes will open up a far more brutal phase of fighting or revive negotiations out of an abundance of caution. Inside the U.S., the attack quickly spilled over into domestic politics with Trump choosing to spend part of his Sunday going after his critics.<\/p>\n

Trump, who had addressed the nation from the White House on Saturday night, returned to social media on Sunday to lambaste Rep. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., who had objected to the president taking military action without specific congressional approval.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe had a spectacular military success yesterday, taking the \u2018bomb\u2019 right out of their hands (and they would use it if they could!)\u201d Trump said as part of the post on Truth Social.<\/p>\n

What Trump\u2019s national security team had to say<\/p>\n

At their joint Pentagon briefing, Hegseth and Air Force Gen. Dan Caine, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said that \u201cOperation Midnight Hammer\u201d involved decoys and deception, and met with no Iranian resistance.<\/p>\n

Caine indicated that the goal of the operation \u2014 destroying nuclear sites in Fordo, Natanz and Isfahan \u2014 had been achieved.<\/p>\n

\u201cFinal battle damage will take some time, but initial battle damage assessments indicate that all three sites sustained extremely severe damage and destruction,\u201d Caine said.<\/p>\n

Vance said in a television interview that while he would not discuss \u201csensitive intelligence about what we\u2019ve seen on the ground,\u201d he felt \u201cvery confident that we\u2019ve substantially delayed their development of a nuclear weapon.\u201d<\/p>\n

Pressed further, he told NBC\u2019s \u201cMeet the Press\u201d that \u201cI think that we have really pushed their program back by a very long time. I think that it\u2019s going to be many many years before the Iranians are able to develop a nuclear weapon.\u201d<\/p>\n

The vice president said the U.S. had \u201cnegotiated aggressively\u2019 with Iran to try to find a peaceful settlement and that Trump made his decision after assessing the Iranians were not acting \u201cin good faith.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI actually think it provides an opportunity to reset this relationship, reset these negotiations and get us in a place where Iran can decide not to be a threat to its neighbors, not to be a threat to the United States, and if they\u2019re willing to do that, the United States is all ears,\u201d Vance said.<\/p>\n

Secretary of State Marco Rubio said on CBS\u2019s \u201cFace the Nation\u201d that \u201cthere are no planned military operations right now against Iran, unless, unless they mess around and they attack\u201d U.S. interests.<\/p>\n

Trump has previously threatened other countries, but often backed down or failed to follow through, given his promises to his coalition of voters not to entangle the United States in an extended war. It was not immediately clear whether Iran saw the avoidance of a wider conflict as in its best interests.<\/p>\n

How Iran and others are reacting to the US strikes<\/p>\n

Much of the world is absorbing the consequences of the strikes and the risk that they could lead to more fighting across the Middle East after the U.S. inserted itself<\/a> into the war between Israel and Iran. Israeli airstrikes that began on June 13 local time targeted Iran\u2019s nuclear facilities and generals, prompting retaliation from Iran and creating a series of events that contributed to the U.S. attack.<\/p>\n

While U.S. officials urged caution and stressed that only nuclear sites were targeted by Washington, Iran criticized the actions as a violation of its sovereignty and international law.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\"This<\/p>\n

This image provided by the Department of Defense shows a chart that was displayed during a news conference by Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Dan Caine at the Pentagon in Washington, Sunday, June 22, 2025. (Department of Defense via AP)<\/p>\n

This image provided by the Department of Defense shows a chart that was displayed during a news conference by Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Dan Caine at the Pentagon in Washington, Sunday, June 22, 2025. (Department of Defense via AP)<\/p>\n

Read More<\/p>\n

Iran\u2019s foreign minister, Abbas Araghchi, said Washington was \u201cfully responsible\u201d for whatever actions Tehran may take in response.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey crossed a very big red line by attacking nuclear facilities,\u201d he said at a news conference in Turkey. \u201cI don\u2019t know how much room is left for diplomacy.\u201d<\/p>\n

China and Russia, where Araghchi was heading for talks with President Vladimir Putin, condemned the U.S. military action. The attacks were \u201ca gross violation of international law,\u201d said Russia\u2019s Foreign Ministry, which also advocated \u201creturning the situation to a political and diplomatic course.\u201d A Turkish Foreign Ministry statement warned about the risk of the conflict spreading to \u201ca global level.\u201d<\/p>\n

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer said the United Kingdom was moving military equipment into the area to protect its interests, people and allies. His office said he talked on Sunday with Trump about the need for Tehran to resume negotiations.<\/p>\n

The leaders of Italy, Canada, Germany and France agreed on the need for \u201ca rapid resumption of negotiations.\u201d France\u2019s Emmanuel Macron held talks with the Saudi crown prince and sultan of Oman.<\/p>\n

Iran could try to stop oil exports through the Strait of Hormuz, which could create the same kind of inflationary shocks that the world felt after Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022. Oil prices increased in the financial markets as the war between Israel and Iran had intensified, climbing by 21% over the past month.<\/p>\n

Hegseth offers an explanation for the timeline<\/p>\n

The Pentagon briefing did not provide any new details about Iran\u2019s nuclear capabilities. Hegseth said the timeline for the strikes was the result of a schedule set by Trump for talks with Iran about its nuclear ambitions.<\/p>\n

\u201cIran found out\u201d that when Trump \u201csays 60 days that he seeks peace and negotiation, he means 60 days of peace and negotiation,\u201d Hegseth said. \u201cOtherwise, that nuclear program, that new nuclear capability will not exist. He meant it.\u201d<\/p>\n

That statement was complicated as the White House had suggested last Thursday that Trump could take as much as two weeks to determine whether to strike Iran or continue to pursue negotiations. But the U.S. benefited from Iran\u2019s weakened air defenses and was able to conduct the attacks without resistance from Iran.<\/p>\n

\u201cIran\u2019s fighters did not fly, and it appears that Iran\u2019s surface to air missile systems did not see us throughout the mission,\u201d Caine said.<\/p>\n

Hegseth said that a choice to move a number of B-2 bombers from their base in Missouri earlier Saturday was meant to be a decoy to throw off Iranians. Caine added that the U.S. used other methods of deception as well, deploying fighters to protect the B-2 bombers that dropped a total of 14 bunker-buster bombs on Iran\u2019s sites at Fordo and Natanz.<\/p>\n

The strikes occurred Saturday between 6:40 p.m. and 7:05 p.m. in Washington, or roughly 2:10 a.m. on Sunday in Iran.<\/p>\n

__<\/p>\n

Associated Press writers Brian Melley and Elise Morton in London, Samuel Petrequin in Paris and Giada Zampano in Rome contributed to this report.<\/p>\n

___<\/p>\n

This story has been corrected to reflect that Caine, not Hegseth, said the bombers dropped 14 bunker-buster bombs on Fordo as well as on Natanz.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"WASHINGTON (AP) \u2014 The Trump administration on Sunday signaled a willingness to renew talks with Iran and avoid…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":206083,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5311],"tags":[26935,19751,12019,7138,82932,32,34,4179,8614,774,14535,601,82931,2820,8617,18298,285,82930,82933,36930,11654,49,5213,978,659,333,7660,10673,263],"class_list":{"0":"post-206082","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-united-states","8":"tag-2024-2025-mideast-wars","9":"tag-abbas-araghchi","10":"tag-ap-top-news","11":"tag-bombings","12":"tag-dan-caine","13":"tag-donald-trump","14":"tag-emmanuel-macron","15":"tag-general-news","16":"tag-international-agreements","17":"tag-iran","18":"tag-iran-government","19":"tag-jd-vance","20":"tag-ken-arnold","21":"tag-marco-rubio","22":"tag-military-and-defense","23":"tag-national-security","24":"tag-politics","25":"tag-ruby-harrold","26":"tag-thomas-massie","27":"tag-u-s-department-of-defense","28":"tag-united-kingdom-government","29":"tag-united-states","30":"tag-united-states-government","31":"tag-us","32":"tag-usa","33":"tag-vladimir-putin","34":"tag-war-and-unrest","35":"tag-washington-news","36":"tag-world-news"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":"Validation failed: Text character limit of 500 exceeded"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/206082","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=206082"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/206082\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/206083"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=206082"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=206082"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=206082"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}