THE HAGUE: US President Donald Trump has said he believes the war between Israel and Iran is "done" with both sides "satisfied to get home and get out," stressing he believes US attacks on Iranian nuclear sites have destroyed enriched uranium stocked there.
Speaking at a press conference following a Nato summit in The Hague, Trump said Israel and Iran "fought a hell of a war," but said he believed the conflict was put to an end when US forces attacked the Iranian nuclear facilities last weekend.
Trump repeatedly expressed his disdain over recent US media reports citing intelligence officials suggesting the attacks may have not damaged the Iranian nuclear programme to the extend claimed by Washington.
Contradicting reports that Iran might have moved highly enriched uranium needed to build a nuclear weapon before the attacks, Trump said: "We think it's covered with granite, concrete and steel." He also said the US would talk to Iran next week, floating the idea of an agreement being signed, but without providing further details.
Trump compared the impact of American strikes on Iranian nuclear sites to the end of World War Two, arguing that the damage was severe even though available intelligence reports were inconclusive.
"I don't want to use an example of Hiroshima, I don't want to use an example of Nagasaki, but that was essentially the same thing. That ended that war. This ended the war," Trump said. Trump argued that Iran's nuclear programme had been set back "basically decades, because I don't think they'll ever do it again" and he turned to top advisers to reinforce that message.
"We're going to talk to them next week, with Iran. We may sign an agreement. I don't know. To me, I don't think it's that necessary," Trump said.
The head of the UN's nuclear watchdog, Rafael Grossi, dismissed what he called the "hourglass approach" of assessing damage to Iran's nuclear programme in terms of months needed to rebuild as besides the point for an issue that needed a long-term solution.
"In any case, the technological knowledge is there and the industrial capacity is there. That, no one can deny. So we need to work together with them," he said.
Israeli attacks on Iran killed 627 people and injured 4,870 others, an Iranian Health Ministry spokesman said on Wednesday.
Most of the deaths occurred in Tehran, Hossein Kermanpour wrote on X.
The US-based human rights network HRANA said more than 1,000 people were killed over 12 days, citing information provided by informants and publicly available sources. — Agencies
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