Trump signals US may ease Iran oil sanction enforcement to help rebuild country

President Donald Trump said on Wednesday that the US has not given up its maximum pressure on Iran — including restrictions on sales of Iranian oil — but signaled a potential easing in enforcement to help the country rebuild, Reuters reports.

US President Donald Trump addressed the media on the sidelines of the NATO summit in the Netherlands, praising the outcome of the conference and defending his administration’s recent military actions in the Middle East.

Describing the NATO summit as “very wonderful,” Trump said he had productive engagements with allied leaders and lauded the alliance for increasing collective defense spending. “Our allies have increased their defense budgets by $700 billion. They should continue investing more in military equipment,” Trump said.

The US president claimed credit for helping end the 12-day conflict between Iran and Israel, calling the ceasefire a “huge success.” He said both nations were “tired and exhausted” and insisted that a return to war was unlikely -- though not impossible. 

“The way I look at it they fought, the war is done,” he said, adding that Israel and Iran were “tired”, but the conflict between the two countries could start again. 

“I dealt with both, and they’re both tired, exhausted … and can it start again? I guess someday it can. It could maybe start soon,”

Trump repeatedly emphasized the scale and precision of the US airstrikes on Iran’s nuclear facilities, specifically the Fordow site, which he claimed was “obliterated". He reprimanded a reporter who cited a preliminary US intelligence report suggesting that the strikes had only delayed Iran’s nuclear program by a few weeks. 

He said he had personally spoken to the pilots involved in the operation, who assured him that the attacks on Iran’s nuclear sites were “perfect". “You should be proud of those pilots, and you shouldn’t be trying to demean them,” he told reporters. 

Addressing scepticism over the effectiveness of the strikes, Trump dismissed a preliminary US intelligence assessment that said the attacks had only set back Iran’s nuclear programme by a few months. “The New York Times published very wrong news,” he said. “The site was completely destroyed, and even Iran has admitted their facilities were damaged.”

Trump also warned Iran against restarting its nuclear activities, adding, “They’ve been given a big advantage in backing off. I don’t think they’ll return to the nuclear issue again.”

Trump also confirmed that US and Iranian officials would resume dialogue next week. “I’ll tell you what, we’re going to talk with them next week, with Iran. We may sign an agreement, I don’t know,” he said, adding that he was not particularly eager to negotiate with Iran, because he believed its nuclear programme had already been dismantled. 

Trump detailed Iran’s retaliatory missile strike on the Al Udeid Air Base in Qatar, describing it as largely symbolic and ineffective. “We have the best military hardware in the world. You saw how 14 missiles were shot at us the other day. They [the Iranians] were very nice, they gave us warning. They said ‘we’re going to shoot’em, is one o’clock okay?’ We said it’s fine and everybody was emptied off the base so they couldn’t get hurt, except for the gunners." 

“Out of 14 high-end missiles that were shot at the base in Qatar, all 14 as you know were shot down by our equipment. Amazing stuff. It’s like shooting a bullet with a bullet. Fourteen out of 14 and they [the gunners] were not even surprised. I said ‘do you do that well often?’ They said ‘we pretty much do, sir’.”

Turning to South Asia, Trump again praised Pakistan’s Chief of Army Staff Field Marshal Asim Munir, calling him “a great person and an inspiring figure.” Trump confirmed that Munir visited the White House last week, where they discussed regional security. 

“They’re going to need money to put that country back into shape. We want to see that happen,” Trump said at a news conference at the Nato Summit when asked if he was easing oil sanctions on Iran.

Iran on Wednesday reopened the airspace over the country’s east, state media reported, following a ceasefire with Israel that ended 12 days of fighting, AFP reports.

“The airspace over the eastern half of the country has been reopened to international overflights as well as domestic and international flights solely with origin or destination in airports located in eastern Iran,” transport ministry spokesman Majid Akhavan said, according to the official IRNA news agency.

He added that Mashhad airport, which Israel said it had struck during the war, was among the airports that reopened.Other reopened airports include Chabahar, Zahedan and Jask.

Domestic and international flights in other parts of Iran, including the capital Tehran, “are not permitted until further notice”, Akhavan noted.

A leaked intelligence report has cast doubt on US President Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu’s claims that their attacks on Iran destroyed its nuclear programme.

Analysts say some facilities were not even hit, while 400 kilograms of uranium remains unaccounted for.

Iran’s Quds force chief ‘reappears’ in Tehran after reported Israeli assassination

The commander of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) Quds Force, Brigadier General Esmail Qaani, has “reappeared” during celebrations in Tehran despite claims of being assassinated by Israel.

A video clip captured by Iran’s Fars news agency and shared by Al Jazeera Arabic showed a man, said to be Qaani, interacting with several people during a rally in the downtown area of the Iranian capital.

A similar video posted by Iran’s English-language state broadcaster Press TV also showed Qaani, the successor of the late commander Qassem Soleimani, who was killed in a US strike in Iraq in 2020.Israel claimed that it killed Qaani during a series of assassinations targeting Iran’s most senior military leaders when it launched its attack on the country on June 13.

The Iranian government neither confirmed nor denied the Israeli report.Previously, it was also reported that Qaani was killed alongside Hezbollah officials during an Israeli attack in Lebanon in 2024.

Iran’s Ministry of Intelligence has warned of continued Israeli “malign” activities inside the country, despite an ongoing ceasefire, the Iranian news agency Fars reports, according to Al Jazeera.

Fars quoted the ministry as saying that Israeli operatives have been behind a campaign of “mass phone calls” to Iranians, with the aim of “telephone espionage and obtaining national information”.

The ministry also warned of the spread of “fake news” to incite Iranians to act “against national unity and cohesion”.

US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth will hold a “major” news conference on Thursday morning, President Donald Trump said, as his administration pushes to quell doubts over the damage done by US strikes on Iran’s nuclear facilities.

“Hegseth, together with Military Representatives, will be holding a Major News Conference tomorrow morning at 8am EST (5pm PKT) at The Pentagon, in order to fight for the Dignity of our Great American Pilots,” Trump said in a post on Truth Social on Wednesday.

“The News Conference will prove both interesting and irrefutable,” he said.

Iran’s intelligence services have arrested 26 people, accusing them of collaborating with Israel, state media Fars news agency reported, days after a ceasefire between the two countries was announced, AFP reports.

“These individuals were identified as operatives and deceived participants in the recent imposed war by the Zionist regime have been arrested by the Intelligence Organization of the Hazrat Vali Asr Corps,” Iranian state media Fars news agency said on Wednesday.

“Most of them have confessed to their actions, including anti-security activities, spreading public anxiety, and acts of sabotage,” it added, citing a statement by the organisation.