Trump says US and Iranian officials will talk next week as ceasefire holds

FRANCE 24 English

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00:00Well, for the latest on the Israel-Iran ceasefire, let's cross live now to Saeed Azimi.

00:05He's our correspondent in Tehran.

00:08Saeed, good to have you with us this evening.

00:10So Donald Trump saying that talks are scheduled for next week.

00:14What are authorities in Iran saying about that?

00:19Well, Saeed and I have reached out to many people in Iran, many officials.

00:24The Iranian mission in New York, the foreign ministry, for comments,

00:29they have declined to comment, actually, to France 24 English.

00:33And the Iranian officials have so far remained time-clipped.

00:36They haven't even said anything to the state media.

00:39So we don't know for now whether these talks would be held in person or over the phone call

00:45as how it has been reported in the media that Steve Witkoff and Iranian Foreign Minister Abbasar

00:52actually have been in contact since the war between Iran and Israel began on June 13.

00:57Donald Trump has said that we're going to talk with Iran.

01:01He hasn't said they're going to meet with Iran, so there is a big difference here.

01:04This conversation could be happening over a phone call, and you would never know it

01:08unless the Americans or Iranians would talk about it.

01:11But the official policy here is the same.

01:16Iranians refuse to engage in direct conversations and in direct negotiations and direct talks

01:22with the United States.

01:24They will only talk to the United States through a mediator, that would be Oman, their trusted mediator.

01:32And, Saeed, what can you tell us about reports that we're seeing here in Paris

01:37that Iranian authorities are pivoting from the ceasefire to intensifying an internal security crackdown

01:43across the country, reports of mass arrests, executions even, and military deployments?

01:50Well, Sharon, I would say that, yes, these reports are true.

01:55There are mass arrests, but some of them have nothing to do with the Mossad.

01:59They have arrested a couple of rappers who had not even done anything on social media

02:04regarding expressing any support for Israel.

02:07But most of these arrests that were made were actually people who were paid by the Mossad

02:13to carry out of strikes from inside Iran.

02:17Most of these, I would say, agents who were on the Mossad payroll

02:21threw actually projectiles and used homemade launchers with spiked missiles on them

02:28to carry out strikes against the Iranians.

02:31Some of them hit nuclear scientists, as evidenced by Mahmoud Reza Saeedri,

02:37the latest nuclear scientist that was killed.

02:40So that strike, as I understand from the Iranians, was not carried out in entirety

02:44with the IDF operation.

02:45There was some help from these people who were on a Mossad payroll.

02:50But I can tell you the overwhelming sentiment in Iran is that people are supporting

02:54the arrest of those who have been carrying out operations inside Iran against the Iranians

03:01because some of these operations actually have killed civilians.

03:04And the Iranians have little to no trust to almost anyone right now.

03:09So they're thinking that anyone, including their neighbor, could be a Mossad agent, potentially.

03:14Okay, Saeed, thanks so much for bringing us up to speed with all of that.

03:18That's Saeed Azimi, our correspondent, reporting live there from Tehran.

03:22Thanks for taking them.

03:24See you soon.

03:28Help us suffer.

03:32See you soon.

03:33See you soon.

03:33Going ahead.

03:34Save you soon.

03:35Maximum.

03:45Come ahead.

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