Iran says has 'serious doubts' over Israel's commitment to ceasefire

Tehran: Iran on Sunday said it was not convinced Israel would abide by a ceasefire that ended their 12-day war this week.

The most serious escalation to date between the arch-foes erupted on June 13, when Israel launched a bombing campaign in Iran that killed top military commanders and scientists linked to its disputed nuclear programme.

Israel said its aim was to keep the Islamic republic from developing a nuclear weapon - an ambition Tehran has consistently denied, insisting it has the right to develop nuclear power for civilian purposes like energy.

The fighting derailed nuclear talks between Iran and the United States, a staunch ally of Israel’s.

“We did not start the war, but we have responded to the aggressor with all our power,” Iran’s armed forces chief of staff, Abdolrahim Mousavi, was quoted as saying by state television, referring to Israel.

“We have serious doubts over the enemy’s compliance with its commitments including the ceasefire, we are ready to respond with force” if attacked again, he added, six days into the ceasefire announced by US President Donald Trump.

Deadly war

The United States joined Israel in its campaign during the war, carrying out strikes on three key facilities used for Iran’s atomic programme.

Trump has threatened further strikes should Iran enrich uranium to levels capable of manufacturing nuclear weapons.

According to the International Atomic Energy Agency, Iran had enriched uranium to 60 percent in 2021, well above the 3.67 percent limit set by a 2015 agreement from which the United States unilaterally withdrew in 2018.

The make a weapon, Iran would need to enrich uranium up to 90 percent.

Israel has maintained ambiguity about its own atomic arsenal, neither officially confirming nor denying it exists, but the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute has estimated it has 90 nuclear warheads.

According to Iran’s health ministry, at least 627 civilians were killed and 4,900 injured during the 12-day war with Israel.

Retaliatory missile attacks by Iran on Israel killed 28 people, according to Israeli authorities.

‘Unacceptable’

An Israeli strike on Tehran’s Evin prison during the war killed at least 71 people, Iran’s judiciary said Sunday.

The strike on Monday destroyed part of the administrative building at Evin, a large, heavily fortified complex in the north of Tehran, which rights groups say holds political prisoners and foreign nationals.

According to judiciary spokesman Asghar Jahangir, the victims at Evin included administrative staff, guards, prisoners and visiting relatives as well as people living nearby.

French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot said on Monday that detained French nationals Cecile Kohler and Jacques Paris, held at Evin for three years, were not believed to have been harmed by the Israeli strike, which he described as “unacceptable”.

On Tuesday, a day after the strike, the judiciary said that the Iranian prison authority had transferred inmates out of Evin prison, without specifying their number or identifying them.

The inmates at Evin have included Nobel Peace Prize laureate Narges Mohammadi as well as several French nationals and other foreigners.