Live: Iran holds funeral for top military, nuclear figures killed in Israeli strikes

US President Donald Trump said on Wednesday that the ceasefire between Iran and Israel is going "very good" and he is "proud of" Israel for taking a step back. 

"Israel came back yesterday, and I was so proud of them. Because they came back... I said you gotta get them back, and they brought the planes back," he said.

"Israel was hit really hard, especially in the last couple of days. Those ballistic missiles, boy, they took out a lot of buildings."

Answering a question about Iran's statement saying it will continue enriching uranium, Trump said "they’re not gonna be building bombs for a long time."

"The last thing they wanna do is enrich anything right now. They wanna recover. We won't let that happen," he said.

"Can you imagine, after all that, if they’re gonna say now let’s go and do a bomb. It (the ceasefire) was a tremendous victory for everybody. Including Iran."

Reporting by MEE news editor Sondos Asem in The Hague

The head of the UN nuclear agency, Rafael Grossi, said on Wednesday his inspectors' top priority is returning to Iran's nuclear facilities to assess the impact of recent military strikes on Tehran's nuclear programme.

Grossi, the head of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), was speaking to reporters at an Austrian cabinet meeting in Vienna.

US President Donald Trump said on Wednesday that the intelligence following the strikes on Iranian nuclear sites was inconclusive, but also suggested the damage could have been severe.

"The intelligence was very inconclusive. The intelligence says we don't know. It could've been very severe. That's what the intelligence suggests," Trump told reporters ahead of meeting with world leaders at a Nato summit.

"It was very severe. There was obliteration," he added.

Iranian lawmakers voted Wednesday in favour of suspending cooperation with the United Nations' nuclear watchdog, state TV said, after a 12-day war that saw Israeli and US strikes on nuclear facilities.

"The International Atomic Energy Agency, which refused to even marginally condemn the attack on Iran's nuclear facilities, put its international credibility up for auction," Iran's parliament speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf said according to state TV, announcing that "the Atomic Energy Organisation of Iran will suspend its cooperation with the IAEA until the security of the nuclear facilities is guaranteed."

Iran will hold on Saturday state funerals for senior military commanders and top scientists killed during Israel's 12-day war, official media said.

"The national funeral ceremony for... commanders and scientists martyred in the Zionist regime's aggression will be held on Saturday from 8 am (0430 GMT)" in Tehran, official news agency IRNA reported on Wednesday, a day after the warring sides had agreed a ceasefire.

IRNA said that Hossein Salami, the Revolutionary Guards chief killed by Israel on the war's first day on 13 June, will be laid to rest on Thursday.

Good morning Middle East Eye readers,

Here are the latest developments from Israel's war on Iran:

• A US-proposed ceasefire between Israel and Iran appeared to be holding early Wednesday.

• Trump's Middle East envoy, Steve Witkoff, said late on Tuesday that talks between the United States and Iran were "promising" and that Washington was hopeful for a long-term peace deal.

• Iran said Wednesday that it executed three men accused of spying for Israel, the day after a truce between the two countries came into effect.

• Iran has arrested more than 700 people suspected of being part of Israel’s “spy network” in the country, according to Iran's Nournews news reports.

• Meeting Trump on the sidelines of the summit on Tuesday, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan "expressed his satisfaction with the ceasefire achieved between Israel and Iran through President Trump's efforts, hoping it would be permanent," his office said. 

• US President Donald Trump said on Tuesday that China can continue to purchase Iranian oil after Israel and Iran agreed to a ceasefire, a move that the White House clarified did not indicate a relaxation of US sanctions. 

  "China can now continue to purchase Oil from Iran. Hopefully, they will be purchasing plenty from the US, also," Trump said in a post on Truth Social.

• Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian said his country had successfully ended the war in what he called a "great victory," according to Iranian media.

Our live blog will shortly be closing until tomorrow morning.

Here are the day's key developments:

- The office of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has acknowledged that Israel struck a radar installation near Tehran hours after the start of the ceasefire on Tuesday, but said that it refrained from further attacks after a call between Israel's leader and US President Donald Trump.

- Trump issued a stark warning to Israel, urging it not to launch further attacks on Iran with a post on Truth Social: “ISRAEL. DO NOT DROP THOSE BOMBS. IF YOU DO IT IS A MAJOR VIOLATION. BRING YOUR PILOTS HOME, NOW!”

- Iran's unified military command said that Israeli drones were "violating" its airspace more than 12 hours after the ceasefire went into effect, and warned of a "crushing response" to both the US and Israel. 

- Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian said Tehran was ready to resolve issues with the US based on international frameworks, in comments made in a phone call with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.

- An early US intelligence assessment indicated that the US military strikes on three of Iran's nuclear facilities last week did not destroy the core components of Tehran's nuclear programme and likely only set it back by months, CNN reported on Tuesday, citing three people briefed on it. 

- Iran's judiciary has revealed that several employees and visiting family members died in Israel's attack on Evin Prison, according to a report in Iranian state media.

- Former White House strategist for Trump, Steve Bannon, called Netanyahu a "bald faced liar" and Israel a "protectorate" on his Tuesday episode of his War Room podcast.

Iran's military command late on Tuesday said that Israeli drones were "violating" its airspace after the ceasefire went into effect, and warned of a "crushing response" to both the US and Israel. 

Officials said Iran's air defences shot down attacking drones over the northern city of Rasht earlier in the day. 

The leaders of the UK, France and Germany agreed at the Nato summit on Tuesday that it was now "time for diplomacy" and urged "Iran to come to the negotiating table" as the ceasefire between Tehran and Tel Aviv took effect. 

The statement on the three-way meeting was issued by British Prime Minister Keir Starmer's office.

An early US intelligence assessment indicated that the US military strikes on three of Iran's nuclear facilities last week did not destroy the core components of Tehran's nuclear programme and likely only set it back by months, CNN reported on Tuesday, citing three people briefed on it. 

"This alleged assessment is flat-out wrong," CNN quoted White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt as saying.

- Reporting by Reuters

Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz on Tuesday said he spoke to his US counterpart, Pete Hegseth, and assured him that "Israel will respect the ceasefire - as long as the other side does," in reference to Iran.

Katz made the statement on X.

The Reuters news agency, citing Iran's NourNews, is reporting that Iran's airspace will be reopened on Tuesday night local time after a 12-day suspension. 

Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) said in a statement on Tuesday that the Israeli "regime" was "begging" the US for a ceasefire before President Donald Trump made the announcement on Monday, according to Iran's Press TV. 

Israel was “frustrated by the heroic resistance of the Iranian nation", the IRGC said. 

It added that the last phase of its Operation True Promise III taught a “historic and unforgettable lesson” to Israel after its “brutal and blind” aggression, which killed more than 300 civilians in Tehran. 

Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian said Tehran was ready to resolve issues with the US based on international frameworks, in comments made in a phone call with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, Iran's official news agency IRNA reported on Tuesday.

The call comes a day after US President Donald Trump announced a ceasefire deal between Israel and Iran.

- Reporting by Reuters

The Israeli military's chief of staff Eyal Zamir said the military was at "the conclusion of a significant chapter but the campaign against Iran is not over".

Zamir said that the military's focus was on returning to Gaza to bring back the captives and to "dismantle Hamas's rule".

- with reporting by Reuters