The ceasefire brokered by US President Donald Trump between Iran and Israel appeared to be holding on Wednesday a day after both countries signaled that their air war had ended, at least for now.
Each side claimed victory on Tuesday after 12 days of war, which the US joined with airstrikes in support of Israel to take out Iran's uranium-enrichment facilities.
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.
"We are already talking to each other, not just directly but also through interlocutors. I think that the conversations are promising. We are hopeful that we can have a long-term peace agreement that resurrects Iran," Witkoff said in an interview on Fox News' "The Ingraham Angle" show.
"Now it's for us to sit down with the Iranians and get to a comprehensive peace agreement, and I am very confident that we are going to achieve that," he added, according to Reuters.
Trump's administration told the United Nations Security Council on Tuesday that its weekend strikes had "degraded" Iran's nuclear program.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Tuesday that the attack had removed the nuclear threat against Israel and he was determined to thwart any attempt by Tehran to revive its weapons program.
"We have removed two immediate existential threats to us: the threat of nuclear annihilation and the threat of annihilation by 20,000 ballistic missiles," he said.
Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian said his country had successfully ended the war in what he called a "great victory," according to Iranian media.
Israel launched the surprise air war on June 13, attacking Iranian nuclear facilities and killing top military commanders.
Iran retaliated with barrages of missiles on Israeli military sites and cities.
