Abdollahian made the statement during his meeting with Lebanese Prime Minister Najib Mikati in Beirut on Thursday, highlighting Iran’s determination to defend the red lines…reports Asian Lite News
Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir Abdollahian has reaffirmed Iran’s red lines, such as lifting sanctions “to the maximum,” for reaching an agreement in the nuclear talks in Vienna, the Iranian Students’ News Agency reported Friday.
Abdollahian made the statement during his meeting with Lebanese Prime Minister Najib Mikati in Beirut on Thursday, highlighting Iran’s determination to defend the red lines set for the nuclear talks to safeguard its interests.
“We are optimistic and serious about the outcome of the Vienna talks. In our view, the agreement should be such that lifting of sanctions is done to the maximum,” he told Mikati. “We want the agreements to be in a way that benefits the region and expands our good relations with the countries of the region,” the Iranian top diplomat noted.
Meanwhile, the Lebanese prime minister expressed hope for the success of the talks in the Austrian capital, agreeing that a positive deal would benefit the region including Lebanon.
Abdollahian expressed the same point of view in another meeting with Speaker of the Lebanese Parliament Nabih Berri during his visit to Lebanon, according to Tasnim news agency.
Iran signed a landmark nuclear deal with world powers in 2015. However, former U.S. President Donald Trump pulled Washington out of the deal in May 2018 and reimposed unilateral sanctions on Iran.
Since April 2021, eight rounds of talks have been held in Vienna between Iran and the remaining parties to the deal, namely Russia, China, France, Britain, and Germany, with the United States indirectly involved, in a bid to revive the deal. (ANI/Xinhua)
The visiting Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir Abdollahian has said his country is close to reaching an agreement on the restoration of the 2015 nuclear deal, formally known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA)…reports Asian Lite Newa
“We believe that today, more than ever, we are closer to reaching an agreement and finalising the deal in Vienna,” Amir Abdollahian told the media on Wednesday after a meeting with his Syrian counterpart Faisal Mekdad and other senior officials in Damascus.
“If America adopted a realistic view and dealt realistically with this matter, we are ready to declare this agreement,” he added.
“We have made our final proposals to the US through the EU Coordinator,” he said, adding that Iran has made it clear to the American side not to cross its redlines.
Iran signed the JCPOA with world powers in 2015. However, former US President Donald Trump pulled Washington out of the agreement in May 2018 and reimposed unilateral sanctions on Tehran, Xinhua news agency reported.
Since April 2021, eight rounds of talks have been held in Vienna between Iran and the remaining JCPOA parties, with the US indirectly involved, to revive the deal.
Biden reaffirmed his commitment to preventing Tehran from developing nuclear weapons, and said the US “is ready to turn to other options”…reports Asian Lite News
The US is prepared to turn to alternative avenues if diplomacy fails to solve the crisis surrounding Iran’s nuclear program, President Joe Biden said.
Speaking after meeting with new Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett in Washington, Biden reaffirmed his commitment to preventing Tehran from developing nuclear weapons, and said the US “is ready to turn to other options” if the diplomatic impasse cannot be overcome.
The US withdrew from the 2015 Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, also known as the Iran nuclear deal, in 2018, under Biden’s predecessor Donald Trump, who called the deal “defective.”
US President Joe Biden.(photoInstagram)
Talks to resurrect the JCPOA have been ongoing in Vienna, with Biden saying he is prepared to lift sanctions on Tehran if it stops breaching its commitments to the deal.
“We’re putting diplomacy first and see where that takes us. But if diplomacy fails, we’re ready to turn to other options,” Biden told reporters after the 50-minute meeting.
Tehran, according to Tel Aviv, is now enriching uranium at close to weapons-grade level, with the Israeli Defense Ministry saying Iran is just two months away from acquiring enough nuclear material to build a bomb.
Bennett praised Biden’s stance, saying: “I was happy to hear your clear words that Iran will never be able to acquire a nuclear weapon, and that you emphasize that you will try the diplomatic route, but there’s other options if that doesn’t work out.”
Bennett, whose predecessor Benjamin Netanyahu was frequently at odds with former US President Barack Obama, under whom Biden served as vice president, added that he looks forward to working with Biden “now and many years ahead.”
The 2015 deal delivered relief from UN and Western sanctions for Iran in return for strict curbs on the country’s nuclear program….reports Asian Lite News
Stalled efforts to revive the 2015 Iran nuclear deal must address the “changed circumstances” since the accord was negotiated, senator Ben Cardin said.
“There is a strong, almost universal desire by Congress … to go beyond the sunset dates that were included in the JCPOA,” said Cardin, referring to dates in the deal beyond which certain restrictions on Iran’s nuclear activity will no longer apply.
The 2015 deal delivered relief from UN and Western sanctions for Iran in return for strict curbs on the country’s nuclear program.
However, it has been slowly disintegrating since former President Donald Trump withdrew from it in 2018 and reimposed sanctions on Iran. That prompted Tehran to disregard several of the deal’s limits on its nuclear activities.
The talks in Vienna to revive the deal have made little progress in recent weeks, and Iran’s latest breach was reported by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) on Tuesday.
Iran was intending to produce uranium metal enriched to 20 percent, it said, prompting the US to respond by warning Iran to stop what it called its nuclear “brinkmanship.”
“Today is different than 2015, when these agreements were negotiated,” said Cardin, a member of the Senate’s Committee on Foreign Relations.
“Circumstances have changed and they require us to respond to where we are today.”
Iran refuses to deliver n-records to IAEA
Iran blames Israel for nuke facility sabotage
Meanwhile, The Iranian government has blamed Israel for a recent sabotage act against a nuclear facility near Karaj city.
“We have confirmed the sabotage, and we confirm it again. Of course, this action did not lead to human loss, and the damage on the equipment was insignificant,” government spokesman Ali Rabiee said during a press conference here on Tuesday.
“The roof of one of the sheds was punctured… This sabotage did not lead to damage to essential equipment,” said the spokesman.
He said Israel “did this seeking to derail the nuclear talks and to send a signal that the world does not need to talk with Iran” over the revival of the 2015 nuclear deal.
On June 23, Iranian media reported a sabotage attempt on the nuclear facility near Karaj with no reference to the damage.
Says US will never let Iran acquire a nuclear weapon while he is in power, reports Asian Lite News
President Joe Biden, in a meeting on Monday with Israeli President Reuven Rivlin, said his commitment to Israel is “iron-clad” and he looks forward to meeting with new Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett soon.
Biden, in his first meeting as president with a top Israeli official, also said Iran would not come to possess a nuclear weapon during his time in office.
“My commitment to Israel is … ironclad,” Biden told Rivlin at the start of their meeting in the Oval Office. He said the two officials would discuss a range of topics, including Iran.
“What I can say to you is that Iran will never get a nuclear weapon on my watch,” Biden said.
The meeting took place just weeks after Bennett took over as Israel’s new prime minister, replacing Benjamin Netanyahu. U.S. officials are working on setting up a meeting between Biden and Bennett in the coming weeks.
“He’s going to invite the prime minister of Israel in the very next days in order to find a way to go forward and to exchange ideas,” Rivlin said of Biden after their meeting.
The get-together comes amid concerns in Israel and Arab capitals about US efforts to re-enter the Iran nuclear deal because of fears a resumption of the accord may eventually allow Tehran to acquire atomic weapons that would leave them vulnerable to Iranian intimidation or military threat.
US attempts to revive the Iran nuclear deal, after then-President Donald Trump abandoned it in 2018, have been slow to make progress with Tehran insisting the United States lift all economic sanctions.
A source familiar with the Biden-Rivlin meeting said Biden was expected to tell Rivlin that the United States and Israel share the same objective, that Iran not be allowed to develop a nuclear weapon, and that Biden would stress US support for Israel’s right to defend itself.
The two leaders are also expected to discuss Israel’s 11-day war with Gaza. The United States has pledged to resupply Israel’s Iron Dome defense system, which got heavy usage during the Gaza conflict.
Rivlin is to leave office on July 7 after a seven-year term, with Jewish Agency Chairman Isaac Herzog taking over as Israeli president.
Rivlin is on his final foreign trip as president. He will meet officials at the United Nations in New York and congressional lawmakers in Washington.
Biden’s comments come a day after the US military launched airstrikes against Iran-backed militias Kata’ib Hezbollah and Kata’ib Sayyid al-Shuhada in the Syrian-Iraqi border region in response to attacks against American interests in Iraq.
Earlier on Monday, White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki said the attacks were justifiable under Article 2 of the US Constitution that gives the president authority to use military force to protect US interests.
US-Iran nuclear deal cause of concern: Israel counter-terror chief
Israel counter-terror chief expressed concerns about the funds that will go to Hamas once the US lifts sanctions on Iran…reports Aarti Tikoo Singh
Israel on Monday said that it is concerned about the billions of dollars that could go to terror organisation Hamas if the US lifts its sanctions on Iran.
In a special virtual exchange with the Indian media, Nevo Barchad, the head of the counter-terrorism department in the strategic affairs division of the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs, said that though Israel trusts the judgment of its old friend and US President Joe Biden, it has concerns about the funds that will go to Hamas once the US lifts sanctions on Iran, which is the major sponsor of the Islamist terror group operating in Gaza.
The Biden administration is likely to restore the 2015 nuclear agreement with Iran – the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) — which had been negotiated by P5+1 (China, France, Russia, the UK, the US plus Germany) together with the European Union.
Recently, indirect talks on the restoration of the agreement between the US and Iran resumed in Vienna.
In response to an IANS question on the latest development, Barchad said that Israel has opposed the JCPOA.
“We think it is a bad deal. If P5+1 are holding indirect talks and if Americans are going back to the deal, we hope it includes various changes and with a stronger enforcement. We also hope that the Americans won’t lift all the sanctions,” the top Israeli official said.
Emphasising that US President Biden is “a true friend” of Israel, Barchad said that his government trusts his judgement on Iran, which he said funds 50 per cent of Hamas’ terror activities against the Israeli people.
Iranian President Hassan Rouhani
The remaining 50 per cent comes from various other sources, including funds raised from Islamic charities in Muslim nations and Europe, Barchad said, adding that Israel has been making efforts to block all those channels of terror-funding.
At the same time, he added, it is not far-fetched to think that billions of dollars will go to Hamas, Hezbollah, Houtis and the pro-Iranian militia in Syria, once the sanctions are lifted.
Barchad, however, warned that Hamas should not underestimate Israel’s defence capabilities.
Responding to another question on the use of Chinese weaponry by Hamas against Israel, Barchad said that Israel and China shared a good relationship and understanding.
Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh delivers a speech in Gaza City, on Jan. 23, 2018. The Islamic Hamas movement called on Tuesday for Palestinian national conference to discuss a new Palestinian strategy. Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh stressed in a televised speech the need for a new strategy that addresses the U.S. and Israeli declaration aimed at striking the Palestinian issue. (Xinhua/Wissam Nassar/IANS)
“Any use of Chinese weapons or technology by the Hamas has happened without the knowledge of China,” he said.
Barchad added that the Chinese military technology serves a dual purpose — for surveillance as well as military build-up. If their equipment is being used for military and not civilian purposes, it is not happening knowingly, the official said.
Barchad also said that the truce with Palestine after the 11-day ‘war’ is not a permanent solution.
Hamas, he said, openly wants destruction of Israel and even as the ceasefire is the best outcome at the moment, it can’t be a long lasting solution.
The counter-terrorism chief said that the ideal solution would be that the Hamas regime steps down followed by PLA and Israel coming to the table for talks.
EU Foreign Affairs spokesman Peter Stano told an online press conference on Monday that the reported incident in Natanz “could have been an act of sabotage”…reports Asian Lite News
The European Union (EU) has strongly rejected any attempts to derail diplomatic efforts to revive the Iran nuclear deal currently underway in Vienna.
EU Foreign Affairs spokesman Peter Stano told an online press conference on Monday that the reported incident in Natanz “could have been an act of sabotage”, but insisted that there had been no official attribution over who was responsible, Xinhua news agency reported.
The Natanz uranium enrichment site near Tehran was hit by a power outage on Sunday as negotiators in Vienna were seeking to re-admit the US to the 2015 pact, officially known as Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), aimed at curbing Iran’s nuclear ambitions, after former President Donald Trump withdrew in 2018.
“There has been no official attribution and there are several accusations that we are aware of, but it has to be clarified what happened and who is behind it. We still need to clarify the facts in detail as quickly as possible,” he said.
Stano said that any attempt to derail the diplomatic negotiations underway in Vienna to salvage the JCPOA must be completely rejected.
“We reject any attempts to undermine, derail or weaken diplomatic efforts on the nuclear agreement… All issues concerning the nuclear program have to be resolved by diplomatic means because there is no other sustainable alternative,” he stressed.
Two meetings of the JCPOA Joint Commission were held last week in Vienna, chaired by Enrique Mora, the deputy secretary general and political director of the EU External Service Action Service, and attended by representatives from China, France, Germany, Russia, the UK and Iran.
Washington sent a delegation led by US Special Envoy to Iran Robert Malley.
They did not meet their Iranian counterparts face-to-face, but a shuttle diplomacy approach was adopted with the intensified help of the coordinators.
US State Department spokesperson Ned Price informed that two working groups in the meeting were focused on respective steps for Tehran and Washington to revive the nuclear deal…reports Asian Lite News
The US has called the talks in Vienna over the 2015 Iran nuclear deal “a constructive step”, but rejected Tehran’s position of “maximalist demands”
“These discussions in Vienna, even though we are not meeting directly with the Iranians, as we have said, it is a welcome step, it is a constructive step, it is a potentially useful step,” Xinhua news agency quoted State Department spokesperson Ned Price told reporters in Washington at a press briefing on Tuesday.
“We don’t anticipate any immediate breakthrough,” he said.
“We know there will be difficult discussions ahead but again this is a healthy step forward.”
Price noted that two working groups in the meeting were focused on respective steps for Tehran and Washington to revive the nuclear deal, formally known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA).
“What is on the table in Vienna today and over the next handful of days are those initial indirect discussions about that first step, what Iran would need to do to resume compliance with the JCPOA and what the US would need to do to resume its compliance with the JCPOA,” he said.
He expected the US could have a better understanding of a roadmap for how both sides get to mutual compliance with the nuclear deal following the discussions in Vienna.
Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi, who is leading Tehran’s delegation in Vienna, said earlier in the day that the US must remove all its sanctions against the Islamic Republic in one step if it seeks to rejoin the nuclear deal.
Price, however, made clear that the US would not accept “maximalist demands” from Iran.
“I think what we can essentially rule out are the maximalist demands that the United States do everything first and only in turn would Iran then act, I don’t think anyone is under the impression that that would be a viable proposal,” he said.
The Joint Commission of the JCPOA resumed talks in Vienna on Tuesday as senior diplomats of China, France, Germany, Russia, the UK, and Iran met behind closed doors in the Grand Hotel Wien.
Media reports said the US delegation led by Special Envoy for Iran Robert Malley was put up at a nearby hotel.
The US and Iranian negotiators did not have direct talks, but a shuttle diplomacy approach was adopted with the intensified help of the coordinators.
Washington withdrew from the deal in 2018 and tightened sanctions on Iran under former President Donald Trump.
In response to the US moves, Iran suspended the implementation of parts of its obligations under the deal.
