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Iran Nuclear Agreement
Iran and the United States will hold a second round of talks over Tehran's nuclear programme next week, the Swiss Foreign Ministry has said. Oman, which welcomed the first round of indirect talks on February 6, will host the talks in Geneva, the Swiss ministry said on Saturday, without specifying which days. After the first discussions, US President Donald Trump warned Tehran that failure to reach an agreement with his administration would be "very traumatic". Similar talks last year broke down in June as Israel launched what became a 12-day war on Iran that included the US bombing Iranian nuclear sites. Trump has repeatedly threatened to use force to compel Iran to agree to constrain its nuclear programme. Iran has said it would respond with an attack of its own. Trump also has threatened Iran over its deadly crackdown on recent nationwide protests there. Gulf Arab nations have warned any attack could spiral into another regional conflict. Trump said Friday the USS Gerald R. For
About 2,50,000 people demonstrated against Iran's government on the sidelines of a gathering of world leaders in Germany, police said, answering a call from Iran's exiled Crown Prince Reza Pahlavi for cranked up international pressure on Tehran. Banging drums and chanting for regime change, the giant and boisterous rally in Munichon on Saturday was part of what Pahlavi described as a "global day of action" to support Iranians in the wake of deadly nationwide protests. He also called for demonstrations in Los Angeles and Toronto. Police said in a post on X that the number of protesters reached some 2,50,000, more than the organisers had expected. "Change, change, regime change" the huge crowd chanted, waving green-white-and-red flags with lion and sun emblems. Iran used that flag before its 1979 Islamic Revolution that toppled the Pahlavi dynasty. At a news conference, Pahlavi warned of more deaths in Iran if "democracies stand by and watch" following Iran's deadly crackdown on ...
The world's largest aircraft carrier has been ordered to sail from the Caribbean Sea to the Middle East, a person familiar with the plans said Thursday, as US President Donald Trump considers whether to take possible military action against Iran. The move by the USS Gerald R. Ford, first reported by The New York Times, will put two carriers and their accompanying warships in the region as Trump increases pressure on Iran to make a deal over its nuclear programme. The person spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss military movements. The USS Abraham Lincoln aircraft carrier and three guided-missile destroyers arrived in the Middle East more than two weeks ago. It marks a quick turnaround for the USS Ford, which Trump sent from the Mediterranean Sea to the Caribbean last October as the administration build up a huge military presence in the leadup to the surprise raid last month that captured then-Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro. It also appears to be at odds with Trump's ...
A top Iranian security official will travel Tuesday to Oman, the Mideast sultanate now mediating talks between Tehran and the United States over the Islamic Republic' nuclear program aimed at halting a possible American strike. Ali Larijani, a former Iranian Parliament speaker who now serves as the secretary to the country's Supreme National Security Council, likely will carry his country's response to the initial round of indirect talks held last week in Muscat with the Americans. Larijani is due to meet with Omani Foreign Minister Badr al-Busaidi, the chief intermediary in the talks, and Oman's Sultan Haitham bin Tariq, the state-run IRNA news agency reported. IRNA described the talks as "important," without elaborating on what message Larijani will carry. Iran and the U.S. held new nuclear talks last week in Oman. Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, speaking Sunday to diplomats at a summit in Tehran, signaled that Iran would stick to its position that it must be able to enrich urani
Iranian security forces have launched a campaign to arrest figures within the country's reformist movement, reports said on Monday. That widens a crackdown on dissent after authorities earlier put down nationwide protests in violence that killed thousands and saw tens of thousands more detained. Detained Nobel Peace Prize laureate Narges Mohammadi has received another prison sentence of over seven years. It signals a widening effort to silence anyone opposed to the bloody suppression of unrest by Iran's theocracy as it faces new nuclear talks with the United States. President Donald Trump has repeatedly warned he could launch an attack on the country if no deal is reached. Media reports quoted officials within the reformist movement, which seeks to change Iran's theocracy from inside, as saying at least four of their members had been arrested. They include Azar Mansouri, the head of the Reformist Front, which represents multiple reformist factions, and former diplomat Mohsen ...
Iran and the United States held indirect talks in Oman on Friday, negotiations that appeared to return to the starting point on how to approach discussions over Tehran's nuclear programme. But for the first time, America brought its top military commander in the Middle East to the table. The presence of US Navy Adm. Brad Cooper, the head of the American military's Central Command, in his dress uniform at the talks in Muscat, the Omani capital, served as a reminder that the aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln and other warships were now off the coast of Iran in the Arabian Sea. US President Donald Trump has repeatedly threatened to use force to compel Iran to reach a deal on the programme after earlier sending the carrier to the region over Tehran's bloody crackdown on nationwide protests that killed thousands and saw tens of thousands of others detained in the Islamic Republic. Gulf Arab nations fear an attack could spark a regional war that would drag them in as well. That threat
As tensions soar over Iran's bloody crackdown on nationwide protests, satellite images show activity at two Iranian nuclear sites bombed last year by Israel and the United States that may be a sign of Tehran trying to obscure efforts to salvage any materials remaining there. The images from Planet Labs PBC show roofs have been built over two damaged buildings at the Isfahan and Natanz facilities, the first major activity noticeable by satellite at any of the country's stricken nuclear sites since Israel's 12-day war with Iran in June. Those coverings block satellites from seeing what's happening on the ground - right now the only way for inspectors from the International Atomic Energy Agency to monitor the sites as Iran has prevented access. Iran has not publicly discussed the activity at the two sites. The IAEA, a watchdog agency of the United Nations, did not respond to requests for comment. US President Donald Trump repeatedly has demanded Iran negotiate a deal over its nuclear
Iran's foreign minister on Sunday said that Tehran is no longer enriching uranium at any site in the country. Answering a question from an Associated Press journalist visiting Iran, Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi offered the most direct response yet from the Iranian government regarding its nuclear program following Israel and the United States' bombing its enrichment sites in June. There is no undeclared nuclear enrichment in Iran. All of our facilities are under the safeguards and monitoring of the International Atomic Energy Agency, Araghchi said. There is no enrichment right now because our enrichment facilities have been attacked. Iran's government issued a three-day visa for the AP reporter to attend a summit alongside other journalists from major British outlets and other media.
The UK has sanctioned 70 people and organisations with links to Iran's nuclear programme. The sanctions come amid concerns the Islamic Republic is developing weapons, the British Foreign Office said Tuesday. The penalties aimed at 62 groups and nine people follow a decision by Britain, France and Germany last month to trigger the snapback mechanism to automatically reimpose all United Nations sanctions on Iran over its nuclear programme. The three nations, known as the E3, said at the time that Iran had willfully departed from the 2015 nuclear deal that lifted the measures. Iran's nuclear programme has long been a serious concern to the international community, as a significant threat to global peace and security, Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper said. This sanctions package sends a clear message to Tehran we will continue to take every step necessary to prevent Iran ever developing a nuclear weapon. The UN sanctions in effect before the deal included a conventional arms embargo,
United Nations sanctions on Iran over its nuclear programme were reimposed on Sunday, putting Tehran under new pressure as tensions remain high in the wider Mideast over the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza. At the UN General Assembly this week in New York, Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian and Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi tried a last-minute diplomatic push to stop the sanctions. However, Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, boxed in their efforts by describing diplomacy with the United States as a sheer dead end. Meanwhile, efforts by China and Russia to halt the sanctions failed on Friday. A 30-day clock for the sanctions started when France, Germany and the United Kingdom on Aug. 28 declared Iran wasn't complying with its 2015 nuclear deal with world powers. Tehran has argued without success that the deal was voided by the United States' unilateral withdrawal from the accord in 2018 under President Donald Trump's first administration. Since then, Iran has severely ...
Iran weighed Sunday how to respond to reimposed United Nations sanctions over its atomic program, with one lawmaker suggesting parliament would consider potentially withdrawing from the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty. The sanctions again freeze Iranian assets abroad, halt arms deals with Tehran and penalise any development of Iran's ballistic missile programme, among other measures. It came via a mechanism known as snapback, included in Iran's 2015 nuclear deal with world powers, and comes as Iran's economy already is reeling. Iran's rial currency sits at a record low, increasing pressure on food prices and making daily life that much more challenging. That includes meat, rice and other staples of the Iranian dinner table. Meanwhile, people worry about a new round of fighting between Iran and Israel, as well as potentially the United States, as missile sites struck during the 12-day war in June now appear to be being rebuilt. Speaking to the Young Journalists Club, which is ...
Iran on Saturday recalled its ambassadors to France, Germany and the United Kingdom ahead of United Nations sanctions over its nuclear programme being reimplemented. The three nations had pushed forward what diplomats refer to as snapback sanctions on Iran over it not cooperating with the International Atomic Energy Agency and not holding direct talks with the United States. Iran's state-run IRNA news agency reported the move, saying the ambassadors would be recalled for consultations. The sanctions are due to resume at 0000 GMT Sunday (8 pm Eastern Saturday). The measure will again freeze Iranian assets abroad, halt arms deals with Tehran, and penalise any development of Iran's ballistic missile programme, among other measures.