Nuclear Deal

Syria to grant inspectors access to suspected nuclear sites: UN watchdog

Syria's new government has agreed to give inspectors from the United Nations' nuclear watchdog access to suspected former nuclear sites immediately, the agency's head told The Associated Press on Wednesday. The International Atomic Energy Agency's director-general, Rafael Mariano Grossi, spoke in an exclusive interview in Damascus, where he met with President Ahmad al-Sharaa and other officials. He also said al-Sharaa expressed an interest in pursuing nuclear energy for Syria in the future, adding, Why not? The agency's aim is to bring total clarity over certain activities that took place in the past that were, in the judgment of the agency, probably related to nuclear weapons, Grossi said. He described the new government as committed to opening up to the world, to international cooperation and said he is hopeful of finishing the inspection process within months. An IAEA team in 2024 visited some sites of interest while former President Bashar Assad was still in power. Since the fa

Iran must give up nuclear enrichment in any deal with US, says Rubio

Secretary of State Marco Rubio said in an interview released Wednesday that Iran must give up all nuclear enrichment if it wants to make a deal during talks with the Trump administration and head off the threat of armed conflict. Iran insists its nuclear programme is for civilian energy use and says it does not seek to make weapons-grade uranium to build atomic bombs. If Iran wants a civil nuclear programme, they can have one just like many other countries can have one, and that is they import enriched material, Rubio said in a podcast interview with journalist Bari Weiss. But Iran has long refused to give up its ability to enrich uranium. President Donald Trump in his first term pulled the US out of a Obama-era nuclear deal focused on monitoring to ensure Iran did not move toward weapons-grade enrichment. In the first months of his second term, Trump opened talks that he says will get a tougher agreement on Iran's nuclear programme, with a second round of negotiations held Saturda

Macron to confer with allies on protecting Europe with nuclear deterrence

French President Emmanuel Macron said Wednesday he will confer with European allies on the idea of using France's nuclear deterrent to protect the continent in the face of threats from Russia. Macron made the comments in a televised address to the nation. France is the only nuclear power in the European Union. Macron described Russia as a threat to France and Europe," and said he had decided to open the strategic debate on the protection of our allies on the European continent by our (nuclear) deterrent. He said the use of France's nuclear weapons would remain only in the hands of the French president. Macron also said he hoped to convince US President Donald Trump not to impose tariffs on imports from Europe.

Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Khamenei warns against Trump negotiations

Iran's supreme leader said Friday that negotiations with America are not intelligent, wise or honourable after President Donald Trump floated nuclear talks with Tehran. Ayatollah Ali Khamenei also suggested that there should be no negotiations with such a government, but stopped short of issuing a direct order not to engage with Washington. Khamenei's remarks upend months of signals from Tehran to the United States that it wanted to negotiate over its rapidly advancing nuclear programme in exchange for the lifting of crushing economic sanctions worth billions of dollars. Following Khamenei's comments, the Iranian rial sunk to a record low of 8,72,000 rials to USD 1 in aftermarket trading. What happens next remains unclear, particularly as reformist President Masoud Pezeshkian promised as recently as Thursday to enter into a dialogue with the West. Khamenei's remarks to air force officers in Tehran appeared to contradict his own earlier remarks in August that opened the door to talk

Paperwork underway to unleash civil nuclear deal: US NSA Sullivan

Signed back in 2007, the nuclear deal has not yet been fully realised, he said

West's agenda spurs changes to Russia's nuclear doctrine: Kremlin

Moscow is taking into account the possibility of Ukraine using U.S.-supplied long-range weapons in its attacks deep into the Russian territory, he added

Ex-nuclear negotiator, female min in list of proposed mins by Iran prez

Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian on Sunday proposed former nuclear negotiator Abbas Araghchi as the country's new foreign minister and also sought to appoint a woman as roads and housing minister. If approved, she would be Iran's first female minister in more than a decade. Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf read out the list of proposed ministers to lawmakers. The hard-line-dominated chamber will have two weeks to review qualifications and give a vote of confidence to the proposed ministers. Araghchi, 61, a career diplomat, was a member of the Iranian negotiating team that reached a nuclear deal with world powers in 2015 that capped Tehran's nuclear program in return for the lifting of sanctions. In 2018, then-President Donald Trump pulled the U.S. out of the deal and imposed more sanctions on Iran. Pezeshkian said during his presidential campaign that he would try to revive the nuclear deal. Pezeshkian named Gen. Aziz Nasirzadeh, an F-14 Tomcat pilot, as defense minist

Iran's presidential candidates debate sanctions, nuclear deal before runoff

Iranian presidential candidates on Tuesday discussed the impact of economic sanctions imposed on their country by the United States and other Western nations and presented their plans about reviving a nuclear deal with world powers. It was the second, and last, live debate on state television pitting little-known reformist Masoud Pezeshkian and Saeed Jalili, a hard-line former nuclear negotiator, ahead of Friday's runoff election aimed at choosing a successor for the late President Ebrahim Raisi, who died last month in a helicopter crash. Pezeshkian said that sanctions imposed by the West have badly hurt Iran's economy. He cited a 40 per cent inflation over the past four years and the increasing poverty rates. We live in a society in which many are begging on the streets," he said. Pezeshkian, a cardiac surgeon, said his administration would immediately work towards trying to get sanctions lifted and vowed to repair the economy. He also said he would find a solution to revive a ...

South Korea, US to hold new round of nuclear planning talks in Seoul today

The third meeting of the Nuclear Consultative Group (NCG) is designed to follow up on last year's summit

US should ease sanctions to showi t wants to return to nuclear deal: Iran

Iran's President Ebrahim Raisi said Wednesday that relations with the United States can move forward if the Biden administration demonstrates it wants to return to the 2015 nuclear deal, and a first step should be easing sanctions. Raisi told a news conference that the Americans have reached out through several channels saying they wish to have a dialogue, but we do believe that it must be accompanied by action. So talk alone is not going to do it, Raisi said. But action on sanctions can be a solid foundation for continuing discussions. The Iranian leader added: We have not left the table of negotiations. Raisi reiterated that the American withdrawal from the 2015 agreement, aimed at reining in Iran's nuclear programme, trampled on US commitments including on sanctions. Then-President Donald Trump had unilaterally pulled the US out of the accord in 2018, restoring crippling sanctions. Iran began breaking the terms a year later, including by enriching uranium to higher levels, and

Iran's prez urges US to demonstrate it wants to return to 2015 nuclear deal

Iran's President Ebrahim Raisi said Tuesday that his country will never give up its right to have peaceful nuclear energy and urged the United States to demonstrate in a verifiable fashion that it wants to return to the 2015 nuclear deal. Addressing the annual high-level meeting of the UN General Assembly, Raisi said the American withdrawal from the deal trampled on US commitments and was an inappropriate response to Iran's fulfilment of its commitments. Then-President Donald Trump unilaterally pulled the US out of the accord in 2018, restoring crippling sanctions. Iran began breaking the terms a year later and formal talks in Vienna to try to restart the deal collapsed in August 2022. Iran has long denied ever seeking nuclear weapons and continues to insist that its programme is entirely for peaceful purposes points Raisi reiterated Tuesday telling the high-level meeting that nuclear weapons have no place in the defensive doctrine and the military doctrine of the country. But UN

Iran blames US 'miscalculation, wrong policy' for nuclear talks impasse

Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian blamed the US "miscalculation and wrong policy" for causing the current stalemate on the revival of a 2015 nuclear deal

Ready to conclude Vienna nuclear deal on basis of final draft, says Iran

The Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian has said that Iran was ready to conclude the Vienna talks on the revival of a 2015 nuclear deal on the basis of the final draft

Iran to uphold nuke commitments, if sanctions removed: Iranian atomic chief

The Iranian nuclear chief has said that his country would uphold its commitments under the 2015 nuclear deal if the anti-Iran sanctions are removed

US must prove reliability to rejoin nuclear deal: Iranian foreign ministry

"An agreement is a two-way road, and it was expected that the negotiating parties would act constructively in this direction," the Iranian spokesman said

Iran won't compromise on any red lines in nuclear deal talks, says FM

All the US attempts to establish new political and security arrangements in the region without Iran's presence have ended in failure, Xinhua news agency quoted the Minister as saying

US told Israel that Iran nuclear deal unlikely in near future, says report

Israel opposes efforts to revive the 2015 pact that eased sanctions on Iran's economy in return for caps on its nuclear program

Iran demands stronger US guarantees of lifting sanctions to reach nuke deal

"If America acts realistically and strengthens the existing text, an agreement will be within reach," the Iranian Foreign Minister said

Reviving 2015 nuclear agreement in interests of all parties, says Iran

An Iranian foreign ministry spokesman has said that Iran is serious about achieving an agreement in Vienna because reviving the 2015 nuclear deal is in the interests of all parties

Biden faces new domestic political hurdles in the US-Iran nuclear deal

Last week's attack on author Salman Rushdie and the indictment of an Iranian national in a plot to kill former national security adviser John Bolton have given the Biden administration new headaches as it attempts to negotiate a return to the 2015 nuclear deal with Iran. A resolution may be tantalizingly close. But as the US and Europe weigh Iran's latest response to an EU proposal described as the West's final offer, the administration faces new and potentially insurmountable domestic political hurdles to forging a lasting agreement. Deal critics in Congress who have long vowed to blow up any pact have ratcheted up their opposition to negotiations with a country whose leadership has refused to rescind the death threats against Rushdie or Bolton. Iran also vows to avenge the Trump administration's 2020 assassination of a top Iranian general by killing former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and Iran envoy Brian Hook, both of whom remain under 24/7 taxpayer-paid security ...