logo
Weekend nuclear deal between Iran and the US postponed, says Oman's foreign minister

Weekend nuclear deal between Iran and the US postponed, says Oman's foreign minister

Euronews01-05-2025

ADVERTISEMENT
Planned negotiations between Iran and the United States this weekend over Tehran's rapidly advancing nuclear programme have been postponed, Oman has announced.
Oman's Foreign Minister Badr al-Busaidi made the announcement in a post on the social platform X.
"For logistical reasons we are rescheduling the US Iran meeting provisionally planned for Saturday May 3rd," he wrote. "New dates will be announced when mutually agreed."
Al-Busaidi, who has mediated the talks through three rounds so far, did not elaborate.
Iran's Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmail Baghaei issued a statement describing the talks as being "postponed at the request of Oman's foreign minister."
He said Iran remain committed to reaching "a fair and lasting agreement."
An Iranian security official in protective clothing walks through part of the Uranium Conversion Facility just outside Isfahan, 30 March, 2005
Vahid Salemi/Copyright 2019 The AP. All rights reserved.
Meanwhile, a person familiar with the US negotiators said that Washington "had never confirmed its participation" in a fourth round of talks in Rome.
However, the person said the US expected the talks to occur "in the near future."
Two other rounds of talks have been held in Muscat, the Omani capital.
The talks seek to limit Iran's nuclear programme in exchange for the lifting of some of the crushing economic sanctions the US has imposed on the country.
The negotiations have been led by Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi and the US Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff.
Trump threatens air strikes
US President Donald Trump has repeatedly threatened to unleash air strikes on Iran's nuclear sites if a deal isn't reached.
Iranian officials have warned that they could pursue a nuclear weapon with their stockpile of uranium enriched to near weapons-grade levels.
The landmark 2015 nuclear deal, known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, did limit Tehran's nuclear activities.
But Trump unilaterally withdrew from it in 2018, setting in motion years of attacks and tensions.
ADVERTISEMENT
A Yemeni soldier inspects the damage reportedly caused by US air strikes in Sanaa, 27 April, 2025
AP Photo
The wider Middle East region also remains on edge over the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza.
Meanwhile, the US continues an air strike campaign, called "Operation Rough Rider," that targets the Houthi rebel group in Yemen, who have long been backed by Iran.
US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth issued a warning to Iran earlier on Thursday about their support for the militant group.
"Message to IRAN: We see your LETHAL support to The Houthis. We know exactly what you are doing," he wrote.
ADVERTISEMENT
"You know very well what the U.S. Military is capable of — and you were warned. You will pay the CONSEQUENCE at the time and place of our choosing."

Orange background

Try Our AI Features

Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:

Comments

No comments yet...

Related Articles

Federal judge rules that the US government must release Columbia University protester Mahmoud Khalil
Federal judge rules that the US government must release Columbia University protester Mahmoud Khalil

LeMonde

time42 minutes ago

  • LeMonde

Federal judge rules that the US government must release Columbia University protester Mahmoud Khalil

A federal judge has ruled that the government must release Mahmoud Khalil, the former Columbia University graduate student whom the Trump administration is trying to deport over his participation in pro-Palestinian demonstrations. Khalil, a legal US resident, was detained by federal immigration agents on March 8 in the lobby of his university-owned apartment. It marked the first arrest under President Donald Trump's crackdown on students who joined campus protests against the war in Gaza. Khalil was then flown across the country and taken to an immigration detention center in Jena, Louisiana, thousands of miles from his attorneys and wife, who is a US citizen who gave birth to their first child while he was in custody. Khalil's lawyers challenged the legality of his detention, accusing the Trump administration of trying to crack down on free speech. US Secretary of State Marco Rubio says he has the power to deport Khalil because his presence in the US could harm foreign policy. US District Judge Michael Farbiarz had ruled earlier that expelling Khalil from the US on those grounds was likely unconstitutional. In a new ruling on Wednesday, June 11, the judge said that Khalil had shown that his continued detention is causing irreparable harm to his career, to his family and to his free speech rights. Farbiarz gave the government until Friday to appeal the decision, and also required Khalil to post a $1 bond before he is freed. Lawyers and spokespersons for the Justice Department, which is handling the case, didn't immediately respond to an email seeking comment. The judge's decision comes after several other legal residents targeted for their activism won custody in recent weeks, including another Palestinian student at Columbia, Mohsen Mahdawi , a Tufts University student, Rumeysa Ozturk, and a Georgetown University scholar, Badar Khan Suri . Rubio has cited a rarely used statute to justify the deportation of Khalil and others, which gives him power to deport those who pose "potentially serious adverse foreign policy consequences for the United States." Khalil isn't accused of breaking any laws during the protests at Columbia. The government, however, has said that noncitizens who participate in such demonstrations should be expelled from the country for expressing views that the administration considers to be antisemitic and "pro-Hamas." Khalil, a 30-year-old international affairs graduate student, had served as a negotiator and spokesperson for student activists at Columbia University who took over a campus lawn last spring to protest Israel's military campaign in Gaza. The university brought police in to dismantle the encampment after a small group of protesters seized an administration building. Khalil is not accused of participating in the building occupation and wasn't among the people arrested in connection with the demonstrations. But images of his maskless face at protests, along with his willingness to share his name with reporters, have made him an object of scorn among those who saw the protesters and their demands as antisemitic. The White House accused Khalil of "siding with terrorists," but has yet to give any evidence for the claim.

37 months in prison for ex-CIA analyst who leaked docs on Israeli strike
37 months in prison for ex-CIA analyst who leaked docs on Israeli strike

France 24

timean hour ago

  • France 24

37 months in prison for ex-CIA analyst who leaked docs on Israeli strike

Asif Rahman, 34, who worked for the Central Intelligence Agency since 2016 and held a top secret security clearance, was arrested by the FBI in Cambodia in November. In January, Rahman pleaded guilty at a federal courthouse in Virginia to two counts of willful retention and transmission of national defense information. He faced a potential sentence of up to 20 years in prison. Iran unleashed a wave of close to 200 ballistic missiles on Israel on October 1 in retaliation for the killings of senior figures in the Tehran-backed Hamas and Hezbollah militant groups. Israel responded with a wave of strikes on military targets in Iran in late October. According to a court filing, on October 17 Rahman printed out two top secret documents "regarding a United States foreign ally and its planned kinetic actions against a foreign adversary." He photographed the documents and used a computer program to edit the images in "an attempt to conceal their source and delete his activity," it said. Rahman then transmitted the documents to "multiple individuals he knew were not entitled to receive them" before shredding them at work. The documents, circulated on the Telegram app by an account called Middle East Spectator, described Israeli preparations for a possible strike on Iran but did not identify any actual targets. According to The Washington Post, the documents, generated by the US National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency, described aviation exercises and movements of munitions at an Israeli airfield.

Milei says Argentina to move Israel embassy to Jerusalem in 2026
Milei says Argentina to move Israel embassy to Jerusalem in 2026

France 24

time4 hours ago

  • France 24

Milei says Argentina to move Israel embassy to Jerusalem in 2026

"I am proud to announce before you that in 2026 we will make effective the move of our embassy to the city of west Jerusalem, as we promised," Milei said in a speech in the Israeli parliament during an official state visit. Argentina's embassy is currently located in Herzliya near the coastal city of Tel Aviv. This is Milei's second visit to Israel since being elected in 2023. His previous trip, in February 2024, was his first official state visit outside of Argentina. During that trip he announced plans to move Argentina's embassy to Jerusalem -- a controversial move that echoed US President Donald Trump's shock 2017 decision to unilaterally recognise Jerusalem as Israel's capital. Israel has occupied east Jerusalem since 1967, later annexing it in a move not recognised by the international community. Israel treats the city as its capital, while Palestinians want east Jerusalem to become the capital of a future state. Most foreign embassies to Israel are located in the coastal hub city of Tel Aviv in order to avoid interfering with negotiations between Israelis and Palestinians. Speaking ahead of Milei's address to parliament on Wednesday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said "the city of Jerusalem will never be divided again." Several countries, including the United States, Paraguay, Guatemala, Honduras and Kosovo, have moved their embassies to Jerusalem, breaking with international consensus. 'Stand firm' In 2017, during his first term as US president, Trump unilaterally recognised Jerusalem as Israel's capital, sparking Palestinian anger and the international community's disapproval. The United States transferred its embassy to Jerusalem in May 2018. Milei, who has professed a deep interest in Judaism and studied Jewish scripture, is one of Israel's staunchest defenders. As Israel faces mounting international pressure over the dire humanitarian situation in Gaza after more than 20 months of war, Milei sought to express his support. "As a nation, we want to stand firm alongside you as you go through these dark days, we will not yield to criticism resulting from cowardice or complicity with barbarism," he said on Tuesday during a meeting with Israeli President Isaac Herzog. He also demanded the "unconditional return of the four Argentines still in captivity" in Gaza after Hamas's October 7, 2023 attack on Israel triggered the war. The Palestinian militant group's attack resulted in the deaths of 1,219 people on the Israeli side, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally of official figures. The health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza says the retaliatory Israeli military offensive has killed at least 55,104 people, the majority civilians. The United Nations considers these figures to be reliable. Out of 251 taken hostage during the Hamas attack, 54 are still held in Gaza including 32 the Israeli military says are dead.

DOWNLOAD THE APP

Get Started Now: Download the App

Ready to dive into the world of global news and events? Download our app today from your preferred app store and start exploring.
app-storeplay-store