
Iran Says No Sanctions Relief in US Nuclear Proposal
Iran's parliament speaker said on Sunday that the latest US proposal for a nuclear deal does not include the lifting of sanctions, state media reported as negotiations appeared to have hit a roadblock.
The two foes have held five rounds of Omani-mediated talks since April, seeking to replace a landmark agreement between Tehran and world powers that set restrictions on Iran's nuclear activities in return for sanctions relief, before US President Donald Trump abandoned the accord in 2018 during his first term, said AFP.
In a video aired on Iranian state TV, parliament speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf said that "the US plan does not even mention the lifting of sanctions".
He called it a sign of dishonesty, accusing the Americans of seeking to impose a "unilateral" agreement that Tehran would not accept.
"The delusional US president should know better and change his approach if he is really looking for a deal," Ghalibaf said.
On May 31, after the fifth round of talks, Iran said it had received "elements" of a US proposal, with officials later taking issue with "ambiguities" in the draft text.
The US and its Western allies have long accused Iran of seeking to acquire nuclear weapons, a charge Iran has consistently denied, insisting that its atomic program was solely for peaceful purposes.
Key issues in the negotiations have been the removal of biting economic sanctions and uranium enrichment.
Tehran says it has the right to enrich uranium under the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, while the Trump administration has called any Iranian enrichment a "red line".
Trump, who has revived his "maximum pressure" campaign of sanctions on Iran since taking office in January, has repeatedly said it will not be allowed any uranium enrichment under a potential deal.
On Tuesday, Iran's top negotiator, Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, said the country "will not ask anyone for permission to continue enriching uranium".
IAEA meeting
According to the UN nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), Iran is the only non-nuclear-weapon state in the world that enriches uranium up to 60 percent -- close to the 90 percent threshold needed for a nuclear warhead.
Iran's supreme leader Ali Khamenei on Wednesday rejected the latest US proposal and said enrichment was "key" to Iran's nuclear program.
The IAEA Board of Governors is scheduled to meet in Vienna starting Monday and discuss Iran's nuclear activities.
On Sunday the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran warned it could reduce its level of cooperation with the UN nuclear watchdog if it adopts a resolution against it.
"Certainly, the IAEA should not expect the Islamic Republic of Iran to continue its broad and friendly cooperation," the Iranian agency's spokesman Behrouz Kamalvandi told state TV.
Araghchi on Friday accused European powers of "opting for malign action against Iran at the IAEA Board of Governors", warning on X that "Iran will react strongly against any violation of its rights".
A quarterly report from the IAEA issued last week cited a "general lack of cooperation" from Iran and raised concerns over undeclared nuclear material.
Tehran has rejected the report as politically motivated and based on "forged documents" it said had been provided by its arch foe Israel.
Hashtags

Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles


Arab News
20 minutes ago
- Arab News
Israel to expel French nationals on Gaza aid boat by end of week
JERUSALEM: Israel is to expel by the end of the week four French nationals held after security forces intercepted their Gaza-bound aid boat, France's foreign minister said Wednesday, as an Israeli NGO said one of the French campaigners was briefly put in solitary confinement. The announcement came as France's prime minister accused activists aboard the boat — who hoped to raise awareness about the humanitarian situation in war-torn Gaza — of capitalizing on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict for political attention. The four, who include Rima Hassan, a member of European Parliament from the hard-left France Unbowed (LFI) party who is of Palestinian descent, will be deported on Thursday and Friday, French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot said on X. They were among 12 people on board the Madleen sailboat which was carrying food and supplies for Gaza before it was intercepted by Israeli forces in international waters off the besieged Palestinian territory on Monday. Four, including two French citizens and Swedish campaigner Greta Thunberg, agreed to be deported immediately. The remaining eight were taken into custody after they refused to leave Israel voluntarily, according to Adalah, an Israeli rights NGO representing most of the activists. All 12 of them have been banned from Israel for 100 years. Adalah said on Wednesday that Israeli authorities had placed French MEP Hassan and Brazilian activist Thiago Avila in solitary confinement, with Hassan later removed. 'Israeli authorities transferred two of the volunteers — the Brazilian volunteer Thiago Avila and the French-Palestinian European Parliament member Rima Hassan — to separate prison facilities, away from the others, and placed them in solitary confinement,' Adalah said in a statement. The NGO later said that Hassan had been moved back to Givon prison in Ramla, near Tel Aviv, while Avila remained in isolation. When asked for comment, Israel's prison authority referred AFP to the foreign ministry, which said it was checking the reports. Adalah said Hassan was put in isolation after writing 'Free Palestine' on a prison wall. The NGO said Brazilian activist Avila was placed in isolation 'due to his ongoing hunger and thirst strike, which he began two days ago.' 'He has also been treated aggressively by prison authorities, although this has not escalated to physical assault,' it added. The leader of Hassan's LFI party in parliament, Mathilde Panot, said France's prime minister Francois Bayrou had failed to condemn Israel's actions. The party's boss, Jean-Luc Melenchon, accused Bayrou of 'abandoning the French prisoners,' and called on President Emmanuel Macron to step in. 'These activists obtained the effect they wanted, but it's a form of instrumentalization to which we should not lend ourselves,' Bayrou responded in the National Assembly. It's 'through diplomatic action, and efforts to bring together several states to pressure the Israeli government, that we can obtain the only possible solution' to the conflict, he added. Foreign Minister Barrot also rejected Panot's criticism, saying 'the admirable mobilization' of French officials had made a rapid resolution of the situation possible 'despite the harassment and defamation that they have been subjected to.' France and Saudi Arabia are co-hosting a UN meeting later this month in New York on steps toward recognizing a Palestinian state and reaching a so-called two-state solution to the conflict. Israel is facing mounting pressure to allow more humanitarian aid into Gaza, whose entire population the United Nations has warned is at risk of famine. Israel's defense minister Israel Katz on Wednesday called on Egypt to block a hundreds-strong pro-Palestinian activist convoy from reaching Gaza, as the group arrived in the Libyan capital of Tripoli. Palestinian militant group Hamas on October 7, 2023 attacked Israel, resulting 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.


Al Arabiya
2 hours ago
- Al Arabiya
Gaza death toll tops 55,000 as calls grow for ceasefire and accountability
In this episode of Global News Today, presented by Tom Burges Watson, we bring you the latest from around the world – with a special focus on the humanitarian catastrophe unfolding in Gaza. As the death toll surpasses 55,000 since October 2023, we examine the scale of devastation, the international response, and the mounting calls for accountability and an end to conflict to prevent further loss of life. We analyze the remarks of US Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee, suggesting that Muslim-majority countries could provide land for a future Palestinian state. The comments have sparked intense global debate – we unpack the implications and international fallout. Tom is joined for reaction and analysis with special guest Andrew Gilmour, a former United Nations Assistant Secretary-General for Human Rights who shares his expert insight on the worsening humanitarian crisis. We also speak to Salam Fayyad, former prime minister of the Palestinian Authority. Salam Fayyad – Former prime minister of the Palestinian Authority Ambassador Hesham Youssef – Former career diplomat with the Egyptian foreign ministry


Arab News
2 hours ago
- Arab News
US reduces the presence of people not deemed essential to work in the Middle East as tensions rise
WASHINGTON: The United States is drawing down the presence of people who are not deemed essential to operations in the Middle East due to the potential for regional unrest, the State Department and military said State Department said it has ordered the departure of all nonessential personnel from the US Embassy in Baghdad based on its latest review and a commitment 'to keeping Americans safe, both at home and abroad.' The embassy had already been on limited staffing, and the order will not affect a large number of department, however, is also authorizing the departure of nonessential personnel and family members from Bahrain and Kuwait. That gives them an option on whether to leave those Secretary Pete Hegseth also 'has authorized the voluntary departure of military dependents from locations' across the region, US Central Command said in a statement. The command 'is monitoring the developing tension in the Middle East.'White House spokeswoman Anna Kelly confirmed the moves.'The State Department regularly reviews American personnel abroad, and this decision was made as a result of a recent review,' Kelly in the region have been rising in recent days as talks between the US and Iran over its rapidly advancing nuclear program appear to have hit an impasse. The talks seek to limit Iran's nuclear program in exchange for the lifting of some of the crushing economic sanctions that the US has imposed on the Islamic Republic. Iran insists its nuclear program is next round of talks — the sixth — had been tentatively scheduled for this weekend in Oman, according to two US officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss diplomatic matters. However, those officials said Wednesday that it looked increasingly unlikely that the talks would Donald Trump, who has previously threatened to use military force against Iran if negotiations failed, gave a less-than-optimistic view about reaching a deal with Iran, telling the New York Post's 'Pod Force One' podcast that he was 'getting more and more less confident about' a deal.'They seem to be delaying, and I think that's a shame. I'm less confident now than I would have been a couple of months ago. Something happened to them,' he said in the interview, which was recorded on mission to the UN posted on social media that 'threats of overwhelming force won't change the facts.''Iran is not seeking a nuclear weapon, and US militarism only fuels instability,' the Iranian mission Defense Minister Gen. Aziz Nasirzadeh separately told journalists Wednesday that he hoped talks with the US would yield results, though Tehran stood ready to respond.'If conflict is imposed on us, the opponent's casualties will certainly be more than ours, and in that case, America must leave the region, because all its bases are within our reach,' he said. 'We have access to them, and we will target all of them in the host countries without hesitation.'Meanwhile, the Board of Governors at the International Atomic Energy Agency was potentially set to vote on a measure to censure Iran. That could set in motion an effort to snap back United Nations sanctions on Iran via a measure in Tehran's 2015 nuclear deal with world powers that's still active until October. Trump withdrew from that deal in his first Wednesday, a statement from the United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations center, a Mideast-based effort overseen by the British navy, issued a warning to ships in the region that it 'has been made aware of increased tensions within the region which could lead to an escalation of military activity having a direct impact on mariners.'It urged caution in the Arabian Gulf, the Gulf of Oman and the Strait of Hormuz. It did not name Iran, though those waterways have seen Iranian ship seizures and attacks in the past.