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 appear 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 during his first term in 2018.
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 the Islamic republic of seeking to acquire nuclear weapons, a charge Iran has consistently denied, insisting that its atomic programme 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 sanction 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".
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 -- still short of the 90 percent threshold needed for a nuclear warhead.
Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei on Wednesday rejected the latest US proposal and said enrichment was "key" to Iran's nuclear programme.
The IAEA Board of Governors is scheduled to meet in Vienna later this month and discuss Iran's nuclear activities.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Middle East Eye
an hour ago
- Middle East Eye
UN special rapporteur denounces aid delivery as cover for violence in Gaza
Francesca Albanese, the UN special rapporteur on human rights in the occupied Palestinian territories, criticised the US-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation's aid delivery system, calling the use of 'aid distribution' a form of 'humanitarian camouflage'. She described it as 'an essential tactic of this genocide' in a post on X. 'History will prove right those who had sounded the alarm, and it will be of no consolation: the damage is done,' Albanese wrote, placing blame on what she called the 'moral and political corruption of the world we live in'. The statement comes amid repeated reports of deadly Israeli gunfire near aid distribution points in Gaza, where hundreds of Palestinians have been killed while attempting to access humanitarian assistance.
Arabian Post
an hour ago
- Arabian Post
Elon's blood feud with Trump will not gut SpaceX's $350 billion valuation
Matein Khalid I had analyzed SpaceX as a potential 10X winner in the Dubai media circa late 2020 when it traded at a mere $46 billion in the private market and even invited a number of close friends in an investor syndicate after sourcing shares from the Founders Fund in San Fran via the secondary market. Shakespear's Henry V praised the English longbow archers who won him the battle of Agincourt and thus the crown of France as 'we few, we happy few, we band of brothers'. I feel the same way about my SpaceX chums except our band of brothers includes a very noble sister. ADVERTISEMENT Is the 9X fairytale in SpaceX shares over, now that Elon publicly accused Trump of falsehood and even suggested that POTUS-47 was on a Jeff Epstein's Fantasy Island paedo guest list? Not at all, even though Trump has threatened to take away all Uncle Sam subsidies and contracts away from Elon's companies, now that the bromance of the century has gone sour with such a bang. Tesla (TSLA) shares naturally lost $150 billion last night on Nasdaq as TSLA plunged to 295 but a mass market EV car brand with stiff Chinese competition and declining market share cannot remotely be compared to SpaceX – Why? Unlike Tesla, SpaceX has no real technological peer and neither the Pentagon's Space Command nor NASA can or will replace SpaceX just because Trump has fallen out with Elon. America is not yet Russia, where Elon would take a jump from a window or be found with 6 bullets in his head, as happens in every Kremlin routine suicide. True, Wall Street is agog with rumours that the Navy SEAL team that whacked Osama in his safehouse is now rehearsing for even a more secret mission than Zero Dark Thirty to silence Geronimo. Jokes apart, SpaceX is too crucial to US national security, the rocket launch program and Space warfare to do anything but nurture SpaceX and help it grow bigger and richer in the years ahead for my band of brothers and noble sister. SpaceX is gaining market share and key awards and neither Trump nor even Musk can do much to derail its meteoric rise to Silicon Valley superstardom. SpaceX just won a $6 billion contract for 28 rocket launch missions critical to US national security from Space Command. Blue Origin only won a $2.4 billion contract for 7 rocket launches. SpaceX is easily the largest, most reliable, most successful, most technologically advanced space contractor for Uncle Sam and the President can do squat about this cold hard reality. SpaceX is on a roll with the world's top governments and intel agencies apart from USG/Uncle Sugar. After all, SpaceX commercial launch revenue rose by an incredible 56%, the kind of growth I see in a snappy, nappy software unicorn rather than a 20 year old Valley golden oldy that mesmerizes and owns Space, the Final Frontier… Sadly for Trump, Elon is Captain James T. Kirk and naughty even though he gets to yell 'beam me up Scotty' when the going gets tough on FX deal making with President Xi in Beijing. SpaceX is already the most profitable commercial rocket launch business the world has ever seen and its growth curve is not yet over. The FAA allowed SpaceX a five fold increase in rocket launches from its Texas base, now rebranded and incorporated as the City of Starbase. The air war between Indian and Pakistan tell the world's heads of state/spymasters that air battles will be won or lost via satellite based command and control centers, which the Chinese PLA has perfected to an art form. So I expect SpaceX to get some multi-billion dollar mega contracts from India, which is miffed at both Trump and French electronic warfare technologies. So can SpaceX command a $500 billion valuation? To borrow Obama's slogan, yes we can! Also published on Medium. Notice an issue? Arabian Post strives to deliver the most accurate and reliable information to its readers. If you believe you have identified an error or inconsistency in this article, please don't hesitate to contact our editorial team at editor[at]thearabianpost[dot]com. We are committed to promptly addressing any concerns and ensuring the highest level of journalistic integrity.
The National
2 hours ago
- The National
Israel says Mohammed Sinwar's body found in Gaza tunnel
Israel 's military said on Sunday it had identified the body of former Hamas military chief Mohammed Sinwar, who was killed in an air strike on a hospital in Gaza last month. An Israeli army statement said the body was found in an "underground tunnel route" beneath the European Hospital in Khan Younis. It said documents including Mr Sinwar's driving licence were found at the site. Israel said he was hiding in an underground "command and control centre" at the site, an explanation it often puts forward for its air strikes in Gaza. It released footage of what it said was the tunnel route beneath the European Hospital. The army said other militants were killed in the strike on May 13, and some were still being identified. One of them was said to be Mohammad Sabaneh, described by Israel as commander of a Hamas brigade in Rafah. "During searches in the underground tunnel route, several items belonging to Sinwar and Sabaneh were located, along with additional intelligence findings that were transferred for further investigation," the army statement said. It said Israel had gathered "additional intelligence findings" that were still being examined. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced on May 21 that the army had "probably killed" Mohammed Sinwar. His brother Yahya Sinwar, who was killed by Israel last year, was the Hamas leader believed to have masterminded the October 7 attack on Israel in 2023. Rumours of Mohammed Sinwar's death had abounded after the hospital strike. The attack was reported to have killed 34 people, with Gaza's civil defence agency describing it as "extremely intense" and having left "catastrophic effects across the area". Born in Khan Younis in 1975, Mohammed Sinwar joined Hamas as a teenager and was arrested in 1991 for suspected involvement in terrorism. He was also jailed by the Palestinian Authority in Ramallah during the 1990s. Following the killing of Hamas's top military commander, Mohammad Deif, in July last year, he took charge of the group's armed wing. After his older brother's death, he became the de facto leader of Hamas in Gaza.
