Latest news with #IranNuclearDeal
Time of India
14-07-2025
- Politics
- Time of India
Shocking Putin Twist In Iran-U.S. Nuclear Deal; Russia Erupts
Russia has dismissed a US media report alleging that President Putin urged Iran to accept a nuclear deal eliminating its right to enrich uranium. The Russian Foreign Ministry blasted the report as fake news aimed at escalating regional tensions and labeled the outlet Axios as a propaganda tool. While Axios cited unnamed Western officials, Tehran denied receiving any such message. Iran continues to reject demands for zero enrichment, maintaining its nuclear program is peaceful.#russia #putin #unitedstates #USA #Iran #trump #donaldtrump #IranNuclearDeal #JCPOA #USIranTalks #NuclearDiplomacy #MiddleEastPolitics Read More
CTV News
03-07-2025
- Politics
- CTV News
France says Iran sanctions decision depends on detainees' release
Jean-Noel Barrot, France's digital transition and telecommunication minister, during the LaRef conference in Paris, France. Photographer: Nathan Laine/Bloomberg France said on Thursday it would decide whether to reimpose sanctions against Iran over its nuclear program depending on whether Tehran released two French detainees charged with spying for Israel. 'Freeing Cecile Kohler and Jacques Paris is an absolute priority for us,' Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot said. 'We have always told our interlocutors from the Iranian regime that any decisions on sanctions will be conditional on resolving this issue.' Iran officially suspended its cooperation with the United Nations nuclear watchdog on Wednesday. The move came after a 12-day conflict last month between Iran and Israel, which saw unprecedented Israeli and US strikes on Iran's nuclear facilities and sharply escalated tensions between Tehran and the International Atomic Energy Agency. The United States and other Western countries, along with Israel, accuse Iran of seeking a nuclear weapon. Tehran denies that, but has gradually broken away from its commitments under a 2015 nuclear deal it struck with world powers, after the United States pulled out of it in 2018. Israel has maintained ambiguity about its own atomic arsenal, neither officially confirming nor denying it exists, but the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute estimates its arsenal amounts to 90 nuclear warheads. The landmark 2015 Iran nuclear deal provided Tehran with sanctions relief in exchange for curbs on its atomic program to be monitored by the UN nuclear watchdog. The deal included the possibility of UN sanctions being reimposed through a mechanism called 'snapback' if Iran failed to fulfil its commitments, an option that expires in October. Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar has urged European signatories of the 2015 deal to trigger the 'snapback' mechanism and reinstate all UN sanctions on Iran. Kohler, 40, and Paris, her 72-year-old partner, have been held in Iran since May 2022 on espionage charges their families reject. But Iran has now charged the pair with spying for Israel's intelligence agency Mossad, diplomatic and family sources told AFP on Wednesday. They were also accused of 'corruption of Earth' and 'plotting to overthrow the regime', the sources said. All three charges carry the death penalty. Tehran has not confirmed the new charges. A French diplomatic source described the allegations as 'completely unfounded'. Iran is believed to hold around 20 European nationals, many of whose cases have never been publicised, in what some Western governments including France describe as a strategy of hostage-taking aimed at extracting concessions from the West. Three other Europeans, who have not been identified, have also been arrested in the wake of the current conflict, two of whom are accused of spying for Israel, according to the authorities.
National Post
03-07-2025
- Politics
- National Post
Iran suspends cooperation with UN nuclear watchdog 'until certain conditions are met'
Article content 'Iran has just issued a scandalous announcement about suspending its cooperation with the IAEA,' he said in an X post. 'This is a complete renunciation of all its international nuclear obligations and commitments.' Article content Saar urged European nations that were part of Iran's 2015 nuclear deal to implement its so-called snapback clause. That would reimpose all UN sanctions on it originally lifted by Tehran's nuclear deal with world powers, if one of its Western parties declares the Islamic Republic is out of compliance with it. Article content Israel is widely believed to be the only nuclear-armed state in the Middle East, and the IAEA doesn't have access to its weapons-related facilities. Article content Tammy Bruce, a spokesperson for the U.S. State Department, separately said it was 'unacceptable that Iran chose to suspend cooperation with the IAEA at a time when it has a window of opportunity to reverse course and choose a path of peace and prosperity.' Article content Iran's move so far stops short of what experts feared the most. They had been concerned that Tehran, in response to the war, could decide to fully end its cooperation with the IAEA, abandon the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty and rush toward a bomb. That treaty has countries agree not to build or obtain nuclear weapons and allows the IAEA to conduct inspections to verify that countries correctly declared their programs. Article content Iran's 2015 nuclear deal allowed Iran to enrich uranium to 3.67 per cent — enough to fuel a nuclear power plant, but far below the threshold of 90 per cent needed for weapons-grade uranium. It also drastically reduced Iran's stockpile of uranium, limited its use of centrifuges and relied on the IAEA to oversee Tehran's compliance through additional oversight. The IAEA served as the main assessor of Iran's commitment to the deal. Article content But Trump, in his first term in 2018, unilaterally withdrew Washington from the accord, insisting it wasn't tough enough and didn't address Iran's missile program or its support for militant groups in the wider Middle East. That set in motion years of tensions, including attacks at sea and on land. Article content Iran had been enriching up to 60 per cent, a short, technical step away from weapons-grade levels. It also has enough of a stockpile to build multiple nuclear bombs, should it choose to do so. Iran has long insisted its nuclear program is for peaceful purposes, but the IAEA, Western intelligence agencies and others say Tehran had an organized weapons program up until 2003. Article content Article content Israeli airstrikes, which began June 13, decimated the upper ranks of Iran's powerful Revolutionary Guard and targeted its arsenal of ballistic missiles. The strikes also hit Iran's nuclear sites, which Israel claimed put Tehran within reach of a nuclear weapon. Article content Iran has said the Israeli attacks killed 935 'Iranian citizens,' including 38 children and 102 women. However, Iran has a long history of offering lower death counts around unrest over political considerations. Article content The Washington-based Human Rights Activists group, which has provided detailed casualty figures from multiple rounds of unrest in Iran, has put the death toll at 1,190 people killed, including 436 civilians and 435 security force members. The attacks wounded another 4,475 people, the group said. Article content U.S. intelligence suggests the facilities were 'completely obliterated' by the strikes, Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell told reporters Wednesday in a briefing, repeating the Trump administration's assertion.
Yahoo
02-07-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Israel's Iran strategy heavily banks on US getting good nuclear deal, sources say
Israel also hopes that Trump can successfully place limits on Iran's ballistic missile supply, but this is even more uncertain. Israel is feeling ascendant after its significant achievements against Iran during the June 13-24 war. Still, sources have said that the current strategy going forward is overwhelmingly banking on the US nailing Tehran down to a tough and long new nuclear deal. If the US does not secure such an airtight deal, Israel is unclear on what its strategy or next steps would be. In contrast to the ceasefire deal and end of the war with Hezbollah on November 27, 2024 which in and of itself set clear limits on Hezbollah's right to rearm and clearly outlined how Israel could proactively enforce those limits, the Iran ceasefire simply stopped the fighting between the sides with zero provisions regarding the future. This lack of a clear plan and certainty is true about how much Israel thinks it can hold back the Islamic Republic from rebuilding its heavily damaged nuclear weapons program, and sources have indicated that the plan may even be less clear regarding imposing and enforcing limits on Iran's ballistic missile program. Jerusalem's ideal world would be a US-brokered deal that ends Iran's nuclear program or ends its uranium enrichment and advanced centrifuges for a period of multiple decades, as well as keeps its quantity of ballistic missiles with a range to hit Israel down at the current 500-1,000 total missiles level. But what if Iran only agrees to certain concessions, but not others? For example, Iran could agree not to enrich uranium for the next year or two, during a period of time when it may not in any event be able to do so after the Israeli and American attacks, followed by enriching uranium at "low levels" like it did under the 2015 JCPOA nuclear deal. This would basically be accepting the offer that US President Donald Trump was offering them before the war, except now they would be "losing" nothing because they cannot, at least for some period of time, do very much uranium enrichment right now anyway. Would Trump reject such a deal and potentially allow Iran to rebuild its nuclear program with no limits and no IAEA inspectors? The part about the IAEA inspectors is not theoretical, as since June 13, the UN nuclear inspectors have had no access to any aspects of the Iranian nuclear program. In fact, as of Wednesday, Iran also formally announced that it has indefinitely cut ties with the IAEA. This does not mean that Jerusalem and Washington are blind about what is happening in Iran. On Tuesday, The Jerusalem Post reported that Israeli satellites took tens of millions of photos of Iranian territory leading up to and ruing the 12-day war. But wherever the IAEA had electronic surveillance, it had 24-7 surveillance even indoors, even underground, something which is difficult even for top intelligence agencies to achieve. In short, IAEA inspections have never been sufficient by themselves, but they are crucial and invaluable. If the world was partially blind regarding Iran's nuclear program when Iran rolled back cooperation with the IAEA in 2021 and again in 2022, it is truly blind now. The only good news so far on the nuclear front is that even Iran is starting to admit that its nuclear facilities, including Fordow, were badly damaged. This means that even if the world is blind, there could be several months or more of little new progress by Iran toward reconstituting its nuclear program, no matter how hard it tries. Prior to the war, the Islamic Republic's ballistic missile program was not even on the table. Now, Israel will try to inject it onto the table, arguing that Iran's three massive ballistic missile attacks on the Jewish state in April 2024, October 2024, and this month make it a new existential threat. What if Trump settles for a nuclear deal, but with no limits on ballistic missiles? Israel was worried about Iran building a facility which could jump its missile inventory from 2,500 to 4,000 in around a year or so, and to 8,800 in around two years. Such numbers could overwhelm Israel's missile shield in a far more devastating way than even the 28 Israelis killed and 1,250 wounded from the 12-day war. Presumably, then, Israel would attack before the numbers ballooned that much. But how soon would Israel attack? When will the numbers get back to the pre-war 2,500 level? Earlier, such as when Iran builds and starts to operate a new ballistic missile production facility? Or yet earlier, as soon as it starts to build such a facility? Or maybe Israel can agree to Iran building unlimited ballistic missiles as long as their range falls below the 1,500 kilometer range to hit the Jewish state, given that many Iranian missiles do fall below that range. Will Jerusalem really risk ballistic missile attacks on hospitals, universities, and central Israel just to stop a facility from being built? And if it won't, will it get harder to respond even as the process goes forward because Israeli leaders will need to admit they are afraid of the Iranian response? Jerusalem has some time to let Trump try to resolve these issues. But if Trump cannot resolve them in the coming weeks or months, Israel will likely need to make some clear, hard, and uncompromising decisions about being ready to enforce certain limits, with coordination with the US and a yellow light to strike, even if there is not full-throated approval.
Times of Oman
01-07-2025
- Politics
- Times of Oman
The Power of Conviction in Foreign Policy: Oman's Case
In 2009, three U.S. hikers were detained in Iran on charges of espionage after allegedly crossing an unmarked border during a hike near the Iran-Iraq border in northern Iraq. Their release became a pivotal moment in initiating negotiations between the U.S. and Iran. After the first hiker, Sarah Shourd, was released, U.S. officials visited Oman in December 2010 to explore whether the late Sultan Qaboos could help facilitate talks between the two nations. Shortly thereafter, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton met with the late Sultan, and President Obama conveyed a request for his assistance in engaging Iran. In 2011, the remaining two hikers, Shane Bauer and Josh Fattal, were also released—on both occasions, the Americans were transported from Iran to Oman. The secret talks that ultimately led to the Iran nuclear deal involved direct engagement at the highest levels of leadership. In a 2015 speech, Ayatollah Khamenei revealed that Sultan Qaboos had acted as an intermediary after the U.S. President reached out to him to help resolve the nuclear issue and lift sanctions. Despite initial Iranian skepticism, Sultan Qaboos asked them to reconsider, and his trusted counsel helped lay the foundation for renewed U.S.-Iranian dialogue. Oman's diplomacy was once again brought into focus. Its consistent efforts had earned it the credibility to act as a trusted intermediary between two adversaries — a status built over decades of sincere and principled engagement in pursuit of regional and global peace. That trust led to the signing of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) in 2015 — a major diplomatic breakthrough between Iran and the West. But it was short-lived. In 2018, President Trump unilaterally withdrew from the deal and re-imposed sanctions. Now, more than a decade after Oman helped initiate those talks, and during President Trump's second term, the Sultanate once again served as an intermediary between the two sides. The first round of renewed talks took place on April 12, 2025, in Muscat. A White House statement described the discussions as 'very positive and constructive,' thanking Oman for its support and noting that Special Envoy Witkoff conveyed President Trump's instructions to resolve differences 'through dialogue and diplomacy, if that is possible.' Since April, five rounds of U.S.–Iran nuclear talks have taken place between Muscat and Rome. The sixth round was scheduled for June 15 in Muscat, but Iran subsequently withdrew after Israeli attacks on Iranian territory began on June 13. President Trump later confirmed that the U.S. was aware of the planned Israeli attacks. He remarked that the day of the attacks marked Day 61 — just one day after the expiration of a 60-day ultimatum given to Iran to accept the U.S.-proposed framework. Describing the attacks as 'very successful,' the President added that Iran should have accepted the deal while there was still time. Iranian officials, however, had made it clear from the start that negotiations could not continue under pressure. These attacks underscore a familiar pattern: unilateral actions that undermine diplomatic efforts. Even as talks were underway, Israel targeted the very subject of those discussions – with the knowledge of the U.S., a direct party in these talks. This not only jeopardized the integrity of the negotiations but also signaled a disregard for the value of diplomacy, as opposed to military attacks that result in the death of innocents. The implicit message — that failure to meet a deadline could lead to deadly consequences — represents a disturbing distortion of what diplomacy is meant to achieve. Israel's connection to the nuclear negotiations is rooted in its close alignment with U.S. foreign policy. This became especially evident in May 2023, when the current U.S. Ambassador to Oman stated during a hearing before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee: 'I will encourage Oman to build on its announcement permitting Israeli civilian overflights through its airspace by taking additional steps, including consideration of full normalization with Israel.' While ambassadors are expected to strengthen bilateral ties between their countries and the countries to which they are assigned, this position appeared to prioritize the interests of a third party — Israel — overlooking Oman's avowed principles in this case, which are non-negotiable. As with its diplomatic outreach to Iran, the United States – along with other countries – has also turned to the Sultanate's good offices to help secure the release of its citizens in other countries. Shane Bauer, one of the three hikers detained in 2009, later wrote that Oman was 'the country most responsible for our eventual release.' The Sultanate has also played a key role in facilitating the release of American detainees in Yemen on multiple occasions. From these examples, it is evident that Oman has a track record — built over decades — of being an 'honest broker,' facilitating talks and mediating disputes when requested. Despite the various challenges, the Sultanate has consistently demonstrated its resolve to assist its friends whenever possible and to find viable solutions to conflicts through patient and respectful dialogue. Oman is proud of its history of friendship with the United States, first formalized almost two hundred years ago by a Treaty of Amity and Commerce. While the Sultanate seeks to strengthen its strategic relationship with the U.S. and all its friends, the undermining of sovereignty and diplomacy can only sabotage the prospects for real peace. Oman offers a model for diplomacy rooted in integrity — not pressure, not coercion, but conviction. As the Sultanate strives toward making the world a better place, where all can live in peace and security, a nation's steadfast commitment to its moral principles in trying times is absolutely vital for the world's well-being. And today, Oman's commitment to peace, grounded in justice, respect for sovereignty, and self-determination, is more essential to the world than ever.
