Latest news with #Irna
Straits Times
25-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Straits Times
Iran summons French envoy after FM's Cannes comments
Iranian filmmaker Jafar Panahi (left) speaking on stage after winning the Palme d'Or for the film Un Simple Accident (A Simple Accident), watched by Juliette Binoche (right) and Cate Blanchett (second to right). PHOTO: EPA-EFE TEHRAN - France's envoy in Tehran was summoned May 25 over 'insulting' comments by France's foreign minister after an Iranian film won the top prize at the Cannes film festival, state media reported. In a post on X after dissident filmmaker Jafar Panahi won the Palme d'Or on May 24, Mr Jean-Noel Barrot called his victory 'a gesture of resistance against the Iranian regime's oppression'. Mr Panahi, 64, was awarded the Palme d'Or for the political drama It Was Just an Accident – a film in which five Iranians confront a man they believe tortured them in prison. Several actresses also appear in the film without veils, in violation of Iran's strict dress code for women. 'Following the insulting remarks and unfounded allegations by the French minister... the charge d'affaires of that country in Tehran has been summoned to the ministry,' state news agency Irna reported on May 25. It said Iran condemns 'the misuse by the French government' of the Cannes festival 'to advance its political agenda against the Islamic Republic'. A story inspired by his own time in detention, Mr Panahi's film led critics' polls throughout the week at Cannes. Mr Panahi's victory had been ignored by the state broadcaster, which instead focused on a state-aligned 'Resistance' film festival. This event awards pro-Palestinian works or those about the eight-year Iran-Iraq war in the 1980s. The conservative Fars news agency had suggested the Cannes jury's choice was politically motivated, saying it was 'not uninfluenced by the political issues surrounding Jafar Panahi inside Iran'. Reformist newspapers Etemad, Shargh and Ham Mihan reported the win on their websites but did not feature it on their front pages, possibly due to the timing of the announcement. Mr Panahi, who has been banned from filmmaking in Iran since 2010 and jailed multiple times, addressed the Cannes audience with a call for national unity. He confirmed plans to go home to Iran immediately. Asked late May 24 if he feared arrest, he said: 'Not at all. Tomorrow we are leaving.' On May 25, he posted an Instagram picture of himself with his film crew, saying: 'Travellers return home.' It was only the second time an Iranian director has won the Palme d'Or, after the late Abbas Kiarostami received the honour for Taste of Cherry in 1997. Both directors faced bans throughout their careers. AFP Join ST's Telegram channel and get the latest breaking news delivered to you.
The National
29-04-2025
- Business
- The National
Iran port explosion: Customs back to normal as victims' families set to receive compensation
Authorities at Iran's Shahid Rajaee port said that customs procedures were 'back to normal' on Tuesday after a large explosion and fire on Saturday killed at least 70 people and wounded 1,000 others. Ninety per cent of the storage and containers for loading and offloading are operational, the state news agency Irna reported. The Chief Justice of Hormozgan province, Mojtaba Ghahremani, said families of the victims will receive financial compensation in the coming 48 hours. 'The names of 25 victims whose identities have been identified have been given to insurance companies,' the semi-official Tasnim news agency reported him as saying, adding that the remaining victims' families will receive the same treatment once they have been identified. In a bid to resume operations, employees at the port returned to work with visible bruises, Irna said. Only one pier of the port's 23 suffered heavy damage as a result of the explosion, Irna said. Meanwhile an official at the regulatory Central Insurance of Iran said an assessment of the coverage has been done and damage to vehicles will be compensated. The port of Shahid Rajaee lies near the major coastal city of Bandar Abbas on the Strait of Hormuz, a waterway through which one-fifth of global oil output passes. The explosion took place on the same day as indirect US-Iran nuclear talks which were held in Oman on Saturday. State news outlets however warned against jumping to assumptions on the cause of the incident, given its timing. Hormozgan provincial governor Mohammad Ashouri ruled out sabotage. 'The set of hypotheses and investigations carried out during the process indicated that the sabotage theory lacks basis or relevance,' he told state television on Monday. Instead, Interior Minister Eskandar Momeni blamed the explosion on 'negligence'. – With reporting from wires
The National
14-04-2025
- Politics
- The National
Second round of US-Iran nuclear talks to take place in Oman, Tehran says
A second round of nuclear talks between the US and Iran will continue to be held in Oman's capital Muscat, Iran's state news agency Irna said on Monday, quoting Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmail Baghaei. Tehran and Washington have said they held "positive" and "constructive" talks in Oman on Saturday and agreed to reconvene this week. "The Foreign Ministry spokesman announced that Muscat will once again host this round," Irna reported on X. Confirmation of the venue comes after Italy earlier on Monday had said it was asked to host the next phase of talks led by US envoy Steve Witkoff and Iran's Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi. They agreed to meet again a week later in a sign of easing tension after months of escalating rhetoric and US President Donald Trump threatening to bomb Iran if it did not agree to a deal. Mr Trump on Monday said that Iran must abandon any push for a nuclear weapon or face harsh consequences that could include a military strike on Tehran's nuclear facilities. When asked if a potential response could include strikes on Iranian nuclear facilities, Mr Trump said: 'Of course it does'. Iran's Foreign Ministry said on Sunday the talks scheduled for next weekend would remain "indirect" with Omani mediation, and be focused solely on the nuclear issue and end of sanctions. Before then, Mr Araghchi will visit Russia to discuss the "latest developments" on the talks. Mr Trump pulled out of the 2015 nuclear deal between Iran and world powers including Russia, Britain and France in 2018, during his first term as US president. Saturday's negotiations came weeks after Mr Trump sent a letter to Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei urging nuclear talks while warning of possible military action if Iran refuses. On board Air Force One, Mr Trump said he had met with advisers to discuss Iran and anticipated a swift outcome. But he did not elaborate. 'We'll be making a decision on Iran very quickly,' he said. Mr Trump has made it a priority to curb Iran's nuclear programme and ensure it never builds an atomic weapon − something Tehran denies it wants to do. Meanwhile, Rafael Grossi, director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency, said on Monday that he will travel to Tehran this week to discuss co-operation on the country's nuclear programme. "Continued engagement and co-operation with the agency are essential at a time when diplomatic solutions are urgently needed," Mr Grossi said in a post on X. According to a diplomatic source, his visit is expected to take place on Thursday.
The National
07-04-2025
- Politics
- The National
Iran insists on indirect nuclear talks with US while warning it will respond to use of force
News MENA Foreign minister says US calls for direct negotiations while threatening escalation are 'meaningless' Iran is willing to hold indirect talks with the US on its nuclear programme but remains ready to respond to any use of force as threatened by US President Donald Trump, senior officials said at the weekend. 'We have declared our stance, we advocate for diplomacy and negotiations, but indirectly,' Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said while attending a meeting of the parliament's national security committee to brief them on the issue, state news agency Irna reported. Mr Trump last month sent a letter to Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei in which he called for Washington and Tehran to directly negotiate a deal that would ensure Iran does not develop nuclear weapons. Mr Trump reportedly set a two-month deadline for the talks to begin and threatened Iran with the use of force if it rejected the offer. Mr Araghchi said on Sunday that 'direct negotiations would be meaningless with a party that constantly threatens to resort to force in violation of the UN Charter and that expresses contradictory positions from its various officials'. 'We remain committed to diplomacy and are ready to try the path of indirect negotiations,' he added, according to a Foreign Ministry statement. 'Iran keeps itself prepared for all possible or probable events, and, just as it is serious in diplomacy and negotiations, it will also be decisive and serious in defending its national interests and sovereignty,' he said. An Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman said on Monday that indirect negotiations with the US were likely to be hosted by Oman, which has served as an intermediary between the two sides before. On Saturday, Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian said his country was willing to engage in dialogue with the US 'on equal footing'. He also questioned Washington's sincerity in calling for negotiations, saying 'If you want negotiations, then what is the point of threatening?' In 2015, Iran reached a landmark deal with the permanent members of the UN Security Council, namely the US, France, China, Russia, and the UK, as well as Germany, to regulate its nuclear activities. The agreement gave Iran sanctions relief in exchange for curbs on its nuclear programme to guarantee that Tehran could not develop a nuclear weapon. The US withdrew from the agreement in 2018, during Mr Trump's first term in office, and reinstated sanctions on Iran. Mr Trump resumed his policy of 'maximum pressure' on Iran after beginning his second term in January. Iran responded by stepping up its nuclear enrichment in breach of the 2015 pact, and has now accumulated a stockpile of near weapons-grade material, according to the International Atomic Energy Agency. Speaking at a gathering of ambassadors on Sunday to celebrate Nowruz, the Iranian new year, Mr Araghchi denounced the US for its unilateral withdrawal from the 2015 nuclear deal. 'Having had that experience, we are now prepared for negotiations on our nuclear programme and the removal of sanctions on the basis of logic of trust-building in exchange for the lifting of the cruel sanctions against Iran,' the Tasnim news agency quoted him as saying. On Saturday Hossein Salami, commander-in-chief of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, said the country was 'ready' for war. 'We are not worried about war at all. We will not be the initiators of war, but we are ready for any war,' Irna reported him as saying.
The National
27-03-2025
- Business
- The National
Iran's Foreign Minister says indirect talks with US over nuclear deal can continue
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said on Thursday said that indirect negotiations between Washington and Tehran over a nuclear deal could continue, and that an official response to a US request to restart talks had been sent through Oman. Mr Araghchi told state-owned news agency Irna that Iran's policy is still not to hold negotiations under ' maximum pressure and military threats', but he suggested indirect talks, as have happened in the past. 'Indirect negotiations were held by both Mr [Hassan] Rouhani 's government and the government of Shahid [Ebrahim] Raisi,' he said. In 2015, the US and other world powers signed an agreement with Iran that put limits on Tehran's nuclear programme in return for sanctions relief. The US has accused Iran of trying to develop a nuclear weapon, but Iran has always maintained that its programme is for peaceful purposes. President Donald Trump withdrew the US from the deal in 2018, during his first term, but said this month that he had sent a letter to Iranian leadership expressing the desire to start negotiations on a new deal. Iran responded to Mr Trump's overtures by saying that as long as the US maintained its campaign of punishing sanctions, talks would not be possible. 'We will not negotiate under pressure and intimidation. We will not even consider it, no matter what the subject may be,' Mr Araghchi said on X at the time. In the weeks since, the US has continued to pile sanctions on Iran, with Mr Trump's originally stated goal being to drive the country's oil exports to near zero. The Iranian rial fell bellow 1 million to the US dollar this week. The currency has more than halved in value since President Masoud Pezeshkian took office last year.
