
European powers plan fresh nuclear talks with Iran
Britain, France and Germany, known as the E3, "are in contact with Iran to schedule further talks for the coming week," the source said.
The trio had recently warned that international sanctions against Iran could be reactivated if Tehran does not return to the negotiating table.
Iran's Tasnim news agency also reported that Tehran had agreed to hold talks with the three European countries, citing an unnamed source.
Consultations are ongoing regarding a date and location for the talks, the report said.
"Iran must never be allowed to acquire a nuclear weapon," the German source said.
"That is why Germany, France and the United Kingdom are continuing to work intensively in the E3 format to find a sustainable and verifiable diplomatic solution to the Iranian nuclear program," the source added.
Israel and Western nations have long accused Iran of seeking to develop nuclear weapons, a charge Tehran has consistently denied.
On June 13, Israel launched a wave of surprise strikes on its regional nemesis, targeting key military and nuclear facilities.
The US launched its own set of strikes against Iran's nuclear program on June 22, hitting the uranium enrichment facility at Fordo, in Qom province south of Tehran, as well as nuclear sites in Isfahan and Natanz.
Iran and the US had held several rounds of nuclear negotiations through Omani mediators before Israel launched its 12-day war against Iran.
However, US President Donald Trump's decision to join Israel in striking Iranian nuclear facilities effectively ended the talks.
The E3 countries last met with Iranian representatives in Geneva on June 21 -- just one day before the US strikes.
Also Sunday, Russian President Vladimir Putin held a surprise meeting in the Kremlin with Ali Larijani, top adviser to Iran's supreme leader on nuclear issues.
Larijani "conveyed assessments of the escalating situation in the Middle East and around the Iranian nuclear programme," Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said of the unannounced meeting.
Putin had expressed Russia's "well-known positions on how to stabilise the situation in the region and on the political settlement of the Iranian nuclear programme," he added.
Moscow has a cordial relationship with Iran's clerical leadership and provides crucial backing for Tehran but did not swing forcefully behind its partner even after the US joined Israel's bombing campaign.
Iran and world powers struck a deal in 2015 called the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, which placed significant restrictions on Tehran's nuclear program in exchange for sanctions relief.
But the hard-won deal began to unravel in 2018, during Trump's first presidency, when the United States walked away from it and reimposed sanctions on Iran.
European countries have in recent days threatened to trigger the deal's "snapback" mechanism, which allows the reimposition of sanctions in the event of non-compliance by Iran.
After a call with his European counterparts on Friday, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said the Western allies had "absolutely no moral (or) legal grounds" for reactivating the snapback sanctions.
He elaborated in a post to social media Sunday. "Through their actions and statements, including providing political and material support to the recent unprovoked and illegal military aggression of the Israeli regime and the US ... the E3 have relinquished their role as 'Participants' in the JCPOA," said Araghchi.
That made any attempt to reinstate the terminated UN Security Council resolutions "null and void," he added. "Iran has shown that it is capable of defeating any delusional 'dirty work' but has always been prepared to reciprocate meaningful diplomacy in good faith," Araghchi wrote.
However, the German source said Sunday that "if no solution is reached over the summer, snapback remains an option for the E3."
Ali Velayati, an adviser to supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, said there would be no new nuclear talks with the US if they were conditioned on Tehran abandoning its uranium enrichment activities.
Hashtags

Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
![[Editorial] Beef and barriers](/_next/image?url=https%3A%2F%2Fall-logos-bucket.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fkoreaherald.com.png&w=48&q=75)
Korea Herald
2 hours ago
- Korea Herald
[Editorial] Beef and barriers
Trade tensions rise over beef and investments, with economic growth hanging in the balance As the Aug. 1 deadline for US reciprocal tariffs approaches, South Korea faces intensifying pressure to make politically sensitive trade concessions. Nowhere is this tension more visible than in the dispute over American beef. On July 24, US President Donald Trump took to social media to praise Australia's decision to open its beef market — including imports of cattle over 30 months old — and warned that countries refusing 'magnificent' US beef were 'on notice.' Among major US trade partners, South Korea now stands alone in maintaining such restrictions. What's at stake is more than beef. South Korea is racing to avert the imposition of 25 percent reciprocal tariffs on a range of exports. These duties would hit at a precarious moment for its manufacturing base, already strained by stagnant domestic demand and mounting global uncertainty. In recent talks in Washington and New York, South Korean officials proposed a revised investment package totaling over $100 billion and offered limited concessions on rice and beef — areas long deemed untouchable. Yet US negotiators, emboldened by recent deals with Japan and the UK, are demanding more. The comparison with Japan has become particularly thorny. Tokyo secured a reduction in reciprocal tariffs to 15 percent in exchange for a $550 billion investment commitment and broader market access for US agricultural and auto exports. South Korea's proposed investment, though substantial, remains well short of that mark. More troubling, if South Korean exports are hit with 25 percent tariffs while Japan's face only 15 percent, Korean manufacturers would suffer an immediate and damaging competitiveness gap. Recent earnings reports from Hyundai and Kia already show steep profit declines, driven in part by early US tariffs on automobiles. Extending such disadvantages across additional sectors could deepen South Korea's growth malaise and leave long-term economic scars. The options are narrowing, but not yet exhausted. Seoul has signaled a more flexible posture, suggesting it may allow partial openings of the beef market and step back from earlier prohibitions. Unlike Japan's investment-heavy deal, however, South Korea is positioning its offer around industrial cooperation, particularly in shipbuilding — a sector President Trump has prioritized for revival. With China expanding its maritime footprint, Washington may be receptive to deeper strategic ties with Seoul in shipbuilding, semiconductors and batteries. South Korea has framed these offers not merely as trade-offs, but as building blocks of a broader manufacturing alliance aligned with US supply chain objectives. Still, the outlook remains uncertain. Trump and key trade officials are now in Europe for parallel negotiations, leaving only July 30 and 31 as viable windows for a final agreement. Absent a breakthrough, the tariffs will take effect on Aug. 1. Analysts warn that if the US proceeds with a 25 percent tariff, South Korea's real gross domestic product could decline by as much as 0.4 percent, even under a gradual adjustment scenario. Medium-sized exporters would be hit hardest, lacking the scale to shift production or absorb the cost shock. South Korea's negotiators must weigh the costs of limited market concessions against the broader fallout of failure. While agricultural sensitivities are real, clinging to legacy protections may imperil national economic interests. Other countries have accepted sectoral compromises in return for tariff relief and market stability. South Korea must now craft a tailored approach that secures similar benefits without replicating others' terms. Avoiding a blanket concession is essential, as is avoiding blanket resistance. If Seoul cannot match Tokyo's dollar commitments, it must compensate with industrial leverage, strategic alignment and diplomatic finesse. These final days of negotiation will test its ability to safeguard the economic base while sustaining political and public consensus at home. Never has it been clearer that small concessions now could prevent far greater losses later.


Korea Herald
18 hours ago
- Korea Herald
Macron goes alone on Palestine recognition
PARIS (Reuters) -- President Emmanuel Macron's announcement that France would become the first Western member of the UN Security Council to recognize a Palestinian state in September has caused diplomatic ructions from the Middle East through Europe to Washington. But it did not come out of the blue. When Macron visited the Egyptian town of Arish on the border with Gaza in April, he was struck by the mounting humanitarian crisis and made clear on his return home that Paris would soon opt for recognition. Working with Saudi Arabia, Macron came up with a plan to have France plus G7 allies Britain and Canada recognize Palestinian statehood, while pushing Arab states to adopt a softer stance toward Israel through a UN conference. But despite weeks of talks he failed to get others on board. Three diplomats said London did not want to face the wrath of the US, and Ottawa took a similar stance, leaving Macron to go it alone. "It became increasingly apparent that we could not wait to get partners on board," said a French diplomat, adding France will work to get more states on board ahead of conference on a two-state solution in September. Domestically Macron was under rising pressure to do something amid widespread anger at the harrowing images coming out of Gaza. Although with both Europe's biggest Muslim and Jewish communities and a polarized political landscape, there was no obvious course of action that would satisfy all sides. Israel and its staunch supporter the US have blasted France's move, branding it a reward for the Palestinian militant group Hamas, which ran Gaza and whose attack on Israel on Oct. 7, 2023 triggered the current war. Macron had discussed the matter extensively with both Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in advance. Trump said on Friday that France's decision didn't "carry any weight" but added Macron was "a good guy." French officials previously considered an announcement at a conference scheduled for June at the UN, co-hosted by France and Saudi Arabia, to sketch out a roadmap to a viable Palestinian state while also ensuring Israel's security. But the conference was postponed amid intense US diplomatic pressure and after Israeli airstrikes on Iran. Macron's announcement on Thursday is linked to a rescheduled and rejigged version of the UN conference, now planned to take place Monday and Tuesday. That meeting will be at ministerial level, but Paris decided it would hold a second event with heads of state and government on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly in September, where Macron will announce formal recognition. Some analysts say Macron has used the carrot of recognition to extract concessions from Mahmoud Abbas, the president of the Palestinian Authority which is a moderate rival to Hamas, and other regional players. "Macron here is acting as a catalyst to get the Palestinians to deliver on the needed reforms, to get the Arabs to deliver on a stabilization force and the disarming of Hamas," said Rym Momtaz, editor-in-chief of the Strategic Europe blog run by the Carnegie Europe think tank. Others say while recognition has symbolic value, there will still be no functioning Palestinian state whenever the war in Gaza comes to an end. "Recognition by a European heavyweight like France is indicative of the rising frustration with Israel's intransigent policies," said Amjad Iraqi, senior analyst at International Crisis Group. "What's the point of recognizing a state if they're doing little to stop it from turning into ruins?" French officials point to months of intense Israeli lobbying to try to prevent Macron's move -- and Netanyahu's fierce criticism of it -- as evidence that it matters a lot to Israeli leaders. Sources familiar with the matter say Israel's warnings to France had ranged from scaling back intelligence-sharing to complicating Paris' regional initiatives -- even hinting at possible annexation of parts of the West Bank. But French officials concluded that Netanyahu would do whatever he thought was in his interests in the West Bank anyway, regardless of what France did on recognition. Israel's parliament voted on Wednesday in favor of a non-binding declaration urging the government to apply Israeli law to the West Bank, widely seen as a de facto annexation of the territory. That added to the urgency in Paris. "If there is a moment in history to recognize a Palestinian state, even if it's just symbolic, then I would say that moment has probably come," said a senior French official.


Korea Herald
20 hours ago
- Korea Herald
Ecuador deports hundreds of Colombian inmates as Bogota cries foul
BOGOTA, Colombia (AFP) -- Ecuadoran authorities said Saturday they had deported hundreds of Colombian prisoners via a land border crossing, after Bogota protested that the move came without prior agreement. In 2024, Ecuadoran President Daniel Noboa announced his intention to deport Colombian inmates to ease overcrowding in the country's prisons. Small groups were transferred starting in April. But Colombian President Gustavo Petro opposed the move, saying that a joint plan was needed to safeguard the prisoners' rights. The Colombian Foreign Ministry said in a statement that about 450 Colombians had been deported through the Rumichaca border crossing in Carchi province. Gov. Diana Pozo had previously told reporters that 800 prisoners had been transported through the crossing. SNAI, the Ecuadoran agency which oversees jails, later said in a statement that more than 700 Colombians were in the process of being deported. "This action reaffirms the Ecuadoran government's commitment to internal security and public order," the statement said. The inmates, wearing orange uniforms, waited in line to reenter their home country under the watchful eye of Ecuadoran police and military personnel. Early in the day, some in shorts and t-shirts did exercises while waiting for their turn to cross the border in the chilly Andean air, saying "We want to cross, we want to cross." On Friday, the government in Bogota lodged a formal complaint with Quito, saying such a move without prior agreement was a violation of international law and an "unfriendly gesture." A source in the Carchi governor's office who spoke to Agence France-presse on condition of anonymity said the mass deportation began on Friday, and the 870 inmates slated for expulsion represented about 60 percent of all Colombians in Ecuador's prisons. Juan Morales, an official in the Colombian town of Ipiales, said that authorities had to scramble to handle the influx of people, because Ecuador had not informed them of the deportations. Ecuador's Foreign Ministry said Saturday that Bogota was told about the plan on July 8. The mayor of the border town of Ipiales, Amilcar Pantoja, told the media on Friday that prisoners without pending legal cases in Colombia would be released. Drug trafficking gangs operating in Ecuador -- some involving Colombian criminals -- have turned the country into one of the most violent in Latin America. The homicide rate has jumped from six per 100,000 people in 2018 to 38 in 2024, among the highest in the region.