Macron, Starmer to co-chair Ukraine summit in UK on July 10: Elysee
'There will certainly be a discussion on how to seriously maintain Ukraine's combat capability,' the Elysee Palace said, adding that Starmer and Macron will co-chair the meeting of Kyiv's allies by video link.
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Arab News
6 hours ago
- Arab News
European powers plan fresh nuclear talks with Iran
BERLIN: European powers plan fresh talks with Iran on its nuclear program in the coming days, the first since the US attacked Iranian nuclear facilities a month ago, a German diplomatic source told AFP on Sunday. 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 United States 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 United States 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 program,' Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said of the unannounced meeting. Putin had expressed Russia's 'well-known positions on how to stabilize the situation in the region and on the political settlement of the Iranian nuclear program,' 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 United States joined Israel's bombing campaign. Iran and world powers struck a deal in 2015 called the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), 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 last week there would be no new nuclear talks with the United States if they were conditioned on Tehran abandoning its uranium enrichment activities.
Arab News
6 hours ago
- Arab News
Russia insists on achieving Ukraine goals despite Trump's ultimatum
Russia is open to peace with Ukraine, but achieving its goals remains a priority, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Sunday, days after US President Donald Trump gave Moscow a 50-day deadline to agree to a ceasefire or face tougher and other Russian officials have repeatedly rejected accusations from Kyiv and its Western partners of stalling peace talks. Meanwhile, Moscow continues to intensify its long-range attacks on Ukrainian cities, launching more drones in a single night than it did during some entire months in 2024, and analysts say the barrages are likely to President Vladimir Putin 'has repeatedly spoken of his desire to bring the Ukrainian settlement to a peaceful conclusion as soon as possible. This is a long process, it requires effort, and it is not easy,' Peskov told state television in an interview.'The main thing for us is to achieve our goals,' he said. 'Our goals are clear.'The Kremlin has insisted that any peace deal should see Ukraine withdraw from the four regions that Russia illegally annexed in September 2022, but never fully captured. It also wants Ukraine to renounce its bid to join NATO and accept strict limits on its armed forces — demands Kyiv and its Western allies have his nightly address on Saturday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said that his officials have proposed a new round of peace talks this week. Russian state media on Sunday reported that no date has yet been set for the negotiations, but said that Istanbul would likely remain the host or sanctionsTrump threatened Russia on July 14 with steep tariffs and announced a rejuvenated pipeline for American weapons to reach Ukraine, hardening his stance toward Moscow after months of frustration following unsuccessful negotiations aimed at ending the war. The direct Russia-Ukraine negotiations in Istanbul resulted in several rounds of prisoner exchanges but little US president said that he would implement 'severe tariffs' unless a peace deal is reached within 50 days. He provided few details on how they would be implemented, but suggested they would target Russia's trading partners in an effort to isolate Moscow in the global addition, Trump said that European allies would buy 'billions and billions' of dollars of US military equipment to be transferred to Ukraine, replenishing the besieged country's supplies of weapons. Included in the plan are Patriot air defense systems, a top priority for Ukraine as it fends off Russian drones and were recently raised about Trump's commitment to supply Ukraine when the Pentagon paused shipments over concerns that US stockpiles were running strikesElsewhere, Ukraine's air force said that it shot down 18 of 57 Shahed-type and decoy drones launched by Russia overnight into Sunday, with seven more disappearing from women were wounded in Zaporizhzhia, a southern Ukrainian region partly occupied by Russia, when a drone struck their house, according to the regional military administration. Two more civilians were wounded in Ukraine's northeastern Kharkiv province, after a drone slammed into a residential building, local Ukrainian officials Sunday, drones struck a leafy square in the center of Sumy, wounding a woman and her 7-year-old son, officials said. The strike also damaged a power line, leaving around 100 households without electricity, according to Serhii Krivosheienko, of the municipal military Russia's Defense Ministry said that its forces shot down 93 Ukrainian drones targeting Russian territory overnight, including at least 15 that appeared to head for Moscow. At least 13 more drones were downed on the approach to the capital on Sunday, Mayor Sergei Sobyanin said. One drone struck a residential building in Zelenograd, on the outskirts of Moscow, damaging an apartment, but caused no casualties, he said.
Arab News
13 hours ago
- Arab News
Modi to visit London this week as India-UK trade pact nears signing
New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi will visit the UK this week, the Indian government said on Sunday, as the countries prepare to formally sign a long-pending bilateral free trade agreement. Modi's two-day trip on the invitation of his British counterpart, Keir Starmer, will start on Wednesday. 'During the visit, the two sides will also review the progress of the Comprehensive Strategic Partnership (CSP) with a specific focus on trade and economy, technology and innovation, defence and security, climate, health, education and people-to-people ties,' the Indian Ministry of External Affairs said on Sunday. Launched in January 2022, the FTA negotiations between India and the UK were set to conclude the same year, but despite more than a dozen formal rounds, talks have stalled over issues like tariffs, rules of origin and mobility for services professionals. A deal-in-principle was announced by Modi and Starmer in May, and India's Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal was in London last month, with his office saying the visit aimed at charting out a 'clear, time-bound road map for its finalization and implementation.' At the same time, India is in ongoing talks with the US, which is seeking broader access to several key sectors, including agriculture, automobiles, steel, and aluminum — a concession New Delhi resists. Without a deal, Indian exports could face a 26–27 percent 'reciprocal' tariff imposed by President Donald Trump's administration starting Aug. 1. The FTA with the UK could offer India more predictability in economic matters, according to Prof. Harsh V. Pant, vice president of the Observer Research Foundation. 'This is going to be an important marker in the India-UK relationship, and India signaling to the world, particularly in the age of Trump — where there is so much unpredictability and volatility — that any kind of predictability that comes in with other partners is a benefit for every side,' he told Arab News. 'In this case, the UK and India would be hoping that this gives them greater predictability in their economic partnership, thereby reducing some of the challenges that continue to emanate from Washington.' The pact would also signal to other partners that India is willing to engage on economic matters. India is also in talks with the EU to conclude a comprehensive FTA by the end of 2025. 'This is a very important signal to other interlocutors, including the EU and US, that India will be willing to engage creatively on concluding these FTAs,' Pant said. 'This FTA is also crucial for a post-Brexit UK that is trying to retain its economic relevance around the world.'
