Iran says it would resume nuclear talks with U.S. if guaranteed no further attacks
Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said in a speech to Tehran-based foreign diplomats that Iran has always been ready and will be ready in the future for talks about its nuclear program, but, 'assurance should be provided that in case of a resumption of talks, the trend will not lead to war.'
Referring to the 12-day Israeli bombardment of Iran's nuclear and military sites, and the U.S. strike on June 22, Araghchi said that if the U.S. and others wish to resume talks with Iran, 'first of all, there should be a firm guarantee that such actions will not be repeated. The attack on Iran's nuclear facilities has made it more difficult and complicated to achieve a solution based on negotiations.'
Following the strikes, Iran suspended cooperation with the UN nuclear watchdog, which led to the departure of inspectors.
Araghchi said that under Iranian law, the country will answer the agency's request for cooperation 'case by case,' based on Iran's interests. He also said any inspection by the agency should be done based on Iran's 'security' concerns as well as the safety of the inspectors. 'The risk of proliferation of radioactive ingredients and an explosion of ammunition that remains from the war in the attacked nuclear sites is serious,' he said.
He also reiterated Iran's position on the need to continue enriching uranium on its soil. U.S. President Donald Trump has insisted that cannot happen.
Israel claims it acted because Tehran was within reach of a nuclear weapon. U.S. intelligence agencies and the International Atomic Energy Agency had assessed Iran last had an organized nuclear weapons program in 2003, though Tehran had been enriching uranium up to 60 per cent — a short, technical step away from weapons-grade levels of 90 per cent.
Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian in an interview published Monday said the U.S. airstrikes so badly damaged his country's nuclear facilities that Iranian authorities still have not been able to access them to survey the destruction.
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Montreal Gazette
an hour ago
- Montreal Gazette
Hanes: LaSalle College is the latest scapegoat in Legault's misguided language strategy
The quota limiting the number of students at English CEGEPs and colleges that was embedded in Bill 96, Quebec's law to protect French, was always a ticking time bomb. Rather than restrict access to francophones and allophones altogether, as some language hawks have long advocated, the government of Premier François Legault instead came up with a complicated formula to hold enrolment at English institutions to 17.5 per cent of the entire college network. If the cap is arbitrary enough already, divvying it up among the various schools is even more capricious. For good measure, the government set another booby trap: hefty penalties for any public and subsidized private colleges that exceed the benchmark. Oh, and if the enrolment numbers ever dip, the proportion allotted to English CEGEPs can never ever bob back up, according to the law. The sole purpose of these measures seems to be to limit the vitality of English institutions by backhanded means, since (last we checked) their doors are still open to all and they manage to appeal to graduates of English and French schools alike, much to the chagrin of language hardliners. So a sword of Damocles has been dangling over English CEGEPs and colleges ever since the law was adopted in 2022. It has made many administrators nervous as they recalibrated their admissions processes to abide by the cap while also overhauling their course offerings to ensure the francophone and allophone students they admit meet the same language requirements as graduates of French institutions. Now, the blade has finally fallen and it has struck a heavy blow against LaSalle College. The subsidized private college has been penalized $30 million for exceeding the quota of English-program students in each of the last two years. The government is trying to recoup $8.78 million from the college for going over the benchmark of 716 students for 2023-24 and $21.1 million for being 1,066 students over the quota in 2024-25. However, LaSalle says the majority of its English-program students are international enrolments, who pay their full ride and receive no subsidy from the government. Yet, the money the government is clawing back from the college funds the education of Quebec students, both French and English. There has been a lot of finger-wagging portraying LaSalle as an unrepentant language scofflaw that ought to have known better. On X, Higher Eduction Minister Pascale Déry lamented that LaSalle is the only college to contravene Bill 96 in this manner. Minister of the French Language Jean-François Roberge piled on, commenting that 'no one is above the law.' But as LaSalle College president and CEO Claude Marchand explained, the international students for which the school is being sanctioned had already been accepted or were in the middle of their programs when the government (belatedly) set the quota. LaSalle couldn't very well renege on their offers or kick people out of their courses (or at least it had the integrity not to). So its administration asked for a grace period to implement the cap. On top of that, LaSalle said the Quebec government approved the study permits of the international students attending. Given that most programs last two years, the college said it will be in compliance with Bill 96 by the 2025-26 school year. No matter. The Legault government has decided to make an example of LaSalle, as if the college is doing a dastardly deed by educating 5,000 students for careers in fields such as early childhood education, managing seniors' residences or accounting — yes, some of them in English — and honouring the commitments it made to international students, who registered at the college in good faith in pursuit of their hopes and dreams. Of course, its real crime was to try to reason with a government that concocted a punitive, political and discretionary quota system designed for the sole purpose of putting the squeeze on English institutions. But the practical consequences of this language crackdown could be severe. The hefty fine puts the future of LaSalle College, founded in 1959, at risk. If Marchand thought the government wouldn't dare let a valuable and established educational institution that employs 700 people go down the drain, perhaps he hasn't been paying attention. The Association des collèges privés du Québec has put out a statement in support of LaSalle. While recognizing the importance of protecting French, it said it has always had serious qualms about the penalties for missing the quota. It called for negotiations to reach a 'reasonable, fair and realistic solution' and 'avoid irreversible consequences' for the flagship college. You think that would be a no brainer — the first recourse, in fact. Alas, there are two things that are completely dispensable to the Legault government: the stability of English institutions and the fate of temporary immigrants, including promising and hard-working international students. This government has attempted to abolish English school boards and raised tuition for out-of-province university students, purportedly to prevent the anglicization of Montreal, a move that disproportionately hurts English academic institutions. LaSalle is contesting the fine in court — and could well be vindicated. But that may not even matter. English school boards have won two resounding legal victories, before Quebec Superior Court and the Quebec Court of Appeal, defending their constitutional rights over Bill 40. Yet, the Legault government is nevertheless appealing the judgements to the Supreme Court of Canada. McGill and Concordia also won a reprieve from the out-of-province tuition policy in court, but Déry's office has said Quebec still intends to collect the higher fees, even if the government won't appeal the ruling that called the hikes 'unreasonable.' The contempt is stunning — but the antagonism of English institutions is only compounded by the Legault government's disregard for immigration, which the premier once characterized as 'suicidal' for Quebec's language and culture if increased. In recent months, the Quebec government has scaled back many programs for both temporary and permanent immigrants as it drastically slashes the number of newcomers it plans to accept. Last fall, the government froze the Programme regulier des travailleurs qualifiés and the Programme de l'expérience Québécoise, two tried and true pathways to permanent residency. The latter was especially popular with international students who enrolled at Quebec colleges and universities, gaining valuable academic, work and life experience that should make them a natural fit. Now, it turns out that not only have new applications been suspended, but files already in the pipeline have been put on ice, too, leaving many people in limbo. Last winter, the government reduced by 20 per cent the quota of international students it will allow to study in Quebec next year. (Memo to LaSalle College, just in case). Earlier this month, the Quebec government also put a moratorium on some new sponsorship applications for those who want to bring loved ones like spouses, parents or adult children here to live. Legault has repeatedly asked the federal government to relocate some of the asylum seekers who have been entering Quebec — a form of immigration that policies can't control and which is putting pressure on the province's social services. Quebec adopted a new law laying out how new arrivals should integrate, while Bill 96 also cuts off their access to public services in a language other than French after six months — nevermind the long waits to access language classes. Whether its quotas, caps, deadlines, fines, laws or unrealistic expectations, immigrants are being set up to fail and English institutions are tiptoeing over trip wires as part of the Legault government's Machiavellian strategy to protect the French language.
CBC
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- CBC
Carney says 'not a lot of evidence' for tariff-free deals with U.S.
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Globe and Mail
2 hours ago
- Globe and Mail
EU ministers ask for more info from Israel on their new deal to ramp up aid to Gaza
BRUSSELS (AP) — The European Union is seeking updates from Israel on implementation of a new deal to deliver humanitarian aid to Gaza, the bloc's top diplomat said Tuesday. Foreign ministers from the EU's 27-member nations were meeting in Brussels in the wake of a new aid deal for Gaza, largely forged by EU foreign policy chief Kallas and Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar. Saar met with EU leaders on Monday after agreeing last week to allow desperately needed food and fuel into the coastal enclave of 2.3 million people, who have endured more than 21 months of war. 'We have reached a common understanding with Israel to really improve the situation on the ground, but it's not about the paper, but actually implementation of the paper," Kallas said before the meeting of the Foreign Affairs Council. 'As long as it hasn't really improved, then we haven't all done enough,' she said, before calling for a ceasefire. Details of the deal remain unclear, but EU officials have rejected any cooperation with the Israeli-backed Gaza Humanitarian Fund over ethical and safety concerns. Opening more border crossings and allowing more aid trucks into Gaza is the priority, but officials say eventually they'd like to set up a monitoring station at Kerem Shalom crossing. Kallas said that the ministers will also discuss Iran's nuclear program, concerns over developments in Georgia and Moldova, and new sanctions on Russia. The EU is readying its 18th package of sanctions on Russia, with holdouts within the bloc arguing over the keystone policy of capping oil prices to cut into Moscow's energy revenues. European nations like Ireland, the Netherlands and Spain have increasingly called for the EU's ties with Israel to be reassessed in the wake of the war in Gaza. A report by the European Commission found 'indications' that Israel's actions in Gaza are violating human rights obligations in the agreement governing its ties with the EU — but the bloc is divided over what to do in response. That public pressure over Israel's conduct in Gaza made the new humanitarian deal possible even before a ceasefire, Dutch Foreign Minister Caspar Veldkamp said. 'That force of the 27 EU member states is what I want to maintain now," he said. Kallas will update EU member nations every two weeks on how much aid is actually getting through to desperate Gazans, Irish Foreign Minister Thomas Byrne said. 'So far we haven't really seen the implementation of it, maybe some very small actions, but there's still slaughter going on, there's still a denial of access to food and water as well," he said. 'We need to see action.' Spanish Foreign Minister José Manual Albares Bueno said that details of the deal were still being discussed and that the EU would monitor results to see if Israel is complying with those. 'We don't know whether it works or if we will know how it works,' he said. 'It's very clear that this agreement is not the end — we have to stop the war." There are regular protests across the continent, like a small one on Tuesday outside the European Commission, where the ministers were discussing the aid plan. Dozens of protesters in Brussels called for more aggressive actions by Europe to stop Israel's military campaign in Gaza. 'It was able to do this for Russia," said Alexis Deswaef, vice president of the International Federation for Human Rights. "It must now agree on a package of sanctions for Israel to end the genocide and for humanitarian aid to enter Gaza.' The war in Gaza began after Hamas-led militants attacked southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, killing around 1,200 people and taking 251 others hostage, most of whom have been released in earlier ceasefires. Israel responded with an offensive that has killed more than 58,000 Palestinians, more than half of them women and children, according to Gaza's Health Ministry. The ministry, which is under Gaza's Hamas-run government, doesn't differentiate between civilians and combatants. The U.N. and other international organizations see its figures as the most reliable statistics on war casualties. The EU has observed some aid trucks entering Gaza, but 'not enough,' said Hajda Lahbib, an EU commissioner for equality, preparedness and crisis management. 'The situation is still so dangerous, so violent, with strikes still continuing on the ground, that our humanitarian partners cannot operate. So, this is the reality — we need to have a ceasefire," she said.
