Iran warns against ‘destructive approach' of European countries in call with EU foreign policy chief
Araqchi also criticised the stance of some European countries over the recent air war between Israel and Iran, saying it was supportive of Israel and the United States. He did not specify which countries he had in mind.
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Indian Express
13 minutes ago
- Indian Express
Iran's president orders country to suspend cooperation with UN nuclear watchdog IAEA
Iran's president on Wednesday ordered the country to suspend its cooperation with the International Atomic Energy Agency after American and Israeli airstrikes hit its most-important nuclear facilities, likely further limiting inspectors' ability to track Tehran's program that had been enriching uranium to near weapons-grade levels. The order by President Masoud Pezeshkian included no timetables or details about what that suspension would entail. Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi signaled in a CBS News interview that Tehran still would be willing to continue negotiations with the United States. 'I don't think negotiations will restart as quickly as that,' Araghchi said, referring to U.S. President Donald Trump's comments that talks could start as early as this week. However, he added: 'The doors of diplomacy will never slam shut.' Iran has limited IAEA inspections in the past as a pressure tactic in negotiating with the West — though as of right now Tehran has denied that there's any immediate plans to resume talks with the United States that had been upended by the 12-day Iran-Israel war. Iranian state television announced Pezeshkian's order, which followed a law passed by Iran's parliament to suspend that cooperation. The bill already received the approval of Iran's constitutional watchdog, the Guardian Council, on Thursday, and likely the support of the country's Supreme National Security Council, which Pezeshkian chairs. 'The government is mandated to immediately suspend all cooperation with the International Atomic Energy Agency under the Treaty on the Nonproliferation of Nuclear Weapons and its related Safeguards Agreement,' state television quoted the bill as saying. 'This suspension will remain in effect until certain conditions are met, including the guaranteed security of nuclear facilities and scientists.' It wasn't immediately clear what that would mean for the Vienna-based IAEA, the United Nations' nuclear watchdog. The agency long has monitored Iran's nuclear program and said that it was waiting for an official communication from Iran on what the suspension meant. A diplomat with knowledge of IAEA operations, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the situation in Iran, said that IAEA inspectors were still there after the announcement and hadn't been told by the government to leave. Iran's decision drew an immediate condemnation from Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar. '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.' Saar urged European nations that were part of Iran's 2015 nuclear deal to implement its so-called snapback clause. That would reimpose all U.N. 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. 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. 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. Iran's 2015 nuclear deal allowed Iran to enrich uranium to 3.67% — enough to fuel a nuclear power plant, but far below the threshold of 90% 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. 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. Iran had been enriching up to 60%, 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. 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. 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. 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. Meanwhile, it appears that Iranian officials now are assessing the damage done by the American strikes conducted on the three nuclear sites on June 22, including those at Fordo, a site built under a mountain about 100 kilometers (60 miles) southwest of Tehran. Satellite images from Planet Labs PBC analyzed by The Associated Press show Iranian officials at Fordo on Monday likely examining the damage caused by American bunker busters. Trucks could be seen in the images, as well as at least one crane and an excavator at tunnels on the site. That corresponded to images shot Sunday by Maxar Technologies similarly showing the ongoing work.
New Indian Express
an hour ago
- New Indian Express
Trump says Vietnam to face 20% tariff under 'great' deal
WASHINGTON: President Donald Trump announced Wednesday that he had struck a trade deal with Vietnam under which the country would face a minimum 20 percent tariff and open its market to US products. The deal comes a week ahead of Trump's self-imposed July 9 deadline for steeper tariffs on US trade partners to take effect if agreements had not been reached. Trump initially announced that the trade deal had been reached, without providing details. Shares in clothing companies and sport equipment manufacturers -- which have a large footprint in Vietnam -- rose on the news, but later declined sharply after the president released details including the continued tariffs. "It is my Great Honor to announce that I have just made a Trade Deal with the Socialist Republic of Vietnam after speaking with To Lam, the Highly Respected General Secretary of the Communist Party of Vietnam," Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform. He said that under the "Great Deal of Cooperation," imports of Vietnamese goods will face a 20 percent US tariff, while goods that pass through Vietnam from other countries -- so-called "transshipping" -- will see a steeper 40 percent tariff. "In return, Vietnam will do something that they have never done before, give the United States of America TOTAL ACCESS to their Markets for Trade," he said. "In other words, they will 'OPEN THEIR MARKET TO THE UNITED STATES,' meaning that we will be able to sell our product into Vietnam at ZERO Tariff," he added. The president said he believed US-made SUVs, "which do so well in the United States, will be a wonderful addition to the various product lines within Vietnam." Trump's announcement comes a week before the US has threatened to reimpose steep tariffs on dozens of economies, including the EU and Japan, many of which are still scrambling to reach deals that would protect them from the measures. Those higher tariffs are part of a package Trump initially imposed in April, citing a lack of "reciprocity" in trading relationships, before announcing a temporary lowering to 10 percent. Without a deal, Vietnam's "reciprocal tariff" would have risen from the baseline 10 percent to 46 percent. Since April, Washington had so far only announced a pact with Britain and a deal to temporarily lower retaliatory duties with China. Both involve the United States maintaining some of Trump's tariffs on the trading partners.
The Print
an hour ago
- The Print
Trump says Israel has agreed to 60-day ceasefire on Gaza, urges Hamas to accept the deal
The US President added: 'The Qataris and Egyptians, who have worked very hard to help bring Peace, will deliver this final proposal. I hope, for the good of the Middle East, that Hamas takes this Deal, because it will not get better — IT WILL ONLY GET WORSE.' 'My representatives had a long and productive meeting with the Israelis today on Gaza. Israel has agreed to the necessary conditions to finalise the 60 Day CEASEFIRE, during which time we will work with all parties to end the War,' Trump said in a post on his social media platform Truth Social. New Delhi: Israel has agreed to the 'conditions' for a 60-day ceasefire in the war with Hamas in Gaza, US President Donald J. Trump said Tuesday, while urging Hamas to accept the deal. The details of the new initiative are believed to be on the agenda when Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu visits the White House next week. While there has been no statement from Israel or Hamas on this yet, diplomatic sources have indicated that clarity on the contours of the new initiative is expected to come after Netanyahu meets Trump next week, while some of the details are likely to be shared in the next few days. Netanyahu informed his government Tuesday that he will meet Trump next week in 'the wake of the great victory that we have achieved in Operation Rising Lion'. The Israeli Prime Minister is likely to meet US Vice President J.D. Vance, Secretary of State and National Security Adviser Marco Rubio, Secretary of Defence Pete Hegseth and the American envoy to the Middle East Steve Witkoff. Netanyahu is also set to meet Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick to discuss the trade deal between Israel and the US, while meeting American Congresspersons and leaders of the Senate. The meeting between Trump and Netanyahu will be the first after the Israeli and American militaries struck Iran's nuclear sites during the 12-day conflict that began on 13 June. On 21 June, American bombers used their massive ordinance penetrator bombs targeting Natanz and Fordow uranium enrichment sites. Trump has claimed that all the sites have been 'completely obliterated'. Operation Rising Lion launched by Israel on 13 June hit key nuclear facilities, as well as targeting senior Iranian military officials and nuclear scientists. Iran retaliated with its own Operation True Promise 3, which saw a number of ballistic missiles hit Israeli infrastructure. At least 985 Iranians have been killed, while 29 Israelis died during the conflict. The ceasefire agreed to between Iran and Israel has held, however, within hours of it coming into force, Trump on social media demanded that Israeli aircraft in the skies must not drop their payload on Iranian targets, going so far as to swear at the leadership in both countries. The war in Gaza has been ongoing since October 2023, after Hamas launched Operation al-Aqsa Flood, which killed over 1,100 Israelis. At least 250 Israelis were taken hostage by Hamas. In the last 20-odd months, Hamas has released around 148 hostages, of whom eight were dead, in exchanges during ceasefire agreements with Israel. The Israeli forces have retrieved bodies of 41 hostages, and rescued eight. There are around 50 hostages remaining with Hamas. A large number of these hostages are believed to be dead, according to reports. At least 56,000 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza since the conflict began, while another 1,000 people have been killed in the West Bank, according to reports. Nearly 2.3 million Palestinians have been displaced since the conflict began, with large swathes of Gaza currently uninhabitable. (Edited by Viny Mishra) Also read: 'Peace through strength', Trump's leadership created pivot of history: Netanyahu
