Latest news with #Iran nuclear programme
South China Morning Post
a day ago
- Politics
- South China Morning Post
Iran rejects US nuclear talks conditioned on enrichment halt
Iran said on Monday there would be no new nuclear talks with the United States if they were conditioned on Tehran abandoning its uranium enrichment activities. Washington and Tehran had been engaged in several rounds of negotiations seeking to strike a deal on the Islamic Republic's nuclear programme, but Israel derailed the talks when it launched a wave of surprise strikes on its regional nemesis, touching off 12 days of war Since the end of the hostilities, both Iran and the United States have signalled a willingness to return to the table, though Tehran has said it will not renounce its right to the peaceful use of nuclear power. 'If the negotiations must be conditioned on stopping enrichment, such negotiations will not take place,' Ali Velayati, an adviser to Iranian leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei , was quoted as saying by the state news agency IRNA. The remarks came after foreign ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baqaei said Iran had not set a date for any meeting with the United States. Iran's foreign ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baghaei holds a weekly press conference in Tehran. Photo: AFP 'For now, no specific date, time or location has been determined regarding this matter,' Baqaei said of plans for a meeting between Iran's top diplomat Abbas Araghchi and US envoy Steve Witkoff.
South China Morning Post
a day ago
- Politics
- South China Morning Post
Iran rejects US nuclear talks conditioned on enrichment halt
Iran said on Monday there would be no new nuclear talks with the United States if they were conditioned on Tehran abandoning its uranium enrichment activities. Washington and Tehran had been engaged in several rounds of negotiations seeking to strike a deal on the Islamic Republic's nuclear programme, but Israel derailed the talks when it launched a wave of surprise strikes on its regional nemesis, touching off 12 days of war Since the end of the hostilities, both Iran and the United States have signalled a willingness to return to the table, though Tehran has said it will not renounce its right to the peaceful use of nuclear power. 'If the negotiations must be conditioned on stopping enrichment, such negotiations will not take place,' Ali Velayati, an adviser to Iranian leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei , was quoted as saying by the state news agency IRNA. The remarks came after foreign ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baqaei said Iran had not set a date for any meeting with the United States. Iran's foreign ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baghaei holds a weekly press conference in Tehran. Photo: AFP 'For now, no specific date, time or location has been determined regarding this matter,' Baqaei said of plans for a meeting between Iran's top diplomat Abbas Araghchi and US envoy Steve Witkoff.
CNA
a day ago
- Politics
- CNA
Iran says no nuclear talks if US insists it stop enrichment
TEHRAN: Iran said on Monday (Jul 14) there would be no new nuclear talks with the United States if they were conditioned on Tehran abandoning its uranium enrichment activities. Washington and Tehran had been engaged in several rounds of negotiations seeking to strike a deal on the Islamic Republic's nuclear programme, but Israel derailed the talks when it launched a wave of surprise strikes on its regional nemesis, touching off 12 days of war. Since the end of the hostilities, both Iran and the US have signalled willingness to return to the table, although Tehran has said it will not renounce its right to the peaceful use of nuclear power. "If the negotiations must be conditioned on stopping enrichment, such negotiations will not take place," Ali Velayati, an adviser to Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, was quoted as saying by the state news agency IRNA. The remarks came after foreign ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baqaei said Iran had not set a date for any meeting with the US. "For now, no specific date, time or location has been determined regarding this matter," Baqaei said of plans for a meeting between Iran's top diplomat Abbas Araghchi and US envoy Steve Witkoff. Araghchi and Witkoff had previously failed to conclude a deal after five rounds of talks that began in April and were the highest-level contact between the two countries since Washington abandoned a landmark nuclear agreement in 2018. The Omani-mediated discussions paused after Israel launched surprise strikes on Iran's nuclear and military facilities on Jun 13, with the US later joining its ally and carrying out limited strikes. "We have been serious in diplomacy and the negotiation process, we entered with good faith, but as everyone witnessed, before the sixth round the Zionist regime, in coordination with the US, committed military aggression against Iran," Baqaei said. Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian said in a statement on Monday that Iran "supports diplomacy and constructive engagement". "We continue to believe that the window for diplomacy remains open, and we will seriously pursue this peaceful path." Israel and Western nations accuse Iran of pursuing nuclear weapons, a charge Tehran has consistently denied. While it is the only non-nuclear weapons power to enrich uranium to 60-per cent purity, close to the level needed for a warhead, the United Nation's atomic energy watchdog has said it had no indication Iran was working to weaponise its stockpiles. SANCTIONS Israel's offensive, which it said was aimed at thwarting a nuclear threat from the Islamic republic, killed nuclear scientists and top-ranking military officers, but also hit residential areas. The US launched its own set of strikes on Jun 22, hitting Iran's uranium enrichment facility at Fordo in Qom province south of Tehran, as well as nuclear sites in Isfahan and Natanz. Iran responded with missile and drone attacks targeting Israeli cities, and attacked a US base in Qatar in retaliation for Washington's strikes. The extent of the damage to the Islamic republic's nuclear programme remains unknown, and Baqaei said it was "still under investigation". Pezeshkian in his latest statement warned of an "even more crushing retaliation" to any "new aggression against Iranian territory". Baqaei said on Monday that Iran remained in contact with Britain, France and Germany, the three European parties to the 2015 nuclear deal that the US later withdrew from. The Europeans have threatened to trigger the deal's "snapback" mechanism, which allows the reimposition of UN sanctions in the event of non-compliance. Baqaei said Tehran was "in continuous contact with these three countries", but added that he "cannot provide an exact date" for the next meeting with them. There was "no legal, moral or political basis" for reimposing sanctions, according to Baqaei, as Iran was still committed to the 2015 agreement. He added that such a move would be met with an "appropriate and proportionate" response, following Iranian threats to quit the global nuclear non-proliferation treaty. After the US pulled out of the 2015 deal with Iran during Donald Trump's first term as president, Tehran began rolling back its commitments to the agreement, which restricted its atomic activities in return for sanctions relief.
Al Jazeera
a day ago
- Politics
- Al Jazeera
What's the legacy of the Iran nuclear deal and its collapse?
The agreement was signed a decade ago before the US pulled out in 2018. Ten years ago, Iran and world powers signed a historic nuclear deal, easing sanctions in return for limits on Tehran's nuclear programme. Since then, the United States pulled out, and just weeks ago, joined Israel in attacking Iran. What's the legacy of this deal and its collapse? Presenter: James Bays Guests: Alan Eyre – Member of US nuclear deal team (2010-2015) Abas Aslani – Senior research fellow, Center for Middle East Strategic Studies Robert Kelley – Distinguished fellow, Stockholm International Peace Research Institute
France 24
6 days ago
- Politics
- France 24
Iran threats in UK 'significantly increased': Intel watchdog
London's response has been too focused on "crisis management", said parliament's intelligence and security committee, with concerns over Iran's nuclear programme dominating their attention too much. Tehran swiftly issued a "categorical rejection of the unfounded, politically motivated and hostile allegations". The committee's claims were "baseless, irresponsible, and reflective of a broader pattern of distortion intended to malign Iran's legitimate regional and national interests", said its London embassy. The report comes after growing alarm in Britain at alleged Iranian targeting of dissidents, media organisations and journalists in the UK, including accusations of physical attacks. Iran in March became the first country to be placed on an enhanced tier of the Foreign Influence Registration Scheme, which aims to boost Britain's national security against covert foreign influences. It requires all persons working inside the country for Iran, its intelligence services or the Revolutionary Guard to register on a new list or face jail. "Iran poses a wide-ranging, persistent and unpredictable threat to the UK, UK nationals, and UK interests," Kevan Jones, chairman of the watchdog committee, said in the report's conclusions. "Iran has a high appetite for risk when conducting offensive activity and its intelligence services are ferociously well-resourced with significant areas of asymmetric strength." Jones said it bolstered this through proxy groups, "including criminal networks, militant and terrorist organisations, and private cyber actors" to allow for deniability. 'Willing and able' His committee's report said that while Iran's UK activity "appears to be less strategic and on a smaller scale than Russia and China", it "should not be underestimated". The physical threat posed had "significantly increased" in pace and volume, and was "focused acutely on dissidents and other opponents of the regime" as well as Jewish and Israeli interests in the UK, it said. "The Iranian Intelligence Services have shown that they are willing and able -- often through third-party agents -- to attempt assassination within the UK, and kidnap from the UK," the report said. "There have been at least 15 attempts at murder or kidnap against British nationals or UK-based individuals since the beginning of 2022." Similarly, security minister Dan Jarvis said in March Britain's MI5 domestic intelligence service had tallied 20 Iran-backed plots "presenting potentially lethal threats to British citizens and UK residents". The watchdog committee took evidence for two years from August 2021 for its report, a period which saw Tehran implicated in a plot to kill two London-based Iran International television anchors. In March last year one of the Persian-language outlet's journalists was stabbed outside his London home. Two Romanian men have been charged in relation to the attack and face extradition to the UK to stand trial. The counter-terrorism unit of London's Metropolitan Police led the investigation. Iran's charge d'affaires in the UK has said that the Tehran authorities "deny any link" to the incident.
