Americas

The iPhones of at least nine US state department officials were recently hacked by a government using NSO Group spyware, according to a new report that raised serious questions about the use of Israeli surveillance tools against US government officials around the world.

Russia’s Permanent Envoy to International Organizations in Vienna Mikhail Ulyanov told reporters on Friday, Iran’s delegation at the Vienna talks offered a radical revision of the draft document on the nuclear program, which caused a pained reaction of western states.

Iran's lead negotiator to Vienna talks says the Islamic Republic’s proposed drafts on the removal of sanctions and Tehran’s nuclear activities are based on the principles approved by all parties.

Iran’s Fars News Agency reports that the US state Department has set the prongs of covering the nuclear talks in Vienna by anti-Iran Persian-speaking news outlets.

Nour News website affiliated with Iran’s Supreme National Security Council cites sources familiar with the Vienna talks as saying that the Western parties to the negotiations put forth no initiative at the negotiating table, which slowed the discussions.

Ali Bagheri, Iran’s Deputy Foreign Minister and chief nuclear negotiator, has said this round of talks aimed at removing the anti-Iran sanctions has ended in Vienna. Bagheri said the Iranian and the 4+1 group’s delegations on Friday held a session of the Joint Commission of the nuclear deal, JCPOA, in the Austrian capital.

The seventh round of talks over lifting of anti-Iran sanctions, which began this week, will end on Friday with a formal meeting of the remaining parties to the deal, European and Iranian officials said.

Moscow will certainly react if the US imposes ‘high-impact’ sanctions against Russia over Ukraine, Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov told journalists on Thursday. The announcement was made following a statement by US Under Secretary of State Victoria Nuland about sanctions "the likes of which we have not used before”.

Unofficial reports from venue of the Vienna talks aimed at removing the anti-Iran sanctions say European negotiators plan to return to their respective capitals for consultations over the two draft documents that lay out Iran’s proposals.

An informed source in the Austrian capital Vienna, the venue of talks over lifting anti-Tehran sanctions, has said that Iran's authoritative stance and the Chinese representative's firm response made the European side to back down from its position during the ongoing negotiations.