Americas

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken in a meeting with his counterparts from France, Germany and the UK discussed Iran's nuclear program and Russia's military activity near Ukraine, State Department Spokesperson Ned price said.

A group of 25 Republican members of Congress wrote a letter to US President Joe Biden this week pledging to block any sanctions relief for Iran, as negotiators meet in Austria’s Vienna to try to reach an agreement on the nuclear deal.

Iran’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations says the US’s coercive actions and its illegal measures including unilateral sanctions have reduced the goal of sustainable development to an empty and meaningless slogan.

Iran's nuclear chief says the United States must remove all its sanctions against Tehran if it wants to return to the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA).

US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin has ordered a review into US military bombings in Syria in March 2019 that reportedly killed dozens of civilians during the ‘battle for the final stronghold of ISIL (ISIS).’

Russia says the countries attending the new round of talks in Vienna, decided to continue the work on the basis of the progress achieved during the previous rounds. Iran says those achievements are draft and subject to negotiations.

Representatives of Russia, China and the United States in the Austrian capital Vienna held a trilateral meeting on Monday evening to discuss the meeting between Iran and the P4+1 group that took place earlier in the day.

The Iranian foreign minister, in a phone conversation with the United Nations secretary general, reiterated that Tehran has attended the Vienna talks with good faith and is after a good agreement.

Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi has told his French Counterpart Emmanuel Macron that the Islamic Republic is ready to continue cooperation with the International Atomic Energy Agency.

China has renewed its call on the United States to remove illegal unilateral sanctions against Iran.

Permanent Representative of Russia to the International Organizations in Vienna Mikhail Ulyanov on Monday said that he believes a feasible and practical agreement can be reached in the current round of nuclear talks between Iran and the P4+1 (Russia, China, France, and Britain plus Germany).

The Iranian foreign minister says Tehran will not accept any demands beyond the nuclear deal, formally known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, JCPOA.

The preliminary talks aimed at removing the anti-Iran sanctions have started in Vienna.

The head of Iran’s negotiating team in Vienna says the country has entered into talks with serious determination and strong preparation to get to lift the illegal and cruel sanctions imposed on the country.

Opportunities still exist for the parties to the 2015 Iran nuclear deal to come to an agreement in Vienna, Russia’s lead negotiator said a day before the resumption of the high-profile negotiations in the Austrian capital. Iran says it is ready for a good agreement provided that the other parties to the JCPOA return to their obligations under the deal.

The United States and its partners are likely to exert pressure on Iran if it uses talks scheduled to resume in Vienna on Monday as pretext to accelerate its nuclear programme, the U.S. special envoy to Iran says. The US withdrew from the JCPOA in 2018, re-imposing anti-Tehran sanctions. Iran in retaliation scaled back its commitments under the deal.

Experience shows that the west does not seek to implement a deal. Rather, it seeks to score public perception points by announcing one while stealthily “dis-implementing” the agreement in every possible way, Iran’s Deputy Foreign Minister Ali Bagheri wrote in an op-ed in The Financial Times.

The director of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran says the US is in no position to speak about the Tessa Complex near Karaj as the facility is related to the Iran nuclear deal, JCPOA, while Washington has left the agreement.

General Kenneth McKenzie, the commander of US Central Command, has acknowledged the capability of Iranian ballistic missiles with high precision.

Top oil producers Saudi Arabia and Russia are considering a move to pause their planned oil production increases, The Wall Street Journal reported on Wednesday, citing people familiar with the matter. It comes after US announcement of the release of strategic crude reserves.

The EU envoy to the International Atomic Energy Agency has underlined the bloc's firm commitment to the full and effective implementation of the Iran nuclear deal, JCPOA.

Apple has filed a lawsuit against NSO Group, the Israeli spyware developer blacklisted by the United States, accusing the firm of targeting and surveilling Apple users.

A multiple rocket attack took place on the largest American airbase in eastern Syria on Tuesday. Damascus views the US military presence on Syrian soil as an attack on the Arab country's sovereignty.

The Iranian embassy in Belgium underlined the need for the international community to support Afghan refugees residing in Iran.

The United States will end its military mission in Iraq before the end of this year, the Pentagon has confirmed.