Anvar Qarqash said the UAE pursues the negotiations aimed at reviving the Iran nuclear deal.
He expressed hope that the Vienna talks will succeed. Qarqash also urged Iran to show more flexibility, adding that only diplomacy is the way forward.
The UAE leader’s diplomatic advisor however noted that time is running out and claimed there are genuine concerns over Iran’s nuclear program.
Qarqash also said Iran can do more regarding regional issues, particularly ceasefire in Yemen. He added that there are reports Iran has put little pressure on the Houthis to accept a truce.
Qarqash said the political landscape has changed in the region and Iran should know the new situation there and play a more constructive role whether in Yemen or Iraq or Lebanon.
The Emirati official noted that the UAE is not interested in a new conflict in the Middle East, it is in the sheikhdom’s interest to avoid it.
UAE official: Emirates opposed to additional sanctions on Iran
Five arrested in Iran for destabilizing foreign exchange market
The ministry has also blocked several hudred bank accounts of illegal foreign currency traders across Iran.
In a statement, the Intelligence Ministry warned against any illegal activity in the foreign exchange market, assuring the Iranian people that it would not allow trade and abuse in the informal trading environment and would spare no effort to keep the foreign exchange market calm.
Over the past week, the Iranian currency fell sharply against the dollar in the open market with officials saying the open market rates are unreal.
Biden’s Iran envoy: Restoring nuclear deal still possible
The Biden administration is prioritising diplomacy in its relationship with Tehran, the US special envoy for Iran Robert Malley has told Al Jazeera on Thursday, stressing that reviving the Iran nuclear deal remains in the “mutual interest” of both countries.
“We’re fully committed to a mutual return to compliance with the JCPOA,” Malley said, adding, “We think there’s still time to do it if Iran comes back and says they’re prepared to roll up their sleeves and do it, too.”
His comments came as nuclear talks resumed in Vienna on Thursday, with a United States delegation headed by Malley expected to join the negotiations on the weekend.
Malley and his team have not been participating directly in the discussions, but engaging the Iranians through intermediaries from countries that remain parties to the 2015 deal – the UK, Russia, China, France and Germany.
Malley also reiterated Washington’s call for direct negotiations with Tehran, telling Al Jazeera that US negotiators are prepared to meet Iranian diplomats “at any time and any place”.
Iran previously rejected that offer, saying the US – which withdrew from the deal in 2018 under then-President Donald Trump – is no longer part of the agreement. Tehran is holding talks with the signatories of the deal as part of the JCPOA commission.
“We’re prepared to meet with them face-to-face,” Malley continued, adding, “We think it’s far superior to indirect negotiations. And we’re dealing with something this complex, with so much mistrust, with so much potential for misunderstanding.”
The US and European officials had voiced disappointment with Iran’s posture after the resumption of the Vienna talks last week, accusing Tehran of not showing seriousness in the effort to restore the pact.
The ongoing seventh round of negotiations was the first under Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi.
Asked about the prospect of a military confrontation with Tehran amid growing tension between Israel and Iran, Malley stated, “We are privileging the path of diplomacy. We think it’s the best way. It’s best for us. We suspect it’s best for Iran, but Iran will have to decide.”
Trump unilaterally withdrew from the JCPOA in 2018 and started a “maximum pressure” campaign of sanctions against the Iranian economy that his successor Biden has continued to enforce.
Tehran has been escalating its programme in response to Washington’s withdrawal from the pact.
Iranian officials say they want all the sanctions lifted immediately, while the US administration is calling for a mutual return to compliance that would see an end to nuclear-related sanctions and a scaling back of Iran’s nuclear programme.
On Tuesday, the Biden administration announced new sanctions against two Iranian security agencies and several officials linked to them, citing human rights abuses.
That prompted a rebuke from Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Saeed Khatibzadeh, who said on Twitter that “doubling down on sanctions won’t create leverage—and is anything but seriousness & goodwill”.
White House spokeswoman Jen Psaki noted on Thursday that the only way for Iran to get sanctions relief is to return to nuclear compliance with the JCPOA, however.
That was reiterated by Malley, who stated the US remained “prepared to get back into the deal as soon as possible – as soon as Iran is”.
“Then we would lift all of the sanctions that are inconsistent with the JCPOA. But in the meantime, we can’t stand by and not be prepared for a world in which Iran may be choosing to delay the programme, [and] try to build more leverage,” he continued.
“We obviously have to respond. And so, that’s what we’re doing. We’re preparing ourselves for that outcome,” he added.
Iran’s football legend rescues convict from hanging
Reports say Daei, along with Karaj City’s prosecutor and the director of Karaj’s prisons, went to visit the family of the victim on Thursday and convinced them to spare the life of the convict.
The family of the victim had been refusing requests for forgiveness for 16 years, but Daei won their consent.
The former footballer is a pioneer in charitable work and has helped people affected by disasters such as flooding and quakes.
Daei was a key player for the Iranian national football team for several years. He played for Perspolis FC in Iran and also for German soccer clubs like Bayern Munich during his football career.
Daei was the world’s top international goal scorer with 109 goals until his record was broken by Cristiano Ronaldo. He is regarded as one of the best Asian footballers of all time.
Britain blacklists Iranian reporter
The UK banned Ali Rezvani from travelling to Britain, saying any possible assets belonging to the journalist will be frozen.
Following the British government’s move, the IRIB’s CEO Peyman Jebelli issued a statement.
Jebelli congratulated Rezvani on succeeding in angering the “arrogant British government”.
Jebelli said Britain’s record is full of rights violations that it has committed over the past centuries and the fact that such a country blacklists a journalist shows it’s politically decayed.
The IRIB’s CEO said Iran will not forget the crimes Britain committed during its WWII occupation of the country. Jebelli also referred to London’s role in the notorious 1953 coup against then democratically-elected Prime Minister Mohammad Mosadegh in collaboration with the Pahlavi regime.
He said the list of the British violations against Iran is so long including London’s support of the former Baathist regime of Iraq during its war against the Islamic Republic.
US: Mutual return to compliance with Iran nuclear deal possible
The United States will resume indirect nuclear talks with Iran in Vienna, the State Department has confirmed, saying the Joe Biden administration is giving diplomacy “another chance” after little progress was made in discussions last week.
Price told reporters on Wednesday that the Biden administration’s special envoy on Iran, Robert Malley, and his delegation “will plan to join the talks over the weekend”.
Top European diplomat Enrique Mora had confirmed earlier in the day that the negotiations would continue on Thursday after the seventh round of talks was halted last Friday.
US and European officials had questioned Iran’s willingness to revive the pact, formally known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), after last week’s negotiations – the first under conservative Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi.
Price stated the negotiations were suspended on Friday, less than a week after they began, because it was “clear” that Iran did not come with “seriousness of purpose”. But he added that restoring the deal is still a “viable option”.
“We continue to believe that a mutual return to compliance with the JCPOA is possible,” Price continued, adding, “That is why we are returning for the next iteration of talks – the continuation of the seventh round in Vienna.”
Iran says it submitted two proposals last week “based on the provisions of the 2015 agreement” to revive the deal.
Former President Donald Trump unilaterally withdrew from the JCPOA in 2018 and started a “maximum pressure” campaign of sanctions against the Iranian economy that his successor, Biden, has continued to enforce.
Iranian officials say they want all the sanctions lifted immediately, while the US administration is calling for a mutual return to compliance that would see an end to nuclear-related sanctions and a scaling back of Iran’s nuclear programme.
Tehran has been escalating its programme in response to Washington’s withdrawal from the pact.
On Tuesday, the Biden administration announced new sanctions against two Iranian security agencies and several officials linked to them, citing human rights abuses.
“Washington fails to understand that ‘maximum failure’ & a diplomatic breakthrough are mutually exclusive,” Iranian Foreign Ministry Spokesman Saeed Khatibzadeh wrote on Twitter, criticising the fresh sanctions.
“Doubling down on sanctions won’t create leverage—and is anything but seriousness and goodwill,” he stressed.
On Wednesday, Price noted Washington is prepared to negotiate a return to the deal in “good faith” and pick up the talks from where they left off after a sixth round in June before the Raisi government came into office.
Asked whether the US is giving Iran another chance by returning to the Vienna talks, the US spokesperson said, “We are giving diplomacy – diplomacy towards a mutual return to compliance – another chance because it’s in our interests.”
What are the chances of Russia and China making a u-turn in JCPOA talks?
Kourosh Ahmadi said Iran now has geopolitical alignment with Russia in the Middle East, say, in Syria. Therefore, he added, Russia does not want Iran to be exposed to threats.
According to the former diplomat, assumingly, Russia and China will support Iran only to the extent of lifting the JCPOA-related sanctions and at the same time avoiding compromising the integrity of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, NPT.
Ahmadi added that any violation of this agreement would constitute crossing a serious red line for these two countries, just as China has always spoken of the need for all sides to revive the Iran nuclear deal and return to their commitments under the agreement while Russia also wants them to return to obligations.
Touching on Russia’s stance on Iran’s nuclear program, Ahmadi said Moscow does not want Iran to have nukes because it believes that this will ignite an arms race in the Middle East, which is not in the best interests of Moscow.
He however noted that Russia does not either want Iran to face threats. “For Iran, Russia and China are the most important countries, but for these two world powers, Iran is an actor,” the former Iranian diplomat said, noting that Moscow and Beijing should not be expected to support Iran under any circumstances.
Ahmadi said Iran is like other players such as Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Israel, etc., with whom they have very close relations.
He added China and Russia voted in favor of all Security Council resolutions against Iran during the four years up to 2010.
Ahmadi stressed that China and Russia’s relations with the United States are not as good as they were in the past, but their policies on Iran have not changed largely.
Iranian daily calls for closure of strategic Strait of Hormuz
The daily’s managing director Hossein Shariatmadari referred to the United States’ forfeitures of fuel and weapons shipments allegedly from Iran to Yemen and Venezuela this week, writing that the United States is openly admitting to piracy, so it must, as in many other cases, receive an appropriate response.
The editorial notes that the Strait of Hormuz is the second busiest strait in the world, through which about 18 million barrels of oil, equivalent to 42% of the world’s tanker-transported crude oil, pass on a daily basis.
Shariatmadari adds that under the 1958 Geneva Convention and the 1982 Jamaica Convention, which deal with the legal system of international waterways and the right of passage of ships, the Islamic Republic has the right and can close the Strait of Hormuz to all oil tankers and even ships carrying commercial goods and weapons if its national interests are at stake.
The editorial adds that Iranian officials can rest assured that the entire Iranian nation will support a proper response to American looting and crimes.
Bodies of hundreds killed in Karabakh handed over to Baku, Yerevan
“The peacekeepers returned more than 1,960 bodies to the local authorities in Armenia and Azerbaijan. Search operations are continued,” he said, adding that more than 100 soldiers on both sides were released from prison and returned to their home countries.
Renewed clashes between Azerbaijan and Armenia erupted on September 27, 2020, with intense battles raging in the disputed region of Nagorno-Karabakh. On November 9, 2020, Russian President Vladimir Putin, Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev, and Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan signed a joint statement on a complete ceasefire in Nagorno-Karabakh. As per the document, the Azerbaijani and Armenian sides stopped at the positions that they had held and Russian peacekeepers were deployed along the engagement line in Nagorno-Karabakh and along the Lachin corridor that connects Armenia with the enclave to exercise control of the ceasefire observance. In addition, a number of districts came under Baku’s control.
Billions of dollars in frozen Iranian assets unlocked
Safari added that the talks produced good results. He also said he met with European officials during a trip to the continent and one country is going to soon release a huge amount of Iranian funds.
Safari did not specify the country though.
Safari accompanied the Iranian negotiating team last week during the Vienna talks where he met several European officials including Austria’s deputy foreign minister.
Elsewhere in his remarks, Safari spoke of expansion of ties with Tajikistan, saying exports to the country has increased three-fold from 60 to 180 million dollars. He also said exports to Uzbekistan increased from 120 to 500 million dollars.
The new Iranian administration has said its foreign policy prioritizes neighboring countries. To this end, the administration of President Seyyed Ebrahim Raeisi has made numerous efforts since taking office to expand ties with neighbors including the Central Asian countries.
