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Report: European troika calls for swift end to Vienna talks

By
IFP Editorial Staff
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The source told Tasnim that the Iranian delegation is willing to continue the talks as long as needed. 

On Tuesday, the sanctions removal working group held a meeting at the level of experts and with representatives of Iran and the 4+1 group of countries, namely Russia, China, Britain, France and Germany, in attendance at Vienna’s Coburg Hotel. 

At the meeting, the Iranian negotiators outlined the Islamic Republic of Iran’s views and made some fresh proposals as to how to further the negotiations. 

They also underlined the need to effectively remove the sanctions against the Iranian people and encouraged other members to constructively participate in the talks. The representatives of other countries attending the session also declared their readiness and seriousness to work on the issue of lifting the bans. 

Iran says the talks in Vienna must result in the removal of unilateral US sanctions against Tehran.

“Whatever is taking place in Vienna is intended for the removal of sanctions. Neither will we accept anything less, nor will take on any nuclear commitments beyond what has been stated in the JCPOA,” Iran’s Foreign Ministry’s Spokesman Saeed Khatibzadeh told IRNA on Tuesday.

He stressed, “Subjects like step-by-step negotiations and new commitments have no place in our dialogues.”

Blinken discusses Iran nuclear program with E3

By
IFP Media Wire
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“Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken met today with French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian, German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas, and UK Foreign Secretary Elizabeth Truss, representatives of the Transatlantic Quad, in Riga, Latvia,” Price stated in a press release on Tuesday.

“Secretary Blinken and the Quad foreign ministers discussed the threats to Europe, including Russia’s concerning moves towards Ukraine,” he added.

Blinken and his counterparts also discussed their concerns over difficult efforts to revive the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) as the seventh round of talks continue in Vienna, Price stated.

Binken, according to Price, noted he looks forward to continuing talks on global challenges at the second G7 Foreign and Development Ministers’ Meeting in Liverpool from December 10 to 12.

After a five-month hiatus, diplomats on Monday resumed negotiations on reviving the nuclear deal, which then-US President Donald Trump abandoned in 2018 and reimposed harsh US economic sanctions.

Senior British, French and German diplomats, a group known as the E3, told reporters that this week would be key to determining whether Iran was serious about reviving the pact, though they also did not want to impose artificial deadlines.

“We are still waiting for a solid confirmation that the Iranian side is willing to start working there where we left off in June,” said a senior European diplomat, estimating that 70-80% of a draft agreement was completed in June.

“The next 48 hours will be quite important to know and to confirm that hopefully we can pick up there and get into very intensive working mode,” he continued, adding, “If they don’t show us that they’re serious this week, then we have a problem.”

The diplomat stressed that some of the most difficult issues were among the 20-30% that remain unresolved, including what to do about advanced centrifuges that Iran is using to enrich uranium in defiance of the original agreement.

Tehran has ruled out the introduction of new commitments in the ongoing talks with the remaining parties to the Iran nuclear deal in the Austrian capital, stating nothing less or more than the removal of sanctions is acceptable.

“Whatever is taking place in Vienna is intended for the removal of sanctions. Neither will we accept anything less, nor will take on any nuclear commitments beyond what has been stated in the JCPOA,” Saeed Khatibzadeh told IRNA on Tuesday.

He stressed, “Subjects like step-by-step negotiations and new commitments have no place in our dialogues.”

US delegation met with Taliban representatives in Qatar

By
IFP Editorial Staff
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The two sides discussed the international community’s response to the humanitarian crisis in Afghanistan, and the US delegation pledged to continue to support UN efforts to address the situation, the State Department announced in a statement on Tuesday.

The US officials “expressed deep concern regarding allegations of human rights abuses and urged the Taliban to protect the rights of all Afghans, uphold and enforce its policy of general amnesty and take additional steps to form an inclusive and representative government”, the State Department added.

The US officials urged the Taliban to implement a commitment on providing countrywide access to education at all levels for women and girls.

“The Taliban expressed openness to engaging with the international community on full access to education and welcomed efforts to verify and monitor progress to enroll women and girls in school at all levels,” the State Department said.

It added the US delegation included representatives from the intelligence community, the Treasury Department and the US international aid agency USAID, while “technocratic professionals” also took part on the Afghan side.

In a post on Twitter, Taliban Foreign Ministry Spokesman Abdul Qahar Balkhi described the discussions as “positive”, saying the two sides exchanged views on political, economic, health, education, security and humanitarian issues.

“The Afghan side assured them about security, urged immediate unconditional unfreezing of Afghan reserves, ending of sanctions and blacklists, and disconnecting humanitarian issues from political considerations,” Balkhi stated, adding, “Overall the sessions were positive and both sides agreed to continue such meetings moving forward.”

The Taliban, who had previously ruled Afghanistan from 1996 to 2001, took power again on August 15 as the US was in the middle of a chaotic troop withdrawal. The group announced the formation of a caretaker government on September 7. No country has yet recognized their rule. Since then, the Taliban have been struggling to contain a deepening economic crisis.

Most of the international forums stopped their aid and assistance to Afghanistan after the Taliban returned to power. Besides, the United States also seized nearly $9.5 billion in assets belonging to the Afghan central bank. The Taliban have repeatedly called for the release of the assets, but Washington has rebuffed the call, saying the new government in Kabul must “earn” international legitimacy first.

War-ravaged Afghanistan also needs urgent international action to support millions of people struggling with rising hunger and the collapse of services. The Taliban’s efforts to stabilize the situation have been undermined by international sanctions, as banks are running out of cash and civil servants are going unpaid.

The new Afghan rulers have warned Western diplomats that insisting on sanctions as a means to pressure their governance could undermine security and trigger a wave of economic refugees.

The United Nations says Afghanistan is facing “one of the world’s worst humanitarian disasters”.

Raisi: Politics without spirituality to blame for ills of humanity

By
IFP Editorial Staff
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Raisi was speaking on Wednesday at a joint meeting of the government and Parliament at the legislature. 

He said the divorce of politics from spirituality led to the production of nuclear warheads. 

He also described 70 years of oppressive treatment of Palestinians as another outcome of the separation of politics from spirituality. 

Raisi also spoke of Iran’s internal affairs. He reiterated that the key point must be law and adherence to law. All people must respect law and move within its confines. The president added that the main task of Parliament is making laws for the movement of society. 

The president said Iran’s Parliament today is the manifestation of people’s will, and that a country where elections are held must ensure the prevalence of law. Raisi also said just laws, just enforcement of laws and just judgments are main pivots of administering justice. 

He also spoke of the budget of the next Iranian year, 1401. Raisi said his administration wants a budget that ensures economic growth and lacks deficit or inflation. The president said his administration’s proposed budget  draft will be presented to Parliament within the next few days.

Congressional Republicans vow to block US sanctions relief for Iran

By
IFP Media Wire
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The letter, obtained by The National, accuses the White House of withholding information from Congress and ignoring requests to provide details about the nature of negotiations with Tehran.

“Despite over a dozen letters by members of the Republican Study Committee asking for information on Iran sanctions enforcement, your administration has continued to leave Congress in the dark regarding its plans to weaken sanctions enforcement and provide sanctions relief to Iran,” the letter read.

The committee has more than 150 Republican members and advocates for conservative policies on defence and foreign policy issues.

In the letter, the signatories re-assert the power of Congress to impose sanctions on Iran.

“We are writing to remind you that the power to regulate commerce with foreign nations and hence the ability to enact economic sanctions resides in Congress,” it said.

The Biden administration entered indirect negotiations with Iran this week in Vienna, with talks centred on Tehran’s demands for sanctions relief.

Russia’s representative to the talks, Mikhail Ulyanov, tweeted on Tuesday that progress has been made on “sanctions lifting and nuclear issues”.

Asked if the Biden administration was willing to lift sanctions on Iran, State Department deputy spokeswoman Jalina Porter stated on Monday that the goal is compliance.

“I won’t get into the details or any hypotheticals from here, but I’ll just focus on the goal, which is a mutual return to compliance … that’s in America’s national interest and we believe it’s the best available option to restrict Iran’s nuclear programme and also provide a platform to address Iran’s destabilising conduct,” Porter explained.

“If Iran demands more or offers less than a mutual return to compliance, these negotiations will not succeed,” she added.

But the Republican signatories to the letter, first reported on by The Free Beacon, are threatening to block any relief if they win a majority in the House in next year’s midterm elections.

“When Republicans return to the majority soon, we look forward to re-asserting Congress’s authority over economic sanctions by passing the Maximum Pressure Act and circumscribing the ability of your administration, like the [Barack] Obama administration before it, to lift sanctions and abuse waiver and license authorities to provide sanctions relief to Iran,” the letter said, referencing [Donald] Trump-era legislation that codified the sanctions regime aimed at stopping Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon.

In the Senate, legislation to prevent the US from rejoining the nuclear deal was introduced in February and has gained the support of high-ranking senators such as Jim Risch, Marco Rubio, Susan Collins, Ted Cruz, Tim Scott and others.

It stipulates that the lifting of sanctions imposed on Iran cannot take place without addressing the full scope of “Iran’s malign activities”, which include “its nuclear programme, ballistic and cruise missile capabilities, weapons proliferation, support for terrorism, hostage-taking, gross human rights violations and other destabilising activities”.

For the Biden administration to lift some of the sanctions imposed under Trump — such as those placed on Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Sayed Ali Khamenei, and Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi — it would need congressional review.

Such a move would allow Republicans to force a vote on killing the agreement in Congress.

The Israeli government, which opposes a return to the nuclear deal, has warned the Biden administration that Iran is preparing to enrich weapons-grade uranium, Axios reported on Monday.

Israeli Defence Minister Benny Gantz is expected to visit Washington this week.

Senior Emirati official says UAE to send delegation to Iran soon

By
IFP Media Wire
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“I hope that it is the sooner the better and all our friends are aware of it,” Anwar Gargash, diplomatic adviser to the UAE president, told reporters when asked when a UAE delegation would hold talks in Tehran.

The idea was to “turn over a new page” in relations, he added.

Iran’s top nuclear negotiator, Ali Bagheri Kani, met Gargash and other Emirati officials on Nov. 24 in a rare visit.

The UAE started engaging with Iran in 2019 following attacks on tankers off Persian Gulf waters and on Saudi energy infrastructure. Sunni Muslim power Saudi Arabia began direct talks with Iran in April, with Riyadh describing the talks as “cordial” but largely exploratory.

“There is a recognition by the Iranians that they need to rebuild bridges with the Gulf. We are picking that up positively” he said.

Abu Dhabi still shared concerns about Iran’s regional activities but it wanted to work hard on improving ties, he stated.

Asked whether the UAE was coordinating with Saudi Arabia on its moves on Iran, he noted they were keeping its regional allies “in the picture”.

The warmer ties comes as indirect talks between Iran and the United States, and other world powers in Vienna to try to revive a 2015 nuclear pact, which Persian Gulf states have criticised for not addressing Tehran’s missile programme and regional proxies.

He stated the UAE shared Saudi Arabia’s concern about Yemen’s Iran-aligned Houthi movement’s rocket attacks on Saudi cities. Riyadh and its allies accuse Iran of supplying the group with arms, a charge both deny.

The UAE is a member of the Saudi-led coalition engaged in Yemen but largely ended its military presence on the ground in 2019.

 

Iranian envoy to UN condemns US unilateralism

By
IFP Editorial Staff
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Majid Takhte Ravanchi was speaking at the 45th Annual Meeting of the Foreign Ministers of the Group 77 and China.
He said, “As we celebrate this year the fifty-fifth anniversary of the adoption of the Algerian Charter at the First Meeting of the Foreign Ministers of the Group 77 and China, we must stand united and resolutely strive for the common aspirations and interests of the members of the group, as laid out in that document. Let us focus our collective efforts on achieving economic and social development as well as achieving peace, stability and prosperity for all members of the group”.
He noted that the Covid pandemic was a wake-up call for the whole world that the development, prosperity and well-being of humanity are interconnected and interdependent.
The Iranian envoy said, “While all countries are working hand in hand to counter the pandemic, we are sadly seeing the United States imposes its unilateral and coercive actions including illegal sanctions on a number of countries which have suffered the heaviest losses and ordeal from the Covid pandemic”.
The Iranian representative said Tehran believes that the most important international crises and challenges facing humanity such as the Covid pandemic and unilateralism will not be beaten unless there is a collective response and joint efforts by all world nations under the banner of multilateralism and solidarity.

Final results show Moqtada al-Sadr wins big in Iraq election

By
IFP Media Wire
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The Sunni Taqaddum party won 37 seats in last month’s general election, while the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) secured 31 seats, state media reported, citing the commission.

A total of 329 seats were up for grabs in the election. More than 3,240 candidates were in the running, including 950 women.

Turnout in Iraq’s parliamentary election was 43%, according to the electoral commission.

Putin: Western countries learnt nothing from Afghanistan debacle

By
IFP Editorial Staff
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“We see, on the one hand, that many of our partners are saying… we were wrong, we shouldn’t have behaved like that in Afghanistan. However, they continue to behave like that in other parts of the globe,” Putin told an investment forum on Tuesday.

The United States and its Western allies have been widely criticized for their 20-year war in Afghanistan which wreaked havoc on the country and left a large number of Afghans dead but failed to achieve its stated goals.

The US-led forces were also sharply denounced for their chaotic withdrawal in August with some describing it as a terrible end to a catastrophic war.

Elsewhere in his remarks, Putin said U.S. government policies are hurting the dollar’s position internationally and Russia has to give up the use of the U.S. currency because of those policies.

A number of countries around the world, including Russia, China, India, Turkey and Iran, use their national currencies instead of the U.S. dollar in their trade, and this is spreading to more countries.

The Russian president also said that Russia does not intend to isolate itself by building an economic fortress to live inside, and that the Russian government is rather working to enhance its economic independence.

Iran paying reparations to families of Ukrainian plane crash victims

By
IFP Media Wire
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Iran's Foreign Ministry

The statement says following the tragic crash, Iran, in good faith and in a bid to dispel misunderstandings, made every effort to appropriately interact with Ukraine on various aspects of the accident.

It also said in addition to several meetings and contacts with Ukrainian officials, the delegations of the two sides held three rounds of talks over all technical, military, legal and criminal aspects of the air crash.

According to the Foreign Ministry statement, the Iranian delegation briefed the Ukrainian side on all its findings and made efforts to give necessary answers to the Ukrainian delegation’s questions.

The Foreign Ministry also says Iran called for negotiations with the Ukrainian airline, and the first round of talks was held on June 30, 2021.

Meanwhile, the statement says Iranian judicial authorities have put those responsible for the plane crash on trial and the first court hearing was held on November 21, 2021. According to the statement, the court hearings will continue until justice is administered.

The Foreign Ministry also says, to appease the families of the victims, Iran has set a figure as payment to the families of all victims regardless of their nationality.

It added that a large number of families have already been paid and legal measures are being taken to pay the rest. Iran has also told Ukraine, Canada, Afghanistan and Sweden, whose citizens are among the victims, Tehran’s ready to pay the families of their citizens killed in the accident.

The Foreign Ministry added iد its statement that it believes all aspects of the Ukrainian plane crash have been adequately addressed.

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