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EU optimistic about fresh round of Iran nuclear talks

By
IFP Media Wire
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Borrell said on Monday he hoped EU and Iranian diplomats would meet soon to try and revive nuclear talks but declined to confirm reports of a meeting in Brussels on Thursday.

Bloomberg News reported that Iran’s foreign minister gave the date on Sunday, citing an Iranian lawmaker. A senior EU official last week confirmed that meetings were planned in Brussels, rather than Vienna, but gave no date.

“You never know, I am more optimistic today than yesterday,” Borrell stated in Luxembourg as he arrived for an EU foreign ministers meeting.

“No confirmation yet, but things are getting better and I am hope we will have preparatory meetings in Brussels in the days to come,” he added.

EU political director Enrique Mora, the chief coordinator for the talks, was in Tehran last Thursday to meet members of Iran’s nuclear negotiating team, four months after discussions broke off between Iran and world powers.

Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi has so far refused to resume indirect talks with the United States in Vienna on both sides returning to compliance with the deal, under which Iran curbed its nuclear program in return for economic sanctions relief.

But after Mora’s visit, Iran’s foreign ministry announced it would hold talks in the coming days with the EU in Brussels.

Western diplomats have said they are concerned Tehran’s new negotiating team – under a president known as an anti-Western hardliner, unlike his pragmatist predecessor – may make new demands beyond the scope of what had already been agreed.

Iran has long denied any ambition to acquire nuclear weapons.

The Iranian foreign ministry spokesman has announced that Deputy Foreign Minister Ali Baqeri Kani will travel to Brussels in the coming days to continue talks with Mora.

“As previously announced, the visit by Deputy Foreign Minister Baqeri to Brussels will be solely for the purpose of continuing talks with European Union Foreign Policy Chief Josep Borrell’s deputy Enrique Mora based on an agreement reached in Tehran,” Saeed Khatibzadeh stated on Sunday evening.

His explanation came after some interpreted remarks made by Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian in a closed session of the parliament on Sunday as an announcement of a new round of talks between Iran and the remaining parties to the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action.
An Iranian lawmaker said on Sunday negotiations will resume in the coming days on the 2015 Iran nuclear deal known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA).

Behrouz Mohebbi made the comment in a tweet on the sidelines of a closed-door meeting with Abdollahian.

Mora and Baqeri met in Tehran last week to discuss Iran-EU relations, regional issues, and lifting of anti-Iran sanctions.

They agreed to continue talks in Brussels over the possibility of further negotiations between Iran and the P4+1 group in the Austrian capital Vienna.

Belarus expels French envoy

By
IFP Media Wire
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France’s ambassador to Belarus has left the country after the authorities in Minsk demanded he leave by Monday, the embassy announced.

But according to reports in the Belarusian media, ambassador Nicolas de Lacoste never met President Alexander Lukashenko to give him copies of his credentials.

France, like other EU countries, has not recognised the Belarusian strongman’s claim to a sixth presidential term in disputed elections in August last year.

“The Belarusian foreign ministry demanded that the ambassador leave before October 18,” an embassy spokeswoman told AFP Sunday.

“Ambassador Nicolas de Lacoste left Belarus today,” she added.

“He said goodbye to the staff of the embassy and recorded a video message to the Belarusian people, which will appear tomorrow morning on the embassy’s website,” she continued.

The European Union has imposed waves of sanctions on Lukashenko’s regime over a post-vote crackdown on dissent in Belarus after the country erupted in historic protests against his rule.

Lukashenko has since put down the demonstrations, with authorities jailing hundreds of protesters and closing dozens of independent media outlets and NGOs.

All of the country’s top opposition leaders are either in prison or have fled the country.

Report: Newcastle new chief involved in Saudi “anti-corruption” campaign

By
IFP Media Wire
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Yasir al-Rumayyan, the new non-executive chairman of Newcastle United, was involved in a controversial “anti-corruption” campaign in Saudi Arabia that included the transfer of assets on behalf of the crown prince.

Details of Rumayyan’s role – including the transfer of a charter jet company to the Public Investment Fund (PIF), where he serves as governor – are contained in court documents that shed light on his relationship with Prince Mohammed.

The inner workings of the PIF have been a source of intense interest after it led a consortium that acquired Newcastle United this month. The state-owned sovereign wealth fund is run by Rumayyan and chaired by the crown prince.

The Saudi-led consortium withdrew its bid to acquire Newcastle in 2020 amid concerns that the PIF was part the Saudi state. But the Premier League approved the deal this month and said it had been given “legally binding assurances that the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia will not control” the club. The Premier League has not disclosed the nature of the assurances.

Internal Saudi documents filed to a civil court in Canada as part of an unrelated case show that in 2017 a close aide to Prince Mohammed ordered Rumayyan – who is formally referred to in memos as “his excellency” and the “supervisor” of the PIF – to transfer 20 companies to the sovereign wealth fund as part of the anti-corruption campaign.

One of 20 seized companies, the documents show, was a charter jet company that was later alleged to have been used in the Saudi plot to kill Jamal Khashoggi. US intelligence agencies concluded in an intelligence report that was declassified in February that Prince Mohammed approved Khashoggi’s gruesome murder.

There is no suggestion that Rumayyan had any involvement in or knowledge of the alleged use of the jets in the operation that killed the Washington Post journalist.

The documents suggest, however, that a senior aide to the crown prince was able to order Rumayyan to take actions related to the PIF on Prince Mohammed’s behalf. The PIF declined to comment. A spokesperson for the Saudi embassy in Washington did not return a request for comment.

Rumayyan is a former banker who serves as governor of the PIF and chairman of the oil firm Saudi Aramco. He has overseen billions of dollars in investment by the PIF, including in Uber, Facebook, Disney and Citibank.

The Harvard Business School-educated executive is reportedly due to attend his first Newcastle match on Sunday in his new role as non-executive chairman of the club.

The internal Saudi documents were filed in a Canadian court as part of a civil case that has been brought by Saudi-owned entities against a former senior Saudi intelligence official, Saad Aljabri, a critic of Prince Mohammed who in turn has accused the Saudi government of trying to assassinate him in Canada. The Saudi government has denied the claims.

The court records include copies of memos that were sent to his “excellency the supervisor of the Public Investment Fund” by Mohammad al-Sheikh, a senior Saudi adviser to Prince Mohammed.

They relate to the infamous anti-corruption campaign led by the crown prince from November 2017, when 400 of Saudi Arabia’s richest individuals – including princes and ministers – were rounded up and held at the Ritz-Carlton hotel in Riyadh in what was later condemned by witnesses and critics as a purge involving torture, coercion and the expropriation of billions in assets into Saudi coffers.

Mohammad al-Sheikh, the close adviser to the crown prince, defended the campaign in a 2018 interview on CBS.

“The anti-corruption crackdown was very simple. We had a serious problem with corruption,” he said, adding, “We had to do what we did at the Ritz.”

The memos are labelled “top secret, not for circulation and very urgent”. The first memo, sent on 22 December 2017, calls on Rumayyan to “transfer” a number of companies to the PIF’s ownership that were seized as part of the anti-corruption purge.

The second memo, dated two days later, repeats the order with greater urgency and tells Rumayyan to “immediately approve the completion of the necessary procedures”.

Saudi documents filed to the court show that in response, Rumayyan sent a handwritten and signed memo on 26 December 2017 to an associate ordering him to “do what’s necessary as fast as possible” to comply with the order. Among the 20 companies included on a list to be transferred to the PIF was Sky Prime Aviation Services, a charter jet company based in Riyadh.

The name of the charter jet company resurfaced in 2019 in a report by Agnes Callamard, the former UN special rapporteur who investigated the Khashoggi killing. She concluded that the team of Saudi agents who killed the journalist used two jets operated by Sky Prime Aviation to travel to and from Istanbul before the murder in the Saudi consulate on October 2018.

CNN first reported in February 2021 that court documents showed that the two private jets used by the Saudi assassination squad were owned by a company that had previously been seized by Prince Mohammed. But other details from the court documents relating to Rumayyan’s role in PIF’s acquisition of the charter jet firm and other companies have not previously been reported.

The PIF declined to respond to a request for comment from Rumayyan and did not respond to a question about the control of Sky Prime Aviation Services. The Saudi embassy in Washington and the Premier League also declined to comment.

Rumayyan has in the past described the abrupt manner in which he was selected by the crown prince to lead the PIF as governor in 2015.

“I received a call … The crown prince heard of me. I got the call. I thought it was an interview [to lead the PIF], but it was, like: ‘Here is what I want you to do. One, two, three,’” Rumayyan stated in a 2020 interview with the Carlyle Group chief executive, David Rubenstein.

After Rumayyan initially noted he could start the job in three months, the crown prince told him he had “one month, and you will do it”. A week later Prince Mohammed called back and told Rumayyan he was starting “immediately”.

“We are all very proud to be Saudis and to participate in the positive changes the country is living and doing right now,” Rumayyan announced in the Rubenstein interview.

Kazak envoy: Iran SCO membership beneficial to body

By
IFP Editorial Staff
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Askhat Orazbai also referred to the SCO’s meeting next month in Kazakhstan, saying his country has sent an invitation to Iran’s first vice president.

Orazbai said Iran was among the first countries to recognize Kazakhstan following the collapse of the former Soviet Union and that “we will not forget this”.

In other remarks, Orazbai spoke of trade ties between the two countries, saying Kazakhstan has expanded the economic relations with Iran steadily in spite of two main obstacles, namely the Covid pandemic and the US sanctions.

He said the trade volume between Iran and Kazakhstan is 230 million dollars which is not large enough given the potential of the two countries and must be increased. Orazbai noted that what matters is that Tehran and Astaneh are determined to expand relations.

He referred to the US sanctions, saying they have affected the trade ties but Iran and Kazakhstan are capable of exchanging some products like agricultural crops.

Iranian MP: Removal of sanctions first step in resuming talks

By
IFP Editorial Staff
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Mahmoud Abbaszadeh Meshkini said the ball is now in the West’s court and the notion of returning to the nuclear deal applies to those who left it or failed to live up to their commitments under the deal.

Abbaszadeh Meshkini added that under the current circumstances, it’s Iran that must set conditions for the other side.

He maintained that if the EU intends to act as a mediator, it must base its assumption on the fact that the US and the European troika including Britain, France and Germany are to blame for this stalemate in talks in the first place. Diplomat efforts to resume the nuclear talks have intensified in recent days. But no date has been set to start the negotiations nor has the venue of the talks been determined yet.

Britons think Johnson’s promises to ‘level up’ not sincere

By
IFP Media Wire
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Almost half (47 per cent) of those questioned by pollsters Savanta ComRes for The Independent said they did not believe the prime minister’s claim that “levelling up” was a central goal of his administration, with scepticism about his pronouncements strongest in the northern and Midlands areas which he has promised to help.

One third of those questioned (31 per cent) said that the target of levelling up the UK would never be achieved, and a further 16 per cent said it would take more than 10 years to complete the task that Johnson has set himself. 

Just 10 per cent said that the project could be concluded within the five-year timescale needed if the PM is to be able to boast of success by the time of the next election and a further 21 per cent said it would take up to 10 years.

The poll found deep levels of concern about financial prospects in the coming year, with more than half (56 per cent) expecting their standard of living to be hit by rises in the cost of essentials like energy, housing and food. Large numbers also said they expect to lose out financially from changes to tax rates and benefit levels, as well as the fallout from Brexit.

Overall, a quarter of those questioned (25 per cent) said they expect to be worse-off in the coming year than they were last year and one in five (21 per cent) said they would be worse-off than they were in 2019 before the Covid pandemic struck.

The gloomy picture came ahead of Rishi Sunak’s crucial autumn budget and spending review on 27 October, at which the chancellor is expected to impose tight restraints on state spending as he starts the job of paying down the £407bn bill for support during the Covid pandemic.

A new report from low-pay thinktank the Resolution Foundation called on the chancellor to prioritise action to help families hit by increases in energy bills, expected to reach an average £1,650 a year by April – a 50 per cent increase on 2020.

The Foundation said that low-income households will be disproportionately affected, as they currently spend three times as much on energy, as a proportion of their incomes, as the richest fifth of households.

By next year, energy costs could make up more than 10 per cent of the spending of the poorest tenth of households, compared to around 3.6 per cent for the richest tenth.

Resolution Foundation senior economist Jonny Marshall said that the best way to alleviate the crisis would have been for Sunak to preserve the £20-a-week uplift to Universal Credit introduced last year in response to Covid and scrapped earlier this month.

If that was no longer possible, he should instead immediately increase the Warm Homes Discount for low-income groups from its current £140 to £161, with a further uprating to £208 in April to keep pace with rising bills, said Marshall. And he said that the £25 Cold Weather Payment – issued when temperatures drop below zero for seven consecutive days – should be extended to an additional 4 million means-tested households.

“While much of the debate around rising gas prices has focused on protecting affected firms, the chancellor must prioritise protecting affected families in his upcoming budget, not least as average bills are set to increase by 50 per cent in just two years,” said Marshall.

“Having missed the best opportunity to help families by failing to maintain the uplift to Universal Credit, he should now to look to improving schemes like the Warm Homes Discount and Cold Weather Payments to help low-income families in particular,” he added.

“The current crisis reminds us all of the need to wean Britain off fossil fuels, and to heat and insulate our homes in a more sustainable way. Fixing those problems will be the ultimate test of the government’s energy policy this autumn,” he continued.

Today’s poll found that fears over rising cost of living are strongest among the elderly, with 73 per cent of over-65s saying they expect their finances to be hit by inflation on essentials – including 31 per cent who expect their standard of living to get significantly worse over the next 12 months.

Some 43 per cent of those responding to the Savanta ComRes poll said they expect their financial position to worsen over the coming year as a result of tax rises, against just 12 per cent who said changes to taxation would benefit them. Three in 10 (29 per cent) of voters said their finances will take a hit from changes to welfare benefits and a quarter (25 per cent) from problems with employment.

More than a third of voters (37 per cent) said they expect their personal finances to suffer over the coming year from the impact of Brexit on the UK economy, compared to just 17 per cent who thought EU withdrawal would be good for them financially.

No region of the UK, social class or age group believed on balance that Brexit would benefit them financially. And even among Leave voters there was little sign of hope that Brexit would deliver a boost to finances, with just 22 per cent saying they would be better off over the coming year as a result, against 21 per cent who said it would leave them worse-off.

Concerns over the cost of living crisis were strongest in the Yorkshire and Humber region and West Midlands, which include many of the so-called Red Wall seats seized from Labour by Conservatives in the 2019 general election on a promise of “levelling up” living standards.

The poll found strong support for the levelling up agenda, with 43 per cent saying it was right to make it the government’s top priority and backing highest in London, Yorkshire and the Humber, the northwest, northeast and West Midlands. Just 29 per cent said it should not be the top priority.

But just 28 per cent said they believed Johnson was sincere in his claim to have put the project at the heart of his agenda, against 47 per cent who said he was not and 25 per cent who did not know. Even among Tory voters, more than a quarter (27 per cent) did not believe the PM was sincere about it, against 48 per cent who said he was.

Meanwhile, 28 per cent said they did not understand what “levelling up” means and 17 per cent said they had never heard of it. Fewer than half (47 per cent) had heard the phrase and believed they knew what it meant.

Iran resumes exports to Saudi Arabia

By
IFP Editorial Staff
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Iran Saudi Flags

Rouhollah Latifi said exports to Saudi Arabia restarted after one and a half year concurrently with negotiations between Tehran and Riyadh, which is “good news”. 

He said Iran has just exported 39 thousand dollars worth of goods to Saudi Arabia that include 6 thousand dollars worth of tiles and 33 thousand dollars worth of round-shaped glass used in traffic signs. 

He said the resumption of exports to the Arab kingdom heralds a thaw in political, economic and cultural ties. Iran and Saudi Arabia have been holding talks over the past months on ways of normalizing their relations following years of tensions over a host of issues including the war in Yemen and the Syria crisis.

Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman: Biden failed to take different path

By
IFP Editorial Staff
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Talking to reports during his weekly briefing on Monday, Khatibzadeh added that Bagheri conveyed Iran’s message to the coordinator of the negotiations and the two sides agreed to continue talks in Brussels in the next few days.  He noted that this agreement was bilateral. 

Khatibzadeh said in Brussels, Iran and the other parties must hold talks over the challenges and obstacles they failed to resolve in Vienna. 

Khatibzadeh added that the talks will be pursued by the Foreign Ministry and the members of the negotiating team will be introduced. 

He noted that the meeting in Brussels will be the continuation of the talks over issues raised in Tehran. Khatibzadeh said the continuation of talks by Iran is a final decision, adding that Iran insists all sides return to full compliance with the nuclear deal unconditionally and under UN Security Council Resolution 2231 and all anti-Iran sanctions be lifted. 

He also referred to the Biden administration’s failure to make good on its promise to go down a different path than that taken by former US president Donald Trump.

Khatibzadeh also said during his weekly briefing that Iran will not tolerate the presence of the Zionist regime near its borders.

“From the southern region of the Persian Gulf to the regions north of Iran…, wherever the occupying regime has gone, you can see this (insecurity). We have told our neighbors in a friendly way and through various channels that Iran does not tolerate the presence of the Zionist regime near its borders and we are not joking with anyone in this regard,” the foreign ministry spokesman said.

Iran has in recent months stepped up warnings about the presence of Israeli elements on its northwestern border with the Republic of Azerbaijan.

Khatibzadeh also touched on the recent parliamentary election in Iraq saying Tehran welcomes democratic elections there.

“We have always welcomed elections; what is happening in Iraq is being followed by the Iraqi people and parties,” he added.

Later during the briefing, he referred to recent terrorist attacks against mosques in Afghanistan which left scores of people dead.

“We are in contact with all parties in Afghanistan, including the Taliban. The Taliban have a direct and special responsibility for peace, stability and tranquility of the people and the safety of all groups and minorities including Hazaras and Shias… we have heard from the Taliban and other parties that they are doing their best to prevent such incidents from happening again,” Khatibzade stated.

US says 2021 Ransomware attacks cost victims $590mn

By
IFP Media Wire
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A report released by the Treasury Department found that around $590 million had been paid by victims of ransomware to their attackers in the first six months of 2021, as such attacks skyrocketed. 

The findings were part of a report released by the Treasury’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN), which concluded that based on suspicious activity reports filed during the first half of 2021, “ransomware is an increasing threat to the U.S. financial sector, businesses, and the public.”

Just over 450 ransomware payments were reported to FinCEN from the beginning of January through end of June, with the amount of suspicious activity reports increasing by 30 percent from last year. The amount paid by victims also massively increased compared to 2020, when $416 million was paid out over the entire year. 

“Ransomware actors are criminals who are enabled by gaps in compliance regimes across the global virtual currency ecosystem,” Deputy Treasury Secretary Wally Adeyemo said in a statement.

“Treasury is helping to stop ransomware attacks by making it difficult for criminals to profit from their crimes, but we need partners in the private sector to help prevent this illicit activity,” Adeyemo stated.

The report found that bitcoin was the most common payment method for victims to pay ransomware demands, highlighting an increasing area of concern for officials as a result of ransomware payments. The Treasury Department issued its first sanctions against a virtual currency exchange last month, targeting SUEX CO. for allegedly facilitating ransomware payments. 

Ransomware attacks have become an increasing concern over the past year, particularly during the COVID-19 pandemic, when malicious actors have taken advantage of more people moving online for various activities. 

Hospitals, schools and government organizations have been hit, alongside companies critical to supply chains, such as the ransomware attacks on Colonial Pipeline and meat producer JBS USA in May. 

The report was released following a two-day meeting hosted by the White House and involving the participation of over 30 countries aimed at strengthening global cooperation to confront ransomware attacks, with several nations participating reporting attacks on hospitals during the COVID-19 pandemic. 

The nations were particularly concerned with the use of cryptocurrency exchanges for ransomware attack payments, and vowed to take “concerted efforts” to disrupt illicit financial mechanisms that fueled the growth of ransomware attacks.

Assad: Afghanistan exit shows US, allies declining role

By
IFP Media Wire
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Assad received on Sunday Russian President’s Special Envoy for Syria, Alexander Lavrentiev, Deputy Foreign Minister, Sergey Vershinin and an accompanying delegation.

Talks during the meeting dealt with the standing cooperation between Syria and Russia in the war on terror, and coordination on the economic and commercial levels.

Lavrentiev and Vershinin said that this visit comes within President Putin’s directives to boost this cooperation and expand work with Syria in all fields and at all levels, reiterating that Russia is ready to actively contribute to the process of reconstruction and rehabilitation of infrastructure destroyed by terrorism and to establish investment partnerships with Syria in the fields of energy and agriculture in a way that achieves the interests of the two friendly peoples and contributes to activating the Syrian economy.

The talks also tackled the latest developments in Syria, the region and the world.

Assad considered that those developments and changes, foremost of which is the US withdrawal from Afghanistan, indicate the retreat of the role of the US and its allies, which requires from countries of the region to work to enhance security and peace with the will of their peoples without external interferences.

The two sides also discussed meetings of the committee of discussing the Constitution which will start tomorrow, affirming the importance of continuation of the political track in order to reach agreements based on the principles of the Syrian people and keep Syria’s sovereignty and territorial integrity.

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