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Issues still to be resolved in Iran nuclear talks: Zarif

By
Emad Askarieh
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Mohammad Javad Zarif

“There are a number of issues that are left to be resolved. They require, as I have said, the recognition by all parties that they need to exhibit political will and flexibility in order to move forward. Iran has exhibited that political will. Iran has shown its readiness to engage with dignity,” Zarif told reporters in the Swiss city of Lausanne on Wednesday evening.

The top Iranian diplomat also called upon representatives from the five permanent members of the UN Security Council – the United States, France, Britain, Russia and China – plus Germany to “seize the moment and use this opportunity which may not be repeated.”

He added that the two sides are “just trying to resolve the problems and move forward.”

Zarif told Press TV that he has not yet decided to extend his stay in Lausanne for Iran’s nuclear talks for another day. “We haven’t decided yet, we have to see how much progress we make today and then we will decide based on that.”

He said progress had been made between Iran and major powers over Tehran’s nuclear program, but both sides could have moved forward further.

“I’m not dissatisfied, but we could have made more progress obviously everybody wanted to have resolved this issue by last night, but we still need to do some more work,” Zarif stated.

Meanwhile, as the negotiations have headed into another night of marathon talks, Zarif and US Secretary of State John Kerry have kicked off another round of bilateral negotiations to narrow their differences, and France’s Foreign Ministry has announced that French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius is returning to Switzerland Wednesday night for further talks.

German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier said earlier Wednesday that Fabius would return to Lausanne to join Kerry and Britain’s Philip Hammond “once (the talks) enter a decisive stage.”

Iranian Deputy Foreign Ministers Abbas Araqchi and Majid Takht-e Ravanchi as well as US Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs Wendy Sherman are also present in the meeting.

Earlier on Wednesday, Araqchi said any deal with the P5+1 group on Tehran’s nuclear program should certainly guarantee the removal of all sanctions.

“It is not possible to have a deal without lifting sanctions, all sanctions must be removed,” he said.

The Iranian official pointed to the difficulty of the task to see all sanctions removed all at once, stressing, however, that the lifting of major economic and oil embargoes constitutes the cornerstone in any agreement.

Iran and the P5+1 group have actually missed a March 31 deadline for reaching a mutual understanding on whether they could continue further talks on Tehran’s nuclear program.

The potential agreement paves the way for a much broader deal by end of June which guarantees the peaceful nature of Iran’s nuclear activities in return for a promise by international powers to lift unfair sanctions against the country.

Yemenis in Iran protest Saudi aggression against their homeland

By
Emad Askarieh
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Yemenis protest

Yemeni nationals living in the Iranian capital, Tehran, have held a protest rally to condemn the ongoing Saudi-led military aggression against their country.

The protesters gathered outside Riyadh’s embassy in Tehran on Wednesday, chanting slogans against Saudi Arabia, the US and Israel to voice their anger at the bloody aerial assault against their homeland.

The demonstrators carried pictures of Abdul-Malik al-Houthi, the leader of Yemen’s Ansarullah movement to express their full support for the revolutionaries in their country.

[…]

Among the participants were the Yemenis who had been injured in terrorist attacks prior to the Saudi-led war in the Yemeni capital, Sana’a, and later flown to Iran on March 23 for treatment.

Similar anti-Saudi rallies have been also held in several countries over the past days to censure the Saudi attacks.

Meanwhile, large numbers of Yemeni people also took to the streets in the capital, Sana’a, on Wednesday to condemn the Saudi aggression and demand an end to it.

[…]

Zarif on nuclear talks: Hope to start drafting Wednesday

By
Emad Askarieh
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Zarif-Iran Talks

Iran’s Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif says he hopes parties to the talks over the country’s nuclear energy program could arrive at the expected understanding on Wednesday.

“We’ve been working since 7:30 in the morning and it’s been a very long day for all delegations. We have accomplished quite a bit, but people needed to get some rest and start over early in the morning,” he said in Lausanne, Switzerland.

“I hope that we can finalize the work on Wednesday and hopefully start the process of drafting tomorrow,” he added.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov also said early Wednesday that the world powers had “reached an agreement in principle on all key aspects” of the outlines of a nuclear deal, Russian media reported.

“One can say with relative certainty that we at the minister level have reached an agreement in principle on all key aspects of the final settlement of this issue, which will be put on paper in the coming hours or perhaps within one day,” Lavrov was quoted as saying by Ria Novosti.

Speaking on Tuesday night, French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius said, “We are making progress. But it’s complicated, it’s long and difficult. And I’m afraid that we may be going through the night.”

A senior member of Iran’s nuclear negotiating team said Tehran and the P5+1 had reached an agreement on the removal of anti-Tehran sanctions, but minor issues still remained.

Hamid Baidinejad, who is the director general for political and international security affairs at Iran’s Foreign Ministry, told a Press TV correspondent in Lausanne that Tehran and the six states were working to minimize the gaps on the remaining minor issues regarding the bans.

“Sanctions have many aspects; there are unilateral sanctions, US sanctions, EU sanctions, UNSC sanctions… I should say that many of these aspects have been resolved, but still there are some limited areas that also need to be resolved, and we are now concentrating on those remaining technical aspects with regard to the sanctions,” he said.

Iran felicitates Iraq on Tikrit liberation

By
Emad Askarieh
-
Marzieh Afkham
Marzieh Afkham

Iran has congratulated the Iraqi government and people on the liberation of the strategic northern city of Tikrit from the ISIL terrorists.

Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi said on Tuesday that units of government forces, backed by Shia and Sunni volunteer forces, had managed to retake control of the city.

Iran’s Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Marzieh Afkham congratulated Iraq’s army and popular and tribal forces in Salahuddin province for their courageous victory and for the cleansing of the city and other important areas in the province of Takfiri terrorists.

“The recent victories are considered a landmark in the process of fighting terrorism in the country and herald the cleansing of Iraq’s other areas in near future,” she said.

“The Islamic Republic of Iran has placed atop its agenda effective and unconditional support for the Iraqi government and people in confronting organized and Takfiri terrorism,” Afkham noted.

In his announcement, Abadi said Iraqi forces had raised the country’s national flag over the Salahuddin provincial government headquarters.

Tikrit had been seized by ISIL in June last year. The city’s recapture is crucial for the Iraqi army in its quest to take control of the country’s second-largest city, Mosul.

ISIL started its campaign of terror in Iraq in early June 2014. The heavily-armed militants took control of the country’s northern city of Mosul before sweeping through parts of the country’s Sunni Arab heartland.

Iraqi soldiers, police units, Kurdish forces, Shia volunteers and Sunni tribesmen have succeeded in driving the ISIL terrorists out of some areas in Iraq.

Iran needs guarantees on Western compliance with terms of deal: MP

By
Emad Askarieh
-
Mohammad Hassan Asafari

A senior Iranian lawmaker said Wednesday that Tehran should receive sufficient assurances from P5+1 that they would remain loyal to their commitments under a possible final nuclear deal.

“In the first phase of the agreement, the banking and oil sanctions imposed against Iran should be removed and sufficient guarantees should be obtained from the Western side to get assured of their compliance with the agreement in such a way that if they fail to fulfill their commitments under a final agreement, Iran would be able to resume uranium enrichment,” Secretary of parliament’s National Security and Foreign Policy Committee Mohammad Hassan Asafari told Fars News Agency.

He recalled the confidence-damaging action taken in the last several decades by the Western countries in their relations with Iran, and said, “The Iranian negotiators should take the necessary measures and tactics to prevent the Western side’s misuse.”

Iran decries Saudi military intervention in Yemen

By
Emad Askarieh
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Abdullahian-1

Deputy Foreign Minister for Arab-African Affairs Hossein Amir-Abdollahian on Tuesday expressed deep concern about the Saudi intervention in Yemen and subsequent humanitarian plight, saying political means are the only way to resolve the Yemeni crisis.

He made the remarks in a meeting with Qatar’s Foreign Minister Khalid al-Attiyah on the sidelines of the third International Conference on Humanitarian Pledging for Syria.

Amir-Abdollahian said that the Saudi military intervention in Yemen is a strategic mistake and such measures which have created a humanitarian crisis will not help resolve Yemen’s problems.

He said insecurity in the region would lead to growing extremism and terrorism, so the Saudi government must stop any military intervention in Yemen.

He said that political mechanisms provide the only solution to the Yemeni crisis.

Amir-Abdollahian urged all Yemeni political groups and parties to return to the negotiating table based on formerly concluded agreements.

Al-Attiya, meanwhile, expressed concern about escalation of humanitarian crisis in Yemen, terming ‘very difficult and complicated’ the situation in Yemen, calling on the Yemeni political groups to initiate dialogue and national reconciliation.

He said the region needs peace, inviting all regional governments to encourage the Yemeni political groups to initiate dialogue to stop the bloodshed.

Iran commemorates Islamic Republic Day

By
Emad Askarieh
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Islamic Republic Day

Iran has commemorated the 36th anniversary of the historic referendum in which Iranians overwhelmingly voted for the establishment of the Islamic Republic following the collapse of the US-backed Pahlavi regime in 1979.

In a landmark two-day referendum held on March 30-31, 1979, less than two months after the victory of the Islamic Revolution, over 98.2 percent of eligible Iranians voters voted for the establishment of an Islamic Republic in the country.

The Islamic Republic was established in Iran in line with the popular motto of the 1979 Islamic Revolution that called for “Independence, Freedom and the Islamic Republic” for the country.

Since then, the Iranian nation annually celebrates Farvardin 12 in the solar calendar year, which falls on April 1 in normal years and March 31 in leap years, as the anniversary of the establishment of the Islamic Republic of Iran. The day is referred to as the Islamic Republic Day.

The 1979 Islamic Revolution led to the overthrow of the Pahlavi dynasty and put an end to 2,500 years of monarchic rule in Iran.

The Islamic Revolution, led by late Imam Khomeini, established a new political system based on Islamic values and democracy.

Iran Lose to Saudi Arabia in AFC U-23 Championship qualifiers

By
Emad Askarieh
-
Iran Football

Iran were defeated by Saudi Arabia in the 2016 AFC U-23 Championship qualifiers on Tuesday.

The Iranian squad suffered a 2-1 home defeat in Group C of the 2016 AFC U-23 Championship qualifiers at Tehran’s Azadi Stadium.

Abdulfattah Asiri gave the visiting team a lead in the 70th minute. Abdulrahman Al-Ghamdi made it 2-0 ten minutes later after a big mistake from Iran defender Mohammad Moradmand.

Mohammad Khakpour’s men pulled a goal back in the 84th minute after Saudi Arabia defender Saeed Awads Alyami scored an own goal.

With the result, Saudi Arabia advanced to the regional Olympic qualifying tournament as the first team and Iran as one of the best second-placed teams.

Official urges FM to call off Erdogan visit unless he apologizes

By
Emad Askarieh
-
Mozafar

Officials of the countries whose policies stoke terrorism and tension in the region are laying the blame on others, Hossein Mozafar, a member of the Expediency Council and a Tehran MP, said Tuesday in reaction to comments by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who has recently accused Iran of seeking regional dominance.

Countries such as Turkey which have failed to secure their regional objectives are trying to pin the blame on Iran, which has not interfered in any country, he told Fars News Agency in an interview on March 31.

“To make up for its shameful policies, Turkey is pointing a finger of blame at Iran, so the Ministry of Foreign Affairs should act more decisively and call off Erdogan’s Tehran visit unless he apologizes for his anti-Iranian comments,” Mozafar said.

His comments came after the Iranian Foreign Ministry summoned the Turkish envoy in Tehran to seek explanation about the comments of President Erdogan, who says critical comments by Iranian MPs won’t force him to call off his Iran visit.

Supreme Leader pardons over 800 prisoners

By
Emad Askarieh
-
Leader

Supreme Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyed Ali Khamenei on Tuesday pardoned or commuted the prison terms of 809 convicts sentenced by various Iranian courts.

The pardon was granted at the request of the Judiciary Chief Ayatollah Sadegh Amoli Larijani to mark the anniversary of the formation of the Islamic Republic (April 1).

Article 110 of the Constitution grants the Supreme Leader the right to pardon or reduce the sentences of convicts upon recommendation from the head of the Judiciary.

The clemency, however, does not apply to all types of convicts, including those who have been sentenced for their role in armed struggle against the country, armed or organized drug trafficking, rape, armed robbery, arms smuggling, abduction, bribery and embezzlement.

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