Iran - The African Mirror

Apr

2022

Iran imposes sanctions on 15 U.S. officials as nuclear talks stall

IRAN said that it had imposed sanctions on 15 more U.S. officials, including former Army Chief of Staff George Casey and former President Donald Trump's attorney Rudy Giuliani, as months of talks to revive a 2015 nuclear deal have stalled. Almost all the officials named served during Trump's administration which imposed sanctions on Iranian officials, politicians and companies and withdrew the United States from Tehran's nuclear deal with world powers. In a statement carried by local media, the Iranian foreign ministry accused the U.S. officials of supporting “terrorist groups and terrorist acts” against Iran, and Israel’s “repressive acts” in the…

Sep

2021

By The African Mirror

U.S. warns Iran: Grant inspectors access or else…

WORLD

FRANCOIS MURPHY IRAN must stop denying the U.N. nuclear watchdog access to a workshop making centrifuge parts as agreed two weeks ago or face diplomatic retaliation at the agency's Board of Governors within days, the United States said on Monday. The workshop at the TESA Karaj complex makes components for centrifuges, machines that enrich uranium, and was hit by apparent sabotage in June in which one of four International Atomic Energy Agency cameras there was destroyed. Iran removed them and the destroyed camera's footage is missing. TESA Karaj was one of several sites to which Iran agreed to grant IAEA…

Sep

2021

By The African Mirror

Israeli minister says Iran giving militias drone training near Isfahan

WORLD

ISRAEL’S defence minister has accused Iran of providing foreign militias with drone training at an airbase near the city of Isfahan, a month after Tehran came under global scrutiny over a suspected drone attack on an Israeli-managed tanker off Oman. Israel has combined military strikes with diplomatic pressure to beat back what it describes as an effort by its arch-foe, whose nuclear negotiations with the West are deadlocked, to beef up regional clout through allied guerrillas. In what his office described as a new disclosure, Defence Minister Benny Gantz said Iran was using Kashan airbase north of Isfahan to train…

Sep

2021

By The African Mirror

France tells Iran to return to nuclear deal talks immediately

WORLD

FRANCE’S foreign minister told his newly-appointed Iranian counterpart in a telephone call that it was urgent for Tehran to return to nuclear negotiations immediately, the French foreign ministry has said in a statement. "The minister underlined the importance and the urgency of an immediate resumption of negotiations, interrupted by Iran since June," the foreign ministry said after the conversation between Jean-Yves Le Drian and Hossein Amirabdollahian. Le Drian expressed his concern with regard to all the nuclear activities carried out by Iran in violation of a 2015 nuclear deal with world powers. Iran has gradually violated limits in the agreement…

Aug

2021

By The African Mirror

Israel able to ‘act alone’ against Iran after ship attack, PM says

WORLD

PRIME Minister Naftali Bennett said that Israel was capable of acting alone against Iran, after U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken predicted a "collective" response to an attack last week on an Israeli-managed tanker off the coast of Oman. "We are working to rally the world, but at the same time we also know to act alone," Bennett said on Tuesday during a tour of Israel's northern border. Israel, the United States and Britain have blamed Iran for the incident, a charge Tehran has denied.

Aug

2021

By The African Mirror

Iran warns of response if security threatened after ship attack

WORLD

IRAN will respond promptly to any threat against its security, a foreign ministry spokesman has said, after the United States, Israel and Britain blamed Tehran for an attack on an Israeli-managed tanker off the coast of Oman. Tehran has denied any involvement in the attack on Thursday in which two crew members - a Briton and a Romanian - were killed. The United States and Britain said on Sunday they would work with their allies to respond to the attack on Mercer Street, a Liberian-flagged, Japanese-owned petroleum product tanker managed by Israeli-owned Zodiac Maritime. Britain summoned the Iranian ambassador on…

Jun

2021

By The African Mirror

Iran, world powers adjourn nuclear talks, resumption date unclear

WORLD

FRANCOIS MURPHY and PARISA HAFEZI NEGOTIATORS for Iran and six world powers yesterday adjourned talks on reviving their 2015 nuclear deal and return to respective capitals for consultations as remaining differences still need to be overcome, officials said. "We are now closer than ever to an agreement but the distance that exists between us and an agreement remains and bridging it is not an easy job," Iran's top negotiator Abbas Araqchi told state TV from Vienna. "We will return to Tehran tonight." After more than a week of negotiations in their latest round, parties to the pact wrapped up with…

Apr

2021

By The African Mirror

World powers, Iran, U.S. begin indirect talks to revive nuclear deal

WORLD

FRANCOIS MURPHY, PARISA HAFEZI and JOHN IRISH EUROPEAN intermediaries began shuttling between Iranian and U.S. officials in Vienna yesterday as they sought to bring both countries back into full compliance with the 2015 nuclear deal that Washington abandoned three years ago. Iran has steadily overstepped the accord's limits on its nuclear programme in response to Washington's withdrawal from the accord in 2018 and its reimposition of sanctions that have crippled the Islamic Republic's economy. While Tehran has repeatedly rebuffed "direct and indirect negotiations" with its old foe, Washington said on Monday it expected the talks to be difficult. Neither side…

Feb

2021

By The African Mirror

Tehran could seek nuclear arms if ‘cornered’ by West

WORLD

IRAN’S intelligence minister said persistent Western pressure could push Tehran to fight back like a "cornered cat" and seek nuclear weapons, which the Islamic Republic has for years insisted it has no intention of ever developing. The remarks made in a television interview are a rare suggestion that Iran might have an interest in nuclear weapons, which Western nations have accused Iran of pursuing. Iranian officials have repeatedly dismissed this charge, citing a fatwa or religious decree issued in the early 2000s by the Islamic Republic's top authority, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, that bans the development or use of…

Jan

2021

By The African Mirror

U.N. condemns Iran execution spree, worried about minorities

WORLD

THE United Nations human rights office has condemned an alleged spree of 28 executions in Iran, including several prisoners from minority groups, and called on Tehran to halt the hanging of an ethnic Baluchi man. Iran has often faced criticism from world bodies and Western human rights group for its rights record and high number of executions - the world's highest after China, according to Amnesty International. Tehran has dismissed the criticism as baseless and due to a lack of understanding of its Islamic laws. "#Iran: We strongly condemn the series of executions – at least 28 – since mid-December,…