Iran Will Send Ukraine Airline Black Boxes to France

Iran said on Monday that it will send the black boxes of a shot-down Ukrainian plane to France in the "next few days" and expressed readiness to resolve remaining issues.

Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif made the remarks in a phone call with his Canadian counterpart Francois-Philippe Champagne, his ministry said in a statement.

"The decision to send the black boxes has been made for some time and it will soon be acted upon," Zarif was quoted as saying.

The ministry said the process had been delayed by the coronavirus pandemic, which has seen most international flights cancelled.

Iran says its novel coronavirus outbreak has killed 9,742 people out of more than 207,500 infected since reporting its first cases in February.

According to the statement, Iran had told Ukraine that it was ready to "resolve legal issues and discuss how to compensate the families" of victims, but was yet to receive a delegation from the other party.

Flight 752, an Ukraine International Airlines jetliner, was struck by two missiles and crashed shortly after taking off from Tehran's main airport on January 8.

Iran admitted days later that its forces accidentally shot down the Kiev-bound jetliner, killing all 176 people on board.

Tehran's air defenses had been on high alert at the time in case the US retaliated against Iranian strikes hours earlier on American troops stationed in Iraq.

Those strikes were carried out in response to the killing of a top Iranian general, Qassem Soleimani, in a US drone strike near Baghdad airport.

The black boxes are expected to contain information about the last moments before the aircraft was struck and crashed. 

Many of those on board the downed airliner were Canadians.

Photo: IRNA

France Condemns Latest Iranian Space Launch

By Ania Nussbaum

France condemned efforts by Iran to build a new ballistic missile with a range of more than 500 kilometers, further complicating efforts to keep Tehran operating within the framework of a faltering nuclear accord.

“The development of Iran’s ballistic missile program undermines regional stability and affects the security of Europe,” the French foreign affairs ministry said on Monday. “France calls on Iran to fully comply with its international obligations in this regard.”

Iran already breached aspects of the 2015 nuclear deal known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, such as exceeding levels of enriched uranium and no longer adhering to limits of centrifuges -- a response to the U.S. abandoning the accord in 2018. The European Union last month initiated formal proceedings to resolve the dispute that could lead to a re-imposition of sanctions by the United Nations.

France also said Iran on February 9 fired off a “space launcher” with ballistic missile technology. “Iran cannot carry out activities, including launches, related to ballistic missiles capable of delivering nuclear weapons,” according to the statement.

Photo: IRNA

Macron’s Trump Hustle Shreds New Iran Adviser’s Nerves

By Helene Fouquet and Gregory Viscusi

The adviser to French President Emmanuel Macron stood on a terrace overlooking the Atlantic in Biarritz last month, puffing on one cigarette after another as the G-7 leaders huddled inside.

Emmanuel Bonne had kicked his university habit years before, but started up again when he was handed his first assignment for the Macron administration: get Iran and the U.S. back to the negotiating table.

To force the issue, he’d helped organize a surprise visit by Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif to coincide with the talks. But U.S. officials were bristling at France’s handling of the summit and the fate of the initiative hung in the balance.

Macron tapped Bonne, an Arabic and Farsi speaker known for his Middle East expertise, to drive his foreign policy agenda in May, replacing Philippe Etienne, a European affairs specialist who’s now ambassador to the U.S. The appointment symbolizes a change in foreign policy priorities for the French president after spending the first two years of his term trying to revamp the European Union.

“It’s an admission that Macron will now be more active in the Middle East, where there’s a lot to do,” said Martin Quencez, the deputy director of the Paris office for the German Marshall Fund think tank. “It’s a definite shift in focus.”

‘Audacity’

Renewing the activist foreign policy Macron pledged in his 2017 election has been helped by a steady improvement in domestic approval ratings. And with German Chancellor Angela Merkel bogged down in coalition politics and Britain distracted by Brexit, Macron’s aides confirm his efforts in the coming months will be targeted more outside Europe.

In a speech to French ambassadors on Aug. 27, Macron described his government’s foreign policy as “influencing the world order with the cards it holds and not submitting to any sort of fatalism,” and over the course of nearly two hours he used the word “audacity” 18 times.

Inviting Zarif to Biarritz was certainly audacious but appears to have paid off. The conference opened Aug. 24 with European allies and the U.S. divided over how to handle Iran’s nuclear ambitions and closed three days later with signs differences could be narrowed.

According to Macron’s office, hawkish U.S. National Security Adviser John Bolton was nowhere to be seen during the G-7, which they took as a good sign. His firing on Sept. 10 now opens new opportunities for advances at the United Nations General Assembly in New York later this month.

Under a French plan, the Tehran government would be allowed to resume some oil exports if it joins formal talks and returns to compliance with the nuclear accord, which unraveled from mid-2018 when the U.S. pulled out. President Donald Trump is open to easing sanctions, something Bolton opposed, according to three people familiar with the matter.

The first signs of ground being prepared came in June, when Bonne visited Tehran. The following month, after Iran said it breached its uranium enrichment cap, Macron sent the scholar-turned-diplomat again to the Iranian capital to speak directly with President Hassan Rouhani.

“Macron’s trying to figure out what’s the minimum Iran expects and the maximum the U.S. would give,” said Henry Rome, a research analyst at the Eurasia Group. “The French are being brokers.”

Taking Risks

Tehran was a familiar place for Bonne to be sent just a few weeks into his new job. It’s where he began his diplomatic career as an adviser to the French embassy in the early 2000s, before moving on to Saudi Arabia in the same role. He was later ambassador to Lebanon.

Apart from trying to salvage the nuclear deal, Macron’s aides say he’ll try to reset relations with Russia—something Bonne isn’t too keen on—with any eventual success there being leveraged to attempt advances in Syria and Libya. Macron has decried Russia’s cyber-meddling in other countries and its crackdowns on domestic opponents, but insists the world’s flash-points can’t be resolved without Moscow.

“We are in Europe, and so is Russia,” he told the French ambassadors. “If we can’t learn to do useful things with Russia, then we will be stuck in sterile tensions and frozen conflicts.”

Rising Stress Levels

So far, Macron can’t point to a major foreign policy success. He failed to keep Trump in the Paris climate accord and the Iran nuclear agreement. His attempts to seize control of talks between Libyan factions didn’t lead to any notable progress.

His next test comes on Sept. 24 when he and Trump address the General Assembly, with Rouhani speaking the following day.

France can open the door, but it can’t make Trump or Rouhani enter. Political considerations in both countries probably rule out a formal meeting between the two. But Macron, who talks regularly to both men, could try to engineer a seemingly serendipitous encounter.

“The UN building is a logistical puzzle or a nightmare, depending on how you look at it,” said Rome. “He might try to arrange some sort of bump-in.” While the chance of success may be low, so is the cost of failure since no one will blame Macron for trying.

Any sign of Bonne chain smoking outside the UN building may be a good indication the French president is up to something again.

Photo: IRNA

Iran Says Delegation to Visit France as Talks Progress

Iran is sending a delegation to France next week after progress was made in talks to defuse tensions since the US withdrew from a landmark nuclear deal, a senior official said Wednesday.

Tehran and Washington have been locked in a bitter standoff since last year when US President Donald Trump unilaterally pulled out of the deal that gave Iran relief from sanctions in return for curbs on its atomic program.

At the height of the crisis in June, Iran shot down a US drone in the Gulf and Trump approved a retaliatory strike against the Islamic republic before canceling it at the last minute.

“A delegation is going to France next week and they will negotiate... issues," said Mahmoud Vaezi, the chief of staff of Iran's President Hassan Rouhani.

"These negotiations have made relatively good progress since last week," Vaezi was quoted as saying by state news agency IRNA.

The newly announced visit comes after Iran's top diplomat Mohammad Javad Zarif travelled to France on Sunday for the second time in a matter of days

Zarif held meetings on the sidelines of the G7 summit in Biarritz after which Trump said he was open to meeting his Iranian counterpart.

Rouhani has since played down the prospect of meeting Trump, however, saying the Americans would have to take the first step and lift all sanctions against Iran.

In response to the US withdrawal and its imposition of crippling sanctions, Iran has hit back by abandoning commitments under the nuclear deal known formally as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA).

French President Emmanuel Macron has been leading efforts to ease the situation, urging the United States to allow Iran to sell oil to China or India or give it access to a new line of credit

Vaezi refused to reveal details on any package in his remarks on Wednesday.

"Until the issue is finalised, no details will be announced," he said, according to IRNA.

"What we have been doing with France... is restoring Iran's rights under the JCPOA and lifting unjust sanctions," he added.

Photo; IRNA

Macron to Host Iran Top Diplomat for Nuclear Talks Friday

President Emmanuel Macron will on Friday hold talks on Iran's contested nuclear program with Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif, the French presidency said, in a rare encounter between a Western head of state and a senior Iranian official.

Macron will meet Zarif just one day before France chairs a three-day summit of leaders of Group of Seven (G7) countries, including President Donald Trump, in the southern resort of Biarritz.

Zarif, who has been on a tour of Scandinavia, had earlier this week said he planned to hold talks in Paris.

The discussions between Zarif and Macron will come at a critical time for relations between Tehran and the West as Iran ramps up its nuclear programme in response to Trump's decision to pull out of the 2015 deal over its atomic drive.

France and other EU powers have insisted they want to keep the nuclear deal alive, although many analysts warn the US pullout dealt it a near-fatal blow.

Macron has insisted that diplomacy is the only way to solve the standoff and twice in the last months despatched his diplomatic advisor Emmanuel Bonne to Tehran.

A presidential official, who asked not to be named, said the talks would continue this channel.

Macron admitted in comments Wednesday there were "true disagreements" within the G7 over Iran but said he would "try to propose things" in the talks.

The French foreign ministry said earlier this month that it "needs no permission" to talk to Iran after Trump accused Macron of sending "mixed signals" to the Islamic Republic.

Zarif said in Norway Thursday that Macron had made proposals to President Hassan Rouhani who had despatched him to Paris "to see if we can finalise some of these ideas so each party can fulfil its obligations" under the nuclear deal.

"It will be a chance to see if we can find ground for understanding. We already have points of agreement," Zarif said.

The Iranian foreign minister, a suave fluent English speaker, was earlier this month slapped with sanctions by the United States. But the EU insisted it would continue to work with him.

Zarif's talks in Paris may also see the case raised of French-Iranian academic Fariba Adelkhah who was detained in Iran earlier this year and is one of many Western-Iranian dual nationals to be held behind bars there.

Photo: IRNA

France Says 'Needs No Permission' for Iran Dialogue After Trump Swipe

France said Friday that it "needs no permission" to work towards easing tensions between Iran and the US, after President Donald Trump accused his French counterpart Emmanuel Macron of meddling in the dispute.

"On Iran, France speaks with complete sovereignty. It is working hard for peace and security in the region, it is working to facilitate a de-escalation in tensions and it needs no permission to do so," Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian said in a statement.

In a tweet Thursday, Trump claimed that Iranian officials want "desperately to talk to the US, but are given mixed signals from all of those purporting to represent us, including President Macron of France."

"I know Emmanuel means well, as do all others, but nobody speaks for the United States but the United States itself. No one is authorized in any way, shape, or form, to represent us!" he said.

Trump has reimposed crippling sanctions on Iran after pulling out of an international deal aimed at curbing the country's nuclear ambitions.

But the European partners to the accord, including France, have resisted his attempts to isolate the Iranians.

Le Drian said the worsening tensions between Tehran and Washington, which have been blamed for attacks on oil tankers in the Gulf and downings of drones, called for initiatives to try to restore dialogue.

"That's what President Macron is doing, in full transparency with our partners, above all our European partners," he said, adding that Macron was "obviously keeping American authorities informed".

On Tuesday, the Al-Monitor news site reported that Macron, who speaks regularly by telephone with Iranian President Hassan Rouhani, had invited Rouhani to attend the G7 summit in France on August 24-26 to meet with Trump.

The report, which cited two unidentified sources, said Rouhani had declined to attend or send a representative.

The French presidency has denied the report, saying Macron never put forward any such proposal.

After a call with Rouhani on Tuesday, the French leader, who has attempted to mediate in several disputes in North Africa and the Middle East, said it was France's role "to make every effort to ensure that all parties agree to a break and open negotiations."

The dispute with Iran is expected to be a major issue at the G7 summit in the southwestern city of Biarritz.

Paris has engaged in intense diplomacy to try to resolve the tensions, with Macron's foreign policy advisor Emmanuel Bonne twice visiting Tehran.

Russian President Vladimir Putin is scheduled to visit Macron at his holiday retreat on France's Mediterranean coast on August 19 to discuss the Iranian situation, ahead of the G7 meeting.

Photo: French MFA

Macron, Rouhani Hold Talks Over Iran-US Tensions

French President Emmanuel Macron on Tuesday spoke with his Iranian counterpart Hassan Rouhani and reiterated his call for a de-escalation of tensions between Iran and the United States, the Elysee said.

"It is France´s role to make every effort to ensure that all parties agree to a break and open negotiations," the French presidency said.

The 2015 deal over Iran´s nuclear programme has begun to unravel since US President Donald Trump announced Washington was pulling out of the agreement last year and reimposed sanctions, to the dismay of European allies.

France, Britain and Germany were among the key players in the pact.

Macron had a "long" discussion with Rouhani during the French leader´s annual holiday at his summer retreat, the medieval fort of Bregancon on France´s Mediterranean coast, the Elysee said.

Macron "recalled the need to initiate a de-escalation of tensions," it added.

Paris has engaged in intense diplomacy seeking to solve the current tensions, with Macron´s foreign policy advisor Emmanuel Bonne twice visiting Tehran.

Russian President Vladimir Putin is due to visit Macron in Bregancon in mid-August ahead of a G7 summit in Biarritz which will present "new opportunities to discuss the Iranian issue", according to the Elysee.

Photo: IRNA

Europeans Plan Naval Mission to Protect Ships in Persian Gulf

By Alex Morales and Robert Hutton

European governments will assemble a naval mission to provide safe passage for ships through the Persian Gulf, after Iran seized a British oil tanker in the region last week, an act that U.K. Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt described as “state piracy.”

Hunt announced a “European-led maritime protection mission to support safe passage of crew and cargo” in a statement to Britain’s Parliament in London on Monday.

The U.K. demanded the immediate release of the Stena Impero, and summoned Iran’s charge d’affaires in London, Mohsen Omidzamani, following the incident in one of the world’s critical shipping chokepoints. The government threatened Iran with “serious consequences” and advised U.K. vessels to avoid the area, and to inform the government if they planned to travel there.

“Let us be clear, under international law Iran had no right to obstruct the ship’s passage, let alone board her,” Hunt told the House of Commons. “It was therefore an act of state piracy.”

The Foreign Secretary said the U.K. didn’t want to escalate tensions with Iran, which have been rising after the U.S. pulled out of the international nuclear deal and imposed new sanctions. Hunt said Britain won’t be taking part in the Trump administration’s “maximum pressure” policy, because the London government remains committed to the 2015 multi-nation pact to limit Iran’s nuclear program.

“If Iran continues on this dangerous path, they must accept the price will be a larger Western military presence in the waters along their coastline,” Hunt said. “Not because we wish to increase tensions but simply because freedom of navigation is a principle Britain and its allies will always defend.”

Tensions have flared in the Strait of Hormuz in recent weeks as Iran lashes out against U.S. sanctions that are crippling its oil exports and after the seizure of one of its tankers near Gibraltar. The Strait accounts for about a third of the world’s seaborne oil flows.

With Theresa May set to leave office on Wednesday, the latest clash with Iran presents a diplomatic headache for her successor, either Boris Johnson, the front-runner, or Hunt, his rival.

U.S. Central Command has announced a “multinational maritime effort” called Operation Sentinel to “increase surveillance of and security in key waterways in the Middle East to ensure freedom of navigation in light of recent events in the Arabian Gulf region.”

Iran’s Revolutionary Guards said on Saturday that the British ship entered the strait from the wrong direction, wasn’t paying heed to maritime regulations and could potentially have collided with other vessels. State television said the ship will be held until judicial assessments are complete.

On Sunday, the Iranian flag was seen flying over the bridge of the tanker in the Bandar Abbas port, according to images aired by state-run Press TV.

Iran has also suggested its actions are in retaliation for Britain’s seizure of the Grace 1 tanker off Gibraltar. A court in Gibraltar ordered the continued detention of the vessel for another 30 days, after it was held on suspicion of taking oil to Syria. Iran denies that was the destination.

In recent weeks the U.K. Navy has escorted some tankers out of the region, while the U.S. said it downed an Iranian drone just days ago. The latest incident cooled hopes that the U.S. and Iran would soothe tensions by entering into negotiations.

Photo: Royal Navy

Macron Demands Answers from Iran Over Academic's Detention

By Stuart Williams and Anne Chaon

French President Emmanuel Macron on Monday called on Tehran to explain why a Franco-Iranian academic based at a Paris university has been arrested in Iran, expressing concern for the woman's welfare.

The detention of Fariba Adelkhah, a well-known expert on Iran and Shiite Islam at the prestigious Sciences Po university, risks increasing tension between Paris and Tehran at a critical moment in crisis talks to save the beleaguered Iranian nuclear program.

Adelkhah has been denied contact with consular staff, the French foreign ministry said Monday, confirming her dual nationality.

"France calls on the Iranian authorities to shed full light on Mrs. Adelkhah's situation and repeats its demands, particularly with regard to an immediate authorisation for consular access," the ministry said in a statement.

"What has happened worries me a great deal," Macron told reporters at a news conference in Belgrade, where he is visiting. "We have been aware of this for some days.

"I have expressed my disagreement and asked President (Hassan) Rohani for clarification," he added. But he added that France had so far received no meaningful explanation.

Iranian government spokesman Ali Rabiei said he could not confirm the charges.

Adelkhah, 60, is the latest Iranian national with a Western passport to be arrested in Iran.

British-Iranian Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe, a project manager with the Thomson Reuters Foundation, has been jailed in Tehran since 2016 on sedition charges, a detention that has caused major tensions with Britain.

'Totally Unacceptable'

Adelkhah's arrest comes just as Macron is seeking to lead European efforts to find a way of keeping the 2015 nuclear deal alive, which limits Iran's atomic programme.

Macron has sent an envoy to Tehran twice in the last month and was even rumoured to be considering becoming the first French president in more than 40 years to travel to the Iranian capital.

The landmark deal is at risk of collapsing after US President Donald Trump pulled Washington out unilaterally, leading Iran to violate safeguards that limited its stockpiling and enrichment of uranium.

Jean-Francois Bayart, a French academic and friend of Adelkhah's, said he and colleagues had alerted French authorities when the anthropologist did not return home from a trip to her homeland as scheduled on June 25.

He said he thought she had been arrested on June 5 and was being held at the Evin prison in Tehran.

"She has been visited by her family. She hasn't been mistreated, but I'm worried about her because she isn't physically strong," Bayart told AFP. "We don't know how long this totally unacceptable detention is going to last."

"Iran doesn't recognise dual nationality, so for them she is Iranian, which is why consular access has not been permitted," he added. "But talks have taken place at the highest levels between the countries."

'Talented Researcher'

Adelkhah was arrested while visiting her mother.

Bayart said that Adelkhah had arrived in France in 1977 to study.

"She's a free, independent and extremely talented researcher," he told AFP.

Other Iranian dual nationals jailed in Iran include Iranian-American Siamak Namazi and his father Baquer, who are serving 10-year sentences for espionage in a case that has outraged Washington.

Chinese-American Xiyue Wang, a Princeton University researcher, is serving a 10-year sentence for espionage and US national Michael White, 46, was this year also sentenced to 10 years.

French academic Clotilde Reiss was detained in Iran for 10 months in 2009-10 before being released in a case that attracted widespread attention at the time.

At around the same time as her release, French judicial authorities freed Ali Vakili Rad, who had been convicted of the 1991 murder outside Paris of the ousted shah's former prime minister Shapour Bakhtiar.

The timing led to speculation about a bilateral deal over the prisoners, though French authorities denied any exchange.

For several months in 2007, Iran detained US-Iranian academic Haleh Esfandiari, one of the most prominent US-based academics working on Iran, who at the time was director of the Middle East program at the Wilson Center.

Photo: Wikicommons

French Envoy in Iran Talks as Trump Threatens to Up Sanctions

By Kay Armin Serjoie

French President Emmanuel Macron's top diplomatic advisor met with Iran's president Wednesday winding up a day of talks in Tehran aimed at saving a landmark 2015 nuclear deal and easing tensions between Tehran and Washington.

But as Emmanuel Bonne pressed the high-level talks, President Donald Trump took to Twitter to warn that US sanctions against Iran would soon be "increased substantially", charging Tehran had "long been secretly 'enriching'" uranium.

The 2015 accord between Iran and world powers, the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), promised sanctions relief, economic benefits and an end to international isolation in return for stringent curbs on the Islamic republic's nuclear programme.

But Tehran says it has lost patience with perceived inaction by European countries more than a year after Trump unilaterally pulled the US out of the agreement and started to impose punishing sanctions.

In his meeting with Bonne, Iran's President Hassan Rouhani said Tehran had "completely kept the path of diplomacy and talks open", according to a statement from his office.

He called on other parties to the deal to "completely implement their commitments" to keep it alive.

Bonne also met Rear-Admiral Ali Shamkhani, the secretary of Iran's Supreme National Security Council, and Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif and his deputy Abbas Araghchi.

His mission was "to try and open the discussion space to avoid an uncontrolled escalation, or even an accident", according to French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian.

Before meeting with Bonne, Zarif said "negotiations are never possible under pressure", in reference to US sanctions against Iran.

Pointing to the US withdrawal from the JCPOA, he added that the Europeans "must solve that problem."

‘Nuclear Extortion'

Bonne arrived in Tehran after Iran announced on Monday it had surpassed 4.5 percent uranium enrichment—above the 3.67 percent limit under the accord, though still far below the 90 percent necessary for military purposes.

Earlier this month, it was confirmed that Iran surpassed 300 kilogrammes of enriched uranium reserves, another limit that was imposed by the deal.

At Washington's request, the UN's nuclear watchdog held a special meeting Wednesday at its Vienna headquarters.

US delegate Jackie Wolcott told the gathering that Iran was engaged in "nuclear extortion".

Her Iranian counterpart Kazem Gharib Abadi hit back, calling it a "sad irony" that the meeting was convened at Washington's request and claiming the current standoff was a result of the US's "outlaw behaviour".

Russia's ambassador to the International Atomic Energy Agency, Mikhail Ulyanov, later tweeted that the US "was practically isolated on this issue".

In a joint statement, European parties to the deal Germany, France and Britain said their continued support for the accord "relies on Iran implementing its commitments".

But they added the "issues at hand should be addressed by participants to the JCPOA".

Ahead of the meeting, a source at the French presidency said "we are in a very critical phase. The Iranians are taking measures that are in violation (of the agreement) but (they) are very calibrated".

Iran Ends 'Strategic Patience'

After Washington withdrew from the JCPOA in May 2018, it reimposed stinging sanctions on Tehran, hitting the banking and oil sectors hard.

As the Iranian economy went into free fall, Iran demanded that the other parties—especially the Europeans—deliver promised economic benefits and help it bypass the US sanctions.

However, it became clear that this was no simple task, and Iran—whose economy depends heavily on oil exports—changed tack and indicated it would reshape its policy of "strategic patience".

In May, a year after Trump's withdrawal, Rouhani said Iran would roll back its commitments under the deal in stages every 60 days in an effort to force the other parties to deliver on their side of the bargain.

As tensions rose, the US dispatched a naval carrier, bombers and extra troops to the region to counter perceived threats from Iran.

Last month, Trump said he had called off a retaliatory military strike against Iran at the last minute after the Islamic republic shot down a US drone that it said had crossed into its airspace, a claim denied by Washington.

Trump re-upped the pressure Wednesday, claiming "Iran has long been secretly 'enriching'" uranium in violation of the accord.

"Remember, that deal was to expire in a short number of years. Sanctions will soon be increased, substantially!"

Photo: IRNA

Macron’s Top Diplomatic Adviser Looks to Save Iran Nuclear Deal

By Ladane Nasseri

French President Emmanuel Macron’s top diplomatic adviser heads to Iran on Tuesday, seeking to persuade the Islamic Republic to reverse breaches that have raised pressure on European nations struggling to save the landmark 2015 nuclear deal from collapse.

Emmanuel Bonne will meet with Iranian leaders, including a representative of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, on Tuesday and Wednesday, according to French officials. His trip comes a day after Iran started enriching uranium to purity levels beyond the 3.67% cap set in the accord and pledged to further scale back its commitments in response to U.S. sanctions reimposed after President Donald Trump abandoned the agreement a year ago.

French officials say they see room for compromise as Iran’s infringements have been carefully calibrated and Trump has underlined his desire for new talks that seek to also limit the country’s missile program and support for proxy militias around the Middle East. Iran has held open the door to negotiations with Europe but has said it will not speak to the U.S. unless sanctions are eased first.

On Monday evening, Trump and Macron discussed by phone efforts to ensure that Iran doesn’t obtain a nuclear weapon and to curtail its role in the broader Middle East, according to an emailed White House statement.

The latest developments in Tehran have increased pressure on European nations who’ve urged Iran to stick with the multi-party deal even as they struggle to find a mechanism that would allow it to keep selling its oil, the main source of government revenue.

Iran is producing oil at the slowest clip since 1986, making U.S. sanctions as effective as the devastating Iraq-Iran war that ended more than 30 years ago. The measures have hit the currency, fueled inflation and set back economic growth.

U.S. officials say their policy of maximum pressure is designed to force the Iranian government to negotiate a broader deal. But the approach has weakened the hand of moderate President Hassan Rouhani and prompted Tehran to dig in.

The U.S. is “waging war in all areas simultaneously, and using all its power in military, economic and social sphere to confront Iran,” General Hossein Salami, the head of Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps, was quoted as saying Tuesday by the official Islamic Republic News Agency. “The more time passes, the more serious the enemy’s threats become.”

Iran’s latest violations of the accord are likely to stoke further friction with the U.S., which has accused the Islamic Republic of being behind a spate of attacks on oil tankers near the Strait of Hormuz shipping chokepoint. Iran denies any wrongdoing.

Ties with the U.K. have also been strained by its seizure of a supertanker off the coast of Gibraltar that it said was carrying Iranian oil to Syria in violation of European and U.S. sanctions against that war-torn country. Iran said the tanker was in international waters and not headed to Syria. It has vowed to retaliate, highlighting mounting risks to shipping in a region that exports about a third of all seaborne oil.

“It will be reciprocated, at a suitable time and in a suitable place,” Mohammad Bagheri, the chief of staff for Iran’s armed forces, was quoted as saying by the IRNA.

Though the rhetoric has continued to escalate, all sides have said they want to avoid war.

France, Germany and the U.K. have managed to deliver a financial channel known as INSTEX that aims to protect some trade with Iran—initially only food and medicine—from U.S. penalties. But Iran wants a trade vehicle that can also be used to buy its oil.

Bonne will meet on Wednesday with Ali Shamkhani, a representative of Khamenei and chairman of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council, to discuss the nuclear agreement and mechanisms to counter U.S. penalties, according to a Fars news agency report.

International Atomic Energy Agency inspectors, who are on the ground daily thanks to the existing deal, verified on Monday that Iran is enriching uranium above the agreed cap.

The IAEA will hold an extraordinary meeting on Wednesday, convened at the behest of the U.S., to discuss Iran’s breaches of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, as the nuclear agreement is formally known.

“We continue to urge Iran not to take further measures that undermine the nuclear deal, to stop and reverse all activities that are inconsistent with its commitments,” European Commission spokeswoman Maja Kocijancic said. “We are currently in contact with the other JCPOA participants regarding the next steps under the terms of the agreement.’’

Photo: President.ir

Macron Sends Senior Diplomat to Iran to Defuse US Tensions

President Emmanuel Macron sent his top diplomatic adviser to Iran this week as part of European efforts to defuse tensions between Tehran and Washington, the French presidency said Thursday.

The adviser, Emmanuel Bonne, held "high-level meetings" Wednesday in Tehran, "with the aim of contributing to the deescalation of tensions in the region,” Macron's office said.

The presidency refused to say whom Bonne met, adding only that he left Tehran on Wednesday evening.

The strains between Washington and Tehran increased Thursday with Iran's announcement that it had shot down a US "spy drone" that violated Iranian airspace near the Strait of Hormuz. 

The United States has yet to respond. 

The incident marks the latest escalation in tensions following last week's attacks on two oil tankers in the Strait of Hormuz, which the United States blamed on Iran.

Tehran has denied any involvement. 

Tensions between the longtime foes, who have had no relations since the hostage crisis that followed the 1979 Islamic revolution, have increased sharply since US President Donald Trump last year abandoned a landmark 2015 nuclear agreement with Iran and reimposed sanctions.

Macron, who is traveling to a G20 summit in the Japanese city of Osaka on June 28-29, will "have contact with the main players" in the standoff, his office said.

Before that he will pay an official visit to Japan on June 26-27, during which he will hold talks with Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, who recently travelled to Iran to try mediate in the crisis.

Abe met with Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who categorically refused to hold talks with Trump.

The EU is under pressure from Tehran to try salvage the 2015 deal, with Iran threatening to breach its nuclear enrichment limits.

On Tuesday, Macron urged Tehran to be "patient and responsible.”

Photo: Wikicommons

Macron Urges Iran to be 'Patient and Responsible' in Nuclear Deal

French President Emmanuel Macron on Monday urged Iran to be "patient and responsible" after Tehran said it would surpass the uranium stockpile limit set under the 2015 nuclear deal with world powers that the US has abandoned.

"I regret Iran's announcements today.... We strongly encourage Iran to behave in a way that is patient and responsible," Macron said in a press conference at the presidential palace in Paris.

Iran said earlier it will surpass from June 27 the uranium stockpile limit set under the nuclear deal, turning up the pressure after the US walked away from the landmark pact last year.

Iran's atomic energy organization spokesman Behrouz Kamalvandi said that the move would be reversed "once other parties live up to their commitments."

To the dismay of Europe, President Donald Trump had unilaterally pulled the United States out of the nuclear deal last year, with Washington imposing tough sanctions on Iran.

Macron said that any kind of escalation in the nuclear standoff at the current time was in the interest of no-one.

"It is damaging to the interests of the Iranians themselves and also to the international community," he said.

"So we will do everything with our partners to dissuade Iran from this (surpassing the limit)," he said.

The United States has blamed Iran for last week's attacks on two tankers in the Gulf of Oman, a charge Tehran has denied as "baseless.”

Macron took a more circumspect line, saying that "only once all the information has been gathered and all the doubts lifted can the attributions (of blame) be made in a certain way."

"I think that in the period that we are entering into it is useful to show calm," he added.

Photo: Wikicommons

Iran Rejects French Idea of Re-Opening Nuclear Talks

Iran on Friday rejected an idea mooted by France of re-opening nuclear talks, warning that seeking to broaden an existing landmark treaty could lead to its collapse.

President Emmanuel Macron said Thursday that his goal of “regional peace” would require new negotiations, adding that Paris aimed to rein in Iran’s nuclear and ballistics activities and its regional influence.

He made the comments at a press conference with US President Donald Trump, who last year withdrew from the multi-lateral agreement known as the JCPOA.

But Tehran’s Foreign Ministry Spokesman Abbas Mousavi warned Friday that “bringing up issues that are beyond the JCPOA does not help in saving the JCPOA, but will instead cause increased distrust among the remaining parties” to the deal.

European leaders, bitterly angered by Trump’s pullout from the deal in May last year, have struggled to find ways to salvage it in the face of Washington’s re-instatement of tough sanctions.

In a statement on the foreign ministry’s website, Mousavi said European parties to the deal had been “incapable of acting upon their commitments”.

Under such circumstances, he said, making new demands would “only help America in nearing its objective—the collapse of the JCPOA.”

The Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action was an agreement between world powers including France and the United States, offering Iran sanctions relief in return for curbs on its nuclear programme.

Iran had until recently remained in full compliance with the deal, but with the remaining parties struggling to bypass US sanctions, Tehran has reaped few of the promised benefits.

In May, it dropped its adherence to certain limits on enrichment activities under the accord and gave an ultimatum to the remaining parties that it would ditch other commitments unless they delivered on promised sanctions relief.

Trump’s administration has also sought tighter controls on Iran’s ballistic missile capabilities.

In comments published by the Washington Times on Friday, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo demanded that Iran bring its missile programme “back inside a set of constraints” laid out in UN Security Council Resolution 2231.

Iran’s Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif hit back, tweeting that the US had “violated” the same resolution by withdrawing from the nuclear deal and was “in no position to push a conceited interpretation of its missile provision”.

He pointed out that the resolution called on Iran “not to undertake any activity related to ballistic missiles DESIGNED to be capable of delivering NUCLEAR weapons.”

“Our missiles are not ‘designed’ for nukes, which we’re not developing,” he said.

Photo: IRNA

Iran, France to Swap Ambassadors After Strained Ties

Iran and France are set to exchange ambassadors, officials said on Wednesday, after months of tensions including over an alleged Iranian plot to bomb an opposition rally near Paris.  

Bahram Ghasemi, a former envoy to Spain and Italy and current spokesman of the foreign ministry, has been appointed as Iran's new ambassador to France, an official source in Tehran told AFP.

In Paris, the Official Gazette on Wednesday said that Philippe Thiebaud, a former envoy to Pakistan who once represented France at the UN atomic watchdog, had been appointed as ambassador to the Islamic republic of Iran.

Ghasemi and Thiebaud will fill posts that had been vacant for more than six months after a series of diplomatic fallouts between France and Iran broke out last year.

The previous French ambassador left Iran at the end of his mandate in August while Tehran's envoy left Paris last summer before finishing his term. No official reason was given for his abrupt departure.

In June, France accused a branch of Iran's intelligence ministry of attempting to bomb a meeting of the People's Mujahedin, an Iranian opposition group, near Paris.

Tehran vehemently denied the accusations and in return slammed France for hosting the group which it calls a "terrorist cult of hypocrites".

Relations between France and Iran have also been strained over demands by Paris that Iran limits its ballistic missiles program—which Tehran says is purely defensive.

Iran reined in most of its nuclear program under a landmark 2015 deal with major powers—Britain, China, France, Germany, Russia and the United States—that lifted sanctions on the Iran.

In May the United States withdrew from the deal and re-imposed sanctions on Tehran.

France and the other European partners to the deal, have been trying to salvage the nuclear accord and set up a payment mechanism to maintain trade and business ties with Iran that would circumvent the US sanctions.

But Tehran has accused them of dragging their feet, it has also criticized France for selling advanced warplanes and other weapons to its regional rivals Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.

News that Iran and France will exchange ambassadors came a day after the ultraconservative Iranian newspaper Kayhan called for the expulsion of French diplomats from the country.

Kayhan claimed that Paris had expelled an Iranian diplomat last autumn. Neither the Iranian nor the French foreign ministries have denied or confirmed the expulsion.

Photo Credit: IRNA

France Urges Clarity on Death of Iran 'Activist'

French authorities called on Monday for "light to be shed" on the death of a "blogger and activist" imprisoned in Iran. 

The French foreign ministry said in a statement that it had learned "with consternation of the death in detention" of Vahid Sayadi Nasiri, saying he had been imprisoned "for his political activity.”

It said he had been on a hunger strike since October 13 to protest "the conditions of his detention and the disregard for his rights". 

Iran announced his death on Sunday, but the chief prosecutor of Qom province, Mehdi Kahe, said he had died in hospital of liver disease, according to official news agency IRNA. 

It said he had been in prison for "blasphemy", without giving details.

The semi-official ISNA news agency said Sayadi Nasiri died in hospital on December 12. 

It said he was arrested in Persian year 1394 (between March 2015 and March 2016) and sentenced to five years for "terrorism" over his membership of a group supporting Iran's monarchy, which was overthrown in the country's 1979 Islamic revolution.

ISNA added that he had been released after 18 months under a pardon by supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

He was rearrested in July after "resuming his work with this terrorist group" including plans for a bomb attack, it said.

France's statement added that the death of Sayadi Nasiri, who was not well-known among activists in Iran, comes at a time of "mounting harassment of human rights defenders in Iran.”

Photo Credit: French MFA

Iran Wants France Talks to Clear 'Misunderstanding' Over Alleged Bomb Plot

Tehran called on Tuesday for talks with Paris to clear "misunderstanding" over an alleged bomb plot targeting an exiled opposition group near the French capital.

"If there is a misunderstanding... about a thing that does not exist, be it a conspiracy by others or a mistake, we can sit down and talk about it," Iranian foreign ministry spokesman Bahram Ghasemi told AFP in an interview.

The only way to overcome the issue was through "the art of diplomacy," he said. "We know of no other way."

French authorities on Tuesday accused Iran's intelligence ministry of being behind a foiled plot to bomb a meeting of the People's Mujahedeen of Iran (MEK), according to a French diplomatic source.

Tehran considers the MEK a "terrorist group".

'Devious Moves'

"When the base issue is wrong and no more than an allegation, basing other hypotheses on such a claim is totally useless and wrong," Ghasemi said.

"You cannot accuse the intelligence ministry or anyone else working at it of being involved in an unconfirmed thing.

"Iran can definitely cooperate to fix any misunderstanding between France and Iran, or any other country in the region or Europe," said Ghasemi.

When the alleged bomb plot was foiled in late June, Iran's foreign minister Javad Zarif called it "a sinister false flag ploy" in a July 2 tweet and said that Iran is ready to work with all concerned to uncover the truth.

Ghasemi echoed the same remarks on Tuesday, saying that "certain conspiracies" are in play meant to affect Iran's "positive relations with France and other European countries", rooted in the environment created by "the US policies regarding Iran (focusing) on sowing division between Iran, Europe" and regional neighbours.

"Some centres (of power) do not approve of Iran's good relations with Europe—that it is staying in the JCPOA and that its economic ties continue with the EU," he said, refering to the 2015 Iran nuclear deal between the Islamic Republic and world powers. 

This all started after the US pulled out of the 2015 nuclear deal in May, he hinted.

"The French government, whom we have a long-standing and significant relationship with ... must be vigilant and do not allow such devious moves to affect Iran's good relations with France and other European countries," Ghasemi said.

The diplomat also described Iran's missile program as its right to "have an acceptable level of defensive capability" and "not a threat to others.”

This came just a day after the Islamic Republic launched six missiles at a jihadists' headquarters in Syria over a deadly attack on an Iranian military parade that killed 24 people, and renewed French comments expressing concerns about the country's missile program.

The strike targeted the town of Hajin, about 24 kilometres (15 miles) north of Albu Kamal near Syria's eastern border with Iraq.

Despite the developing missile program, "Iran's military spending is very low compared to our neighbors, like Saudi Arabia and the Emirates," Ghasemi added.

Photo Credit: IRNA

Iran Denies French Accusations Over Alleged Bomb Plot

Iran on Tuesday denied French accusations that one of its diplomats was involved in an alleged bomb plot targeting an exiled opposition group near Paris in June.

"We deny the accusations and forcefully condemn the Iranian diplomat's arrest and call for his immediate release," the foreign affairs ministry said in a statement.

It described the allegations as a conspiracy to "sabotage Iran's ancient and long-standing relations with France and other significant European countries."

The statement was released minutes before a French diplomatic source told AFP that security services believed the Iranian intelligence ministry was behind the foiled plot.

In retaliation, France announced it had frozen assets belonging to two suspected Iranian intelligence operatives as well as Iran's ministry of security and intelligence.

"This extremely serious act envisaged on our territory could not go without a response," France's interior, foreign and economy ministers said in a rare joint statement.

The opposition meeting allegedly targeted was also attended by leading US figures, including close allies of President Donald Trump.

Six people were arrested afterwards in coordinated raids by European police forces, including an Iranian diplomat identified as Assadollah Asadi, who is set to be extradited from Germany to Belgium for prosecution.

Asadi was targeted by France for the six-month asset freeze along with another man named as Saeid Hashemi Moghadam.

Iran has accused the opposition group, the People's Mujahedeen of Iran (MEK), which Tehran considers a "terrorist" group, of orchestrating the plot to discredit President Hassan Rouhani as he embarked on a tour of Europe.

Photo Credit: Wikicommons

France's Total Has Officially Left Iran: Oil Minister

French energy giant Total has officially quit its multi-billion-dollar gas project in Iran, Oil Minister Bijan Namdar Zanganeh said on Monday, following the reimposition of US sanctions.

"Total has officially left the agreement for the development of phase 11 of South Pars (gas field)," he told parliament's news agency ICANA, adding that it had been more than two months since the French firm announced it would leave.

Zanganeh also appeared before parliament to underline the dire state of Iran's oil and gas facilities, which he said were "worn out" and in need of renovation that Iran could not afford. 

The United States said in May that it was abandoning the 2015 nuclear deal and reimposing sanctions on Iran in two phases in August and November, with the second targeting the country's vital oil and gas sector.

The other parties to the nuclear deal—Britain, France, Germany, China and Russia—have vowed to stay in the accord but their companies risk huge penalties if they keep doing business in Iran.

Total had already said it would be impossible to remain in Iran unless it received a specific waiver from Washington, which was not granted. 

The French firm signed up in July 2017 for the USD 4.8 billion project to develop the field off Iran's southern coast, as the lead partner alongside the China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC) and Iran's Petropars. 

It was due to bring state-of-the-art technology to create the pressure needed to tap the gas field, which Iran could then replicate for surrounding fields where pressure has been declining.

Total was due to make an initial USD 1 billion investment, but the company said in May that it had spent less than 40 million euros on the project to date, as uncertainty over US actions mounted. 

The company would have been highly vulnerable to US penalties for remaining in Iran. 

It has USD 10 billion of capital employed in its US assets, and US banks are involved in 90 percent of its financing operations, Total said in May.

Technology Needed

Zanganeh said the process to find a replacement for Total was underway.

But it is unlikely that CNPC or Iran's own firms can take over the project, said Homayoun Falakshahi, an energy analyst for Wood Mackenzie in London.

"The technology Total was hoping to implement would have been world-first, using electricity to compress the gas," he told AFP.

"The other complication is that it needs huge platforms. Iran can build 5,000- to 7,000-tonne platforms. This would have been 20,000 tonnes," he added.

CNPC was suspended from the project once before, in 2011, for failing to make progress. 

The urgent need for investment to upgrade Iran's dilapidated energy infrastructure was a key motivator behind its decision to join the 2015 nuclear deal. 

Zanganeh appeared in parliament on Monday to answer questions on safety concerns following a number of recent fires at refineries. 

"A big part of the oil industry has been worn out and the necessary renovation has not taken place," he told parliament, according to the official IRNA news agency. 

He said there were 10 cases per day of tubes perforating in Iran's southern facilities, and that some refineries were up to 80 years old, "whereas the useful life of an industrial unit is 30 years". 

"We have no resources for renovating them," he added.

But some conservatives in Iran oppose foreign involvement in the strategic energy sector, and have frustrated plans to develop attractive investment contracts.

As a result, the Total deal was the only major investment project finalized after the nuclear deal came into force.

The only other deal was a smaller project with Russia's Zarubezhneft, worth EUR 600 million, to develop two oil fields in western Iran.

Photo Credit: IRNA

French Cattle Farmers' Iran Dreams on Hold as US Sanctions Bite

Multinational companies aren't the only victims of new US sanctions against Tehran: farmers and ranchers in the Normandy region of France hoping to supply Iran with thousands of cattle each year have also seen their path to a huge new market blocked.

The deal with one of Iran's biggest meat processing groups was signed in 2016 after Iran agreed with world powers to curtail its nuclear program in exchange for sanctions relief.

The goal was to supply mainly prized Charolais stock to help "rebuild a high-quality cattle industry" in the Middle East, Nathalie Goulet, a senator from Normandy, told AFP this week.

She said it would have been the first time live animals destined for Iran's meat markets would have been imported since the Islamic revolution of 1979. 

"We were also hoping to eventually export other products" such as cattle feed and processed meat, she said.

A first "test" was carried out last October, with 310 calves arriving in Iran by plane "in very good condition", she said.

But with US President Donald Trump's decision to pull out of the Iran nuclear deal, the project, potentially worth EUR 10 to 15 million, (USD 11-17 million) risks being abandoned.

Under the new sanctions which went into effect on Tuesday, any company doing business with Iran risks being hit with huge fines by Washington.

"Anyone doing business with Iran will NOT be doing business with the United States," Trump tweeted this week.

Analysts have warned it would be nearly impossible to protect exporters from the reach of the "extraterritorial" US measures—even if they do not do business in the US—given the exposure of large banks to the US financial system and dollar transactions.

Goulet said the French banks involved in the cattle project "are now refusing to take Iranian money," while the company insuring the exports had also pulled out.

Herve Morin, president of the Normandy region, said that although the project has been halted, it has not been "abandoned".

"We're waiting for details on the embargo and the European reaction," he said, referring to pledges by European officials to find ways to protect their companies from the US sanctions.

Yet several French companies, including oil giant Total and carmaker PSA, have already halted their operations in Iran.

The Iranians "want to do this deal," Goulet said, adding that she was also searching for financial alternatives.

"Why not bitcoin?" she said.

Photo Credit: Wikicommons