Qatar Calls for GCC Talks with Iran

Qatar has called for countries of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) to hold talks with Iran, the foreign minister said in an interview aired Tuesday, after Doha reconciled with its neighbors following a rift.

Foreign Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al-Thani, who has previously called for dialogue with Iran, told Bloomberg TV he was "hopeful that this would happen and we still believe this should happen.”

"This is also a desire that's shared by other Gulf Cooperation Council countries," he said.

It comes weeks after GCC hawks Saudi Arabia, Bahrain and the UAE re-established ties with Qatar after breaking them off in June 2017 partly over allegations that Qatar was too close to Iran. Doha denied the accusations.

Qatar and Iran share one of the world's largest gas fields and Doha maintains cordial relations with Tehran.

Doha is a close ally of Washington and has previously mediated between the US and Iran suggesting that Sheikh Mohammed's intervention could be timed as a signal to the incoming administration of President-elect Joe Biden. Biden is due to take office on Wednesday.

The current occupant of the White House, President Donald Trump, has pursued a policy of "maximum pressure" on Iran and pulled the United States out of a multilateral nuclear deal with it in 2018.

Tehran's arch-rival Riyadh, the dominant GCC power, has not publicly indicated any willingness to engage with Iran.

Instead Saudi Arabia insisted that this month's rapprochement with Qatar meant the Gulf family would be better able to combat "the threats posed by the Iranian regime's nuclear and ballistic missile programme".

"Qatar will facilitate negotiations, if asked by stakeholders, and will support whoever is chosen to do so," added Sheikh Mohammed.

Photo: Wikicommons

Iran Advances Research on Uranium Metal Production

Tehran told the UN nuclear watchdog Wednesday that it was advancing research on uranium metal production, in what would be a fresh breach of the limits in Iran's 2015 deal with world powers.

The latest move, which adds to pressure on US President-Elect Joe Biden just days before his inauguration, concerns Iran's plans to conduct research on uranium metal production at a facility in the city of Isfahan.

The Vienna-based International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) said in a statement that "Iran informed the Agency in a letter on 13 January that modification and installation of the relevant equipment for the mentioned R&D activities have been already started'".

Iran says the research is aimed at providing advanced fuel for a research reactor in Tehran.

"Natural uranium will be used to produce uranium metal in the first stage," the Iranian ambassador to the UN in Vienna Kazem Gharib Abadi said in a tweet.

The topic is sensitive because uranium metal can be used as a component in nuclear weapons and the 2015 deal contained a 15-year ban on "producing or acquiring plutonium or uranium metals or their alloys".

After 10 years Iran would have been allowed to initiate research on producing uranium metal-based fuel "in small agreed quantities" but only if the other parties to the deal had given approval.

In 2018 US President Donald Trump dramatically withdrew from the deal and went on to re-impose crippling economic sanctions on Iran.

The following year Tehran announced it would start breaking the deal's limits on its nuclear activity.

The breaches have included exceeding the stockpile limit on enriched uranium, enriching beyond the permitted purity level, and using more advanced centrifuges than permitted under the deal.

Tensions have increased since the assassination in late November of Iranian nuclear physicist Mohsen Fakhrizadeh.

In the aftermath of the attack, blamed on Israel, hardliners in Tehran pledged a response and Iran's parliament passed a controversial law calling for expanded nuclear activity and for an end to IAEA inspections.

The law also demanded Iran's Atomic Energy Organization "operate a facility of metal uranium production" within five months.

Iran says all of its breaches of the 2015 deal's limits are reversible, but insists that the US has to come back to the deal and lift sanctions first.

Biden has signalled he is willing to rejoin the pact but faces a tight window of opportunity between his own inauguration and presidential elections in Iran in June.

Photo: IRNA

Iran Wants 'Snapback' Erased From Nuclear Deal

Iran wants to remove a clause from a 2015 nuclear deal that allows for UN sanctions against it to be reinstated, a senior official has said, hinting Tehran would be open to negotiations on the issue.

The agreement between the Islamic republic and six major powers had provided for the lifting of sanctions in exchange for stringent checks on Tehran's nuclear programme and guarantees that it could not seek to acquire a nuclear weapon.

The text also contains a "snapback" mechanism that could be triggered in case of "significant non-performance" of its commitments by Iran.

This would allow the United Nations Security Council to reimpose all the sanctions it had imposed between 2006 and 2015 over Tehran's nuclear activities.

The administration of United States President Donald Trump last year attempted to trigger the mechanism, but the move was rejected, as the US had unilaterally withdrawn from the nuclear deal in 2018.

"From the outset, (Iran's supreme leader Ali Khamenei) was against this snapback mechanism, which was designed against his wishes," said key Khamenei diplomatic advisor Ali Akbar Velayati in an interview published on Khamenei's website.

"In the coming negotiations, this mechanism will certainly need to be abandoned, because it's absurd."

The nuclear deal has come close to collapse since the withdrawal of the United States, which under Trump has adopted a hardline policy of "maximum pressure" against Iran, reimposing crushing US sanctions that have devastated the Iranian economy.

In response, Tehran has rolled back most of its key commitments under the accord, arguing that it is permitted to do so under the deal in light of US moves.

US President-elect Joe Biden, who takes office on January 20, says he wants to rejoin the pact.

But Khamenei insisted last week that "we are in no rush" to see the US rejoin the accord, demanding that the US first remove all the sanctions it had imposed or reinstated since 2018.

Tehran has ruled out a full overhaul of the deal, but says the US rejoining it must be the result of further negotiations.

Photo: IRNA

Iran Steps Up Nuclear Programme, Holds South Korean Tanker

By Amir Havasi

Iran said Tuesday it had stepped up its uranium enrichment at a time of heightened tensions with the United States and after it seized a South Korean tanker in strategic Persian Gulf waters.

Tehran said it was now refining uranium to 20 percent purity—far above the level permitted under its 2015 agreement with world powers, but far below the 90 percent required for an atomic bomb—in a step Washington condemned as "nuclear extortion.”

The European Union noted Iran's step "with deep concern" and said it planned to "redouble our efforts to preserve the agreement and return to its full implementation by all parties.”

It was the most striking suspension yet of Tehran's commitments under its landmark deal with six nations, which has been fraying since US President Donald Trump withdrew from it in 2018 and reimposed crippling sanctions.

A war of words has flared again in the final weeks of Trump's presidency and as Iran and its allies have marked one year since a US drone strike in Baghdad killed Iran's most revered military commander, Qasem Soleimani.

Washington has meanwhile reversed an order to bring home its USS Nimitz aircraft carrier from the Persian Gulf, citing "threats" against Trump, after recently also flying B-52 bombers over the region.

Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps has warned it is ready to respond to any attack.

'Not Hostage-Takers'

On Monday, the Guards seized the South Korean-flagged Hankuk Chemi and arrested its multinational crew of 20 near the Strait of Hormuz, a chokepoint through which a fifth of world oil output passes, alleging the tanker had polluted the area's waters.

South Korea has demanded the ship's release and deployed a destroyer to the area—though with no plans to engage in an offensive operation, an unnamed military official told Yonhap News Agency.

Seoul said it would send a government delegation to Iran to negotiate the release of the vessel and its crew. Iran's move came after Tehran had urged Seoul to release billions of dollars of Iranian assets frozen in South Korea as part of the US sanctions.

"We are not hostage-takers," said Iran's government spokesman Ali Rabiei. "It is the government of Korea that has taken over $7 billion of ours hostage on baseless grounds."

South Korea's vice foreign minister Choi Jong-kun plans to go ahead with a scheduled three-day trip to Tehran early next week, his office said.

Nuclear Tensions

Iran first announced Monday it had stepped up the uranium enrichment process at its underground Fordo site, in a move confirmed by UN nuclear watchdog the IAEA.

"We can produce about eight to nine kilograms of 20 percent enriched uranium so that we reach the 120 kilos the law requests from us," Ali Akbar Salehi, head of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran, said on Tuesday.

Iran's conservative-dominated parliament voted for the step after the November killing of its top nuclear physicist Mohsen Fakhrizadeh, an assassination Iran blamed on Israel.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has charged Iran's latest nuclear move proved it is seeking to build an atomic bomb—a claim Iran has always strongly denied—and pledged the Jewish state "will not allow" it to do so.

The US State Department labelled Iran's stepped-up enrichment "a clear attempt to increase its campaign of nuclear extortion, an attempt that will continue to fail.”

Trump's son-in-law and adviser Jared Kushner was in Saudi Arabia on Tuesday for a Persian Gulf regional summit, amid a broader US diplomatic strategy to build a regional united front against Iran.

As a Riyadh-led group sought to end a three-year rift with Qatar, Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman spoke of a "desperate need" to unite and to "confront challenges... especially the threats posed by the Iranian regime's nuclear and ballistic missile programme and its plans for sabotage and destruction.”

Iranian President Hassan Rouhani's government has signalled it is ready to engage with US President-elect Joe Biden, who has likewise expressed a willingness to return to diplomacy.

Biden, who takes office on January 20, was vice president to Barack Obama, whose administration had finalised the 2015 nuclear deal and hailed it as a landmark achievement.

Iran's Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said Tehran took the latest enrichment step "after years of non-compliance" by other parties and that "our measures are fully reversible upon full compliance by all.”

Russia's foreign ministry said in a statement it "paid tribute to the regular declarations by Iranian leaders of their willingness to return to full respect for the requirements of the agreement".

It added, however, that "additional efforts and costs will now be required to bring the Fordo site in line with the terms of the agreement."

Photo: IRNA

Iran's Rouhani Expects US to Resume Commitments Under Nuclear Deal

Iranian President Hassan Rouhani on Thursday voiced confidence that President-elect Joe Biden will resume US commitments under the nuclear deal which Donald Trump pulled out of.

Tensions between Tehran and Washington soared during Trump's presidency, especially after 2018 when he withdrew Washington from the landmark nuclear deal and reimposed punishing unilateral sanctions on Iran.

Biden, who defeated Trump at the ballot box in November, has signalled a willingness to return to diplomacy with Iran

And Rouhani's government has repeatedly signalled its openness to the incoming US administration and called on Washington to return to the 2015 nuclear deal and lift sanctions.

"I have no doubt that the perseverance of the Iranian people during these past three years will force the new US government to succumb and resume its commitments," Rouhani said in televised remarks.

“The sanctions will be broken," he added.

His comments come a day after Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said that Iran should bolster itself to "nullify" the effects of the sanctions imposed by the Trump administration, but should "not delay" in case they can be lifted.

Rouhani echoed Khamenei, saying time should not be wasted.

"We must act in order to nullify the effects of the sanctions... as the supreme leader has said."

"We should not wait, not even one hour, for the lifting of the sanctions. The government must do everything in its power to break the sanctions," Rouhani added.

He said Iran will do "everything possible to achieve" what he described as a "very important instruction" made by Khamenei.

Photo: IRNA

European Powers 'Welcome' Biden's Aim to Re-Enter JCPOA

The governments of France, Germany, and the UK “welcome the statements by President-elect Biden on the JCPOA and a diplomatic path to address wider concerns with Iran,” the trio said in a statement on Monday.

The three governments, dubbed the E3, also declared that they would “address Iran’s non-compliance within the framework of the JCPOA,” reiterating their support for Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action. The statement described the deal as "the best and currently the only way to monitor and constrain Iran's nuclear programme.”

The E3 also expressed concerns over plans by Iran to install advanced centrifuges at its main nuclear enrichment plant in Natanz.

The UN's nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) reported last month that Iran had installed and begun operating advanced centrifuges at an underground section at Natanz.

"Iran's recent announcement to the IAEA that it intends to install an additional three cascades of advanced centrifuges at the Fuel Enrichment Plant in Natanz is contrary to the JCPOA and deeply worrying," the E3 said.

Under the terms of Iran's 2015 deal it is only meant to enrich uranium with a less sophisticated variety of centrifuges.

Since May last year Iran has taken steps to violate that limit and several others laid down in the deal in retaliation for US President Donald Trump's withdrawal from the accord in 2018 and subsequent reimposition of sanctions.

The three European powers said they had noted, "with great concern" a law passed by the Iranian parliament that would expand Iran's nuclear programme and limit the IAEA's monitoring access, saying this too would be "incompatible with the JCPOA and Iran's wider nuclear commitments".

The bill "for the lifting of sanctions and protection of the Iranian people's interests" was approved by the powerful Guardian Council on Wednesday but has to be signed by President Hassan Rouhani to become law.

Rouhani, whose government has signalled a readiness to engage with US President-elect Joe Biden, called the bill "detrimental to the course of diplomatic activities.”

The three European governments said that if Iran was serious about wanting to return to diplomacy with the incoming US administration, it had to reverse the bill and the installation of the centrifuges.

Photo: IRNA

Iran Security Body Urges Unity on Nuclear Policy

Iran's top security body called Saturday for unity on the country's nuclear policy following a public row between the government and parliament over a controversial bill.

The bill "for the lifting of sanctions and protection of the Iranian people's interests" was approved by the powerful Guardian Council on Wednesday and has to be signed by President Hassan Rouhani to become law.

Having drawn heated opposition from the government, the bill calls on the administration to end UN inspections of Iran's nuclear facilities and to "produce and store 120 kilogrammes (265 pounds) per year of uranium enriched to 20 percent.”

Both steps would run counter to commitments made by Tehran in a landmark deal with major powers in 2015 and would likely complicate efforts to get Washington back on board after outgoing US President Donald Trump abandoned it in 2018.

In a statement published by Iranian media on Saturday, the supreme national security council said that the bill "does not produce any specific issue for national interests.”

“In contrast, what is against national interests and a cause for concern is this ruckus which has damaged the position and status of the country's legal bodies," it said.

The body condemned "recent remarks and attitudes" which have "sacrificed national for partisan interests, have no benefit for the country and send the wrong message" to Iran's foes.

It called on authorities to focus on "reinforcing national unity" and vowed to prevent Iran's interests becoming "a plaything in the hands of politicians".

Passage of the bill, which was first drafted in early November, was speeded up following the assassination of Iran's top nuclear scientist Mohsen Fakhrizadeh.

He was killed on a major road outside Tehran last week in a bomb and gun attack that Iran has blamed on its arch foe Israel.

The security council statement came after Rouhani and parliament speaker Mohammad-Bagher Ghalibaf exchanged sharp remarks in a public dispute in recent days.

On Wednesday, the president called the bill "detrimental to the course of diplomatic activities."

Rouhani's government has signaled a readiness to engage with US President-elect Joe Biden after four tense years under Trump, who reimposed sanctions after withdrawing the United States from the nuclear agreement.

Photo: IRNA

Iran Parliament's Bid to End Nuclear Inspections Hits Opposition

The Iranian parliament's backing on Tuesday of a plan to end nuclear inspections after the assassination of the country's top nuclear scientist has met immediate opposition from the government.

Deputies supported a draft bill "for the lifting of sanctions and protection of the Iranian people's interests", saying they wanted to achieve the objectives of "martyred" scientist Mohsen Fakhrizadeh.

Fakhrizadeh was assassinated on a major road outside Tehran on Friday in a bomb and gun attack that the Islamic republic has blamed on its arch foe Israel.

"The government has explicitly announced that it does not agree with (this) plan" which it considers "neither necessary nor useful", foreign ministry spokesman Saeed Khatibzadeh told a news conference Tuesday.

The draft bill calls on the government to end UN inspections of Iran's nuclear facilities and to "produce and store 120 kilogrammes per year of uranium enriched to 20 percent".

Such steps would run counter to commitments made by Iran as part of a landmark nuclear deal agreed with world powers in 2015.

The deal offers Iran relief from sanctions in exchange for curbs on its nuclear programme and UN-verified safeguards to prove it is not developing nuclear weapons.

The Islamic Republic has always denied it is seeking such weaponry.

Seemingly in response to Israel's characterisation of Fakhrizadeh as the father of a secret nuclear weapons programme, Khatibzadeh said that the scientist had been "one of the main assistants behind the scenes in discussions" that led to the 2015 accord.

State news agency IRNA on Tuesday released undated pictures of Fakhrizadeh being awarded a medal by Iran's President Hassan Rouhani for his "contribution" to the Vienna agreement.

The multilateral accord has been hanging by a thread since 2018, when President Donald Trump unilaterally withdrew the United States and reimposed sanctions that have battered Iran's economy.

Iran has retaliated by gradually rolling back most of its commitments under the nuclear deal.

In its latest report last month, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) said Iran had enriched uranium over the 3.67 percent limit set out in the 2015 accord.

The UN's nuclear watchdog said that Iran had not exceeded the threshold of 4.5 percent and that the country was still complying with its strict inspections regime.

Speaking to reporters on Tuesday, Iran's government spokesman Ali Rabiei emphasised that the only institution mandated to make decisions on the country's nuclear programme was the Supreme National Security Council.

He also noted that any decisions made by that body require approval by supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

In an interview with AFP on Monday, IAEA chief Rafael Grossi said Iran had nothing to gain from ending inspections of its nuclear facilities.

"We understand the distress but at the same time it is clear that no-one, starting with Iran, would have anything to win from a decrease, limitation or interruption of the work we do together with them," Grossi said.

Photo: IRNA

Iran Has Nothing to Gain From Halting Inspections: Grossi

By Jastinder Khera and Anne Beade

Iran has nothing to gain from ending inspections of its nuclear facilities, the head of the UN's nuclear watchdog warned as tensions rise after a top Iranian nuclear scientist was assassinated.

In an interview with AFP after a year in office, IAEA Director General Rafael Grossi issued the appeal in response to calls by Iranian MPs to end inspections following the killing.

"We understand the distress but at the same time it is clear that no-one, starting with Iran, would have anything to win from a decrease, limitation or interruption of the work we do together with them," Grossi said.

Grossi, 59, confirmed that so far the IAEA had not yet received any signal from Iranian authorities that anything would change regarding inspections in the wake of the killing of Mohsen Fakhrizadeh.

Iran's parliament on Sunday demanded a halt to those inspections, signalling another potential retreat from a key commitment in its 2015 nuclear deal with world powers.

This is not the first time that parliamentarians have expressed themselves in this way or in very similar ways," Grossi pointed out.

"We haven't received any indication of restriction or limitation of their cooperation with us," he said. "I do not see any reason to believe that this would be the case now."

Grossi emphasised that the IAEA's extensive inspections regime was "essential" if the outside world was to have assurances about the nature of Iran's nuclear programme.

Fakhrizadeh was laid to rest on Monday, three days after he was assassinated on a major road outside Tehran.

"Let me say that we abhor violence of any type, we are an international organisation for peace and security," Grossi said.

The killing could put yet more strain on diplomatic efforts to salvage Iran's 2015 nuclear deal with world powers, which has been disintegrating ever since the Trump administration withdrew from it two years ago.

High-Stakes Gamble

Iran has been one of the thorniest issues Grossi has had to tackle over an eventful year since taking office in early December 2019.

"They have a very large nuclear programme that requires as you know one of the biggest, if not the biggest efforts in terms of inspection. Without that... the instability in the region would be far higher," Grossi said.

A high point during his leadership was his trip to Tehran in August which ended in an agreement allowing IAEA inspectors access to two sites where undeclared nuclear activity may have taken place in the 2000s.

That had followed months where Tehran had denied access to the locations.

"I was served with a denial of access to two sites barely 40 days into the job, something that had never happened before in the history of the IAEA," Grossi recalls.

He admitted that some member states and analysts had thought his gambit of flying to Iran for talks was a risk.

However, it paid off and won him plaudits in Vienna's diplomatic circles.

'Sense of Urgency'

However, when it comes to another controversial undeclared site, in the Turquzabad district of Tehran, Grossi said there were still unanswered questions over the presence of nuclear material.

"I do not want to dramatise but it is important that we get clarification," he said.

While not setting a deadline for Iran to provide the necessary information, Grossi said "a sense of urgency is clear on my side" and recalled that the site has been under discussion for almost two years now.

Grossi said his proudest achievement was that the agency managed to keep going throughout the coronavirus despite the challenges.

"I had to argue my way with foreign ministers, I had to hire private planes to send my inspectors - it wasn't easy."

Looking to the year ahead, Grossi said he hoped the Agency would be a "priority" for the incoming administration of President-elect Joe Biden.

Photo: IRNA

Iran Mulls Response as it Prepares to Bury Killed Nuclear Scientist

By Amir Havasi

Debate raged in Iran on Sunday over how and when to respond to a top nuclear scientist's assassination, blamed on arch-foe Israel, as his body was honoured at Shiite shrines to prepare it for burial.

Two days after Mohsen Fakhrizadeh died from wounds sustained in a firefight between his guards and unidentified gunmen near Tehran, parliament demanded a halt to international inspections of Iranian nuclear sites while a top official hinted Iran should leave the global non-proliferation treaty.

Iran's Supreme National Security Council usually handles decisions related to the country's nuclear programme, and parliamentary bills must be approved by the powerful Guardians Council.

President Hassan Rouhani has stressed the country will seek its revenge in "due time" and not be rushed into a "trap.”

Israel says Fakhrizadeh was the head of an Iranian military nuclear programme, the existence of which the Islamic republic has consistently denied, and Washington had sanctioned him in 2008 for activities linked to Iran's atomic activities.

The scientist's body was taken for a ceremony on Sunday at a major shrine in the holy city of Qom before being transported to the shrine of the Islamic republic's founder Imam Khomeini, according to Iranian media.Fakhrizadeh's funeral will be held Monday in the presence of senior military commanders and his family, the defence ministry said on its website, without specifying where.

Demands for 'Strong Reaction'

Israel has not officially commented on Fakhrizadeh's killing, less than two months before US President-elect Joe Biden is set to take office after four years of hawkish foreign policy under President Donald Trump. Trump withdrew the US from a multilateral nuclear agreement with Iran in 2018 and then reimposed and beefed up punishing sanctions as part of its "maximum pressure" campaign against Tehran.

Biden has signalled his administration may be prepared to rejoin the accord, but the nuclear scientist's assassination has revived opposition to the deal among Iranian conservatives.

The head of Iran's Expediency Council, a key advisory and arbitration body, said there was "no reason why (Iran) should not reconsider the Nuclear Proliferation Treaty".

Mohsen Rezaee said Tehran should also halt implementation of the additional protocol, a document prescribing intrusive inspections of Iran's nuclear facilitates.

Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei called Saturday for Fakhrizadeh's killers to be punished. Parliament speaker Mohammad-Bagher Ghalibaf called Sunday for "a strong reaction" that would "deter and take revenge" on those behind the killing of Fakhrizadeh, who was aged 59 according to Iranian media.

Call for Strikes

For Israeli newspaper Haaretz, Fakhrizadeh's killing was clearly tied to Biden's arrival in office.

"The timing of the assassination, even if it was determined by purely operational considerations, is a clear message to President-elect Joe Biden, intended to show Israel's criticism" of plans to revive the deal, it said.

The UAE, which in September normalised ties with Israel, condemned the killing and urged restraint.

The foreign ministry, quoted by the official Emirati news agency WAM, said Abu Dhabi "condemns the heinous assassination of Mohsen Fakhrizadeh, which could further fuel conflict in the region...

"The UAE calls upon all parties to exercise maximum degrees of self-restraint to avoid dragging the region into new levels of instability and threat to peace," it said.

Britain, a party to the nuclear accord, said Sunday it was "concerned" about possible escalation of tensions in the Middle East following the assassination, while Turkey called the killing an act of "terrorism" that "upsets peace in the region.”

In Iran, ultra-conservative Kayhan daily called for strikes on Israel if it were "proven" to be behind the assassination.

Kayhan called for the port city of Haifa to be targeted "in a way that would annihilate its infrastructure and leave a heavy human toll.”

Iran has responded to the US withdrawal from the 2015 deal by gradually abandoning most of its key nuclear commitments under the agreement.

'Revive Iran's Nuclear Industry

Rezaee called on Iran's atomic agency to take "minimum measures" such as "stopping the online broadcast of cameras, reducing or suspending inspectors and implementing restrictions in their access" to sites, ISNA news agency reported.

Iran's parliament said the "best response" to the assassination would be to "revive Iran's glorious nuclear industry.”

It called for International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) inspectors to be barred from the country's atomic sites, said the legislature's news agency ICANA.

Some MPs had earlier accused inspectors of acting as "spies" potentially responsible for Fakhrizadeh's death.

But the spokesman for Iran's atomic energy organisation, Behrouz Kamalvandi, told IRNA on Saturday that the issue of inspectors' access "must be decided on at high levels" of the Islamic republic's leadership.

Photo: IRNA

Rouhani Calls for Return to Pre-Trump US-Iran Situation

Iran's President Hassan Rouhani on Wednesday invited US President-elect Joe Biden's incoming administration to restore the "situation that prevailed" before Donald Trump came to power.

"Iran and the US can both decide and declare that they will return to the situation that prevailed until January 20, 2017," Rouhani told his cabinet, referring to the date when the outgoing US president assumed office.

“If there is such a will among the future American leaders, I think that it will be very easy to resolve" numerous problems, Rouhani said.

Iran and the US do not have direct diplomatic ties, but a nuclear deal agreed between Tehran, Washington and other world powers in 2015—negotiated when Barack Obama was in the White House, with Biden as his deputy—saw bilateral tensions dissipate to the lowest level in decades.

Trump unilaterally withdrew the US from that pact in May 2018 and launched a "maximum pressure" campaign against Iran with sanctions that plunged its economy into a deep recession.

The two countries have twice come to the brink of war since mid-2019.

The Iranian government's policy is based on "respect for commitments against respect for commitments... (and) respect in exchange for respect," Rouhani said, noting an opportunity to "completely change the course" of events of the last four years.

Since Biden's victory in the November 3 US presidential election, Rouhani has repeatedly signaled his openness to the incoming US administration, although Iran's supreme leader has cautioned against hopes of an opening with the West.

Photo: IRNA

Iran Says to Meet Nuclear Commitments if Biden Lifts Sanctions

By Amir Havasi with Shaun Tandon

Iran said Wednesday it would "automatically" return to its nuclear commitments if US President-elect Joe Biden lifts sanctions, as the outgoing administration doubled down with more pressure.

Biden has promised a return to diplomacy with Iran after four hawkish years under Donald Trump, who withdrew from a denuclearisation accord and slapped sweeping sanctions.

Tehran again meeting its commitments "can be done automatically and needs no conditions or even negotiations," Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said in comments published in the state-run Iran daily.

Zarif described Biden as a "foreign affairs veteran" whom he has known for 30 years. Once in the White House, Biden could "lift all of these (sanctions) with three executive orders," Zarif argued.

If Biden's administration does so, Iran's return to nuclear commitments will be "quick", the minister added.
Washington's return to the deal, however, could wait, Zarif added.

“The next stage that will need negotiating is America's return... which is not a priority," he said, adding that "the first priority is America ending its law-breaking".

President Hassan Rouhani meanwhile called the Trump administration "unruly,” and said a Biden administration could "bring back the atmosphere" that prevailed in 2015 at the time of the nuclear deal, negotiated by Barack Obama's administration in which Biden was vice president.

The accord offered Tehran relief from international sanctions in exchange for guarantees, verified by the United Nations, that its nuclear program has no military aims.

Trump Team Doubles Down

Trump, who has not accepted defeat in the November 3 election, is moving to keep ramping up pressure on Iran, hoping to make it more difficult politically and legally for Biden to ease sanctions.

In the latest moves, the Treasury Department said it was freezing any US interests of the Foundation of the Oppressed, officially a charitable organisation for the poor that has interests across the Iranian economy.

The Treasury described the foundation as a "multibillion-dollar economic empire" and "key patronage network" for Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei that operates without government oversight.

Also hit by sanctions was Iran's minister for intelligence and security, Mahmoud Alavi, on human rights grounds.

Outgoing Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, in an indirect response to Zarif as he arrived in US ally Israel, vowed to keep imposing "painful consequences".

"The Iranian regime seeks a repeat of the failed experiment that lifted sanctions and shipped them huge amounts of cash in exchange for modest nuclear limitations," he said.

"This is indeed troubling, but even more disturbing is the notion that the United States should fall victim to this nuclear extortion and abandon our sanctions."

Iran, which denies it is seeking to build a nuclear bomb, has since May 2019 gradually suspended most of its key obligations under the agreement, including limits to the production and stockpiling of low-enriched uranium.

The UN's International Atomic Energy Agency said Wednesday Iran had begun operating advanced centrifuges at an underground section of its primary nuclear enrichment facility at Natanz.

Under Iran's deal with world powers, it is only meant to enrich uranium with a less sophisticated variety of centrifuges.

In its report last week the IAEA said Iran's stockpile of enriched uranium now stood at over 12 times the limit in the 2015 accord.

The New York Times reported Monday that Trump had last week asked top aides about the possibility of striking Iran's nuclear facilities.

Senior officials reportedly "dissuaded the president from moving ahead with a military strike," warning him such an attack could escalate into a broader conflict in the last weeks of his presidency

Iran argues it has moved away from its commitments because of the sanctions and the inability of the other parties—Britain, China, France, Germany and Russia—to provide it with the deal's promised economic benefits.

Photo: IRNA

Iran Vows to Take 'Any Opportunity' to Lift US Sanctions

Iran's President Hassan Rouhani vowed Wednesday to take "any opportunity" to lift US sanctions against Tehran, following President Donald Trump's defeat by Democratic election rival Joe Biden.

While the outgoing Trump has declared Iran an arch-foe and sought to isolate it globally, president-elect Biden has proposed to offer Iran a "credible path back to diplomacy".

"Our aim is to lift the pressure of sanctions from the shoulders of our people," Rouhani said in televised remarks during a weekly cabinet meeting.

"Wherever this favourable opportunity arises we will act on our responsibilities. No one should miss any opportunity."

"National security and national interests are not factional and partisan issues," Rouhani added, after conservatives blasted his reformist and moderate coalition for its "over-excitement" for re-engagement with the United States.

Decades-old tensions between Tehran and Washington escalated after Trump unilaterally withdrew the US from a landmark Iran nuclear deal in 2018 and reimposed, then reinforced, crippling sanctions.

Those moves torpedoed the deal, Rouhani's signature foreign policy achievement, and bolstered conservatives who argue that the US cannot be trusted.

The measures have all but deprived Iran of vital oil revenues and isolated its banks, triggering a harsh recession and slashing the value of the rial. Rouhani acknowledged Biden's conciliatory remarks during his campaign but said Tehran was prepared for sanctions to remain in place.

"They can choose a new path. And if they do not want to, it is their choice," he told the cabinet.

He noted that his administration had devised its policies on the assumption Trump would stay in office.

Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said last week that the result of the US election would have "no effect" on Tehran's policies towards Washington.

Photo: IRNA

Khamenei Says Outcome of US Vote Will Not Affect Iran's Policies

The US presidential election will have "no effect" on Tehran's policies towards Washington, Iran's supreme leader said Tuesday.

"On the subject of the United States, we follow a sensible, calculated policy (which) cannot be affected by changes of personnel" in Washington, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said in a televised speech marking the anniversary of the birth of the Prophet Mohammed.

"Today is election day in the United States. Things may happen but they do not concern us," he said. "Our policies are well defined and the coming and going of (presidents) will have no effect" on them.

American voters headed to the polls on Tuesday in a vote that coincides with the anniversary of the 1979 storming by radical students of the US embassy in Tehran.

The ensuing crisis lasted 444 days until 52 hostages were finally released, and has poisoned relations between the two countries to this day.

Iran and the US have come close to armed conflict twice since June 2019, following the Trump administration's withdrawal the previous year from a multilateral deal on the Iranian nuclear programme.

Trump has engaged in a policy of "maximum pressure" against Tehran, reimposing harsh sanctions that have plunged the Iranian economy into a severe recession.

Tehran has responded by rolling back its commitments under the 2015 accord.

Joe Biden, Trump's challenger, who is leading in polls, favours diplomacy with Iran and has backed the nuclear accord negotiated while he was vice president under Barack Obama.

Photo: IRNA

Iran Imposes Travel Restrictions as Virus Deaths Hit Record

Iran on Sunday said it will restrict travel to the cities hit hardest by the novel coronavirus, state TV said, amid a record high of daily COVID-19 deaths.

The measure takes effect at Monday midday and will last until Friday, the broadcaster reported, citing an order by the interior ministry.

The restrictions prevent residents from leaving and non-residents from entering based on vehicle plate numbers, but do not apply to public transportation, it added.

It applies to the capitals of 25 provinces considered "red"—the highest level on Iran's colour-coded risk scale—and includes the capital Tehran with more than 8 million residents.

Violators will be fined, the order added.

Limited restrictive measures were imposed on Saturday in those cities, forcing the closure of some public spaces and businesses.

Daily deaths reached a record 434 on Sunday, health ministry spokeswoman Sima Sadat Lari said, adding that 7,719 more people tested positive for the virus in the past 24 hours.

In total, 35,298 people have died from coronavirus, according to official figures.

The rising toll has prompted several health experts and officials to call for a full lockdown in the capital.

Photo: IRNA

Iran Would Hail US Return to Nuclear Deal - With 'Guarantees'

Iran said Tuesday said it would welcome a US return to the landmark 2015 nuclear deal after its November 3 election provided it "guarantees" not to pull out again.

"It makes no difference to us which president in America decides to return" to the accord between Tehran and world powers, government spokesman Ali Rabiei told reporters.

"We would welcome such a decision by any president," he said.

But Washington "should be ready to be held responsible for the damages it has caused the people of Iran during the time it withdrew" and also "to provide other guarantees it will not repeat" such action.

Tensions have soared between Washington and Tehran under US President Donald Trump, who pulled out of the deal in 2018 and has unilaterally reimposed sanctions on Iran.

Joe Biden, Trump's challenger who is leading in polls, favours diplomacy with Iran and has backed the nuclear accord negotiated while he was vice president under Barack Obama.

The Trump administration has accused Iran as well as Russia of trying to interfere in the 2020 election, charges which Tehran has strongly denied.

Iranian officials have repeatedly said they favour no specific candidate in the race.

Photo: IRNA

China Backs Iran Nuclear Deal, Calls for New Middle East Forum

China's foreign minister Wang Yi has called for a new forum to defuse tensions in the Middle East after a meeting with his Iranian counterpart where he reiterated Beijing's support for Tehran.

Wang and Javid Zarif also reaffirmed their commitment to Iran's 2015 nuclear deal with world powers, according to the Chinese foreign ministry, an implicit rebuke of the United States for abandoning the accord during their Saturday meeting in China's southwestern Tengchong city.

Iran has been locked in an acrimonious relationship with Saudi Arabia, the other major Middle Eastern power, over the war in Yemen, Iranian influence in Iraq and Saudi support for Washington's sanctions on Tehran.

"China proposes to build a regional multilateral dialogue platform with equal participation of all stakeholders," said the Chinese foreign ministry statement.

The forum would "enhance mutual understanding through dialogue and explore political and diplomatic solutions to security issues in the Middle East", the statement added.

Wang added that support for the Iranian nuclear deal, negotiated by the Obama administration but ultimately abandoned by Donald Trump, would be a precondition of entry to the forum.

Zarif said on Twitter his "fruitful talks" with Wang amounted to a rejection of "US unilateralism" and had also focused on strategic ties and collaboration on the development of a coronavirus vaccine.

Photo: FPRC

Trump Defiantly Presses 'UN' Sanctions on Iran

By Shaun Tandon and Cyril Julien

President Donald Trump said Monday that he was imposing sanctions on Iranians for violating a UN arms embargo and demanded enforcement by US allies, who roundly dispute that he has any such authority. 

Trump's defiant move came on the very day that the United Nations was celebrating its 75th anniversary with a virtual summit full of calls for greater international cooperation.

The Trump administration said it was imposing sanctions on 27 individuals and entities under a UN resolution including Iran's defense ministry, its Atomic Energy Organization and Venezuela's leftist leader Nicolas Maduro, whom Washington has been trying without success to topple.

"The United States has now restored UN sanctions on Iran," Trump said in a statement.

"My actions today send a clear message to the Iranian regime and those in the international community who refuse to stand up to Iran."

The Trump administration argues that it is enforcing a UN arms embargo that Iran has violated, including through an attack on Saudi oil facilities.

The embargo on conventional arms shipments to Iran is set to expire next month after the United States failed to win support for a new UN resolution. 

The Trump administration says it is "snapping back" virtually all UN sanctions on Iran lifted under a 2015 nuclear accord with Tehran negotiated by former president Barack Obama.

Trump pulled out of the deal with fanfare in 2018 and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo again on Monday called it an "abject failure."

But Pompeo argues that the United States is still a "participant" in the deal—with the right to impose sanctions for violations—as it was listed in the resolution that blessed Obama's diplomatic effort.

Iran Says No Renegotiating

The legal argument has been rejected by almost the entire UN Security Council, with European allies of the United States saying the priority is to salvage a peaceful solution on Iran's nuclear program.

"We have made it very clear that every member state in the United Nations has a responsibility to enforce the sanctions," Pompeo told reporters when asked about European opposition.

"That certainly includes the United Kingdom, France and Germany." 

A news conference to announce the move was scheduled at the very time that Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif was speaking before a leading US think tank, in an appearance denounced by the Trump administration.

Zarif told the Council on Foreign Relations that the latest effort would have no "significant impact" on his country.

"The United States has exerted all the pressure it could on Iran, it has. It had hoped that these sanctions will bring our population to the knees. It didn't," Zarif said.

The United States already slapped sweeping unilateral sanctions on Iran when Trump withdrew from the nuclear accord, at a time that UN inspectors said Tehran was in compliance with the deal that was meant to offer it economic relief.

Some observers believe Trump's real goal is to definitively kill the nuclear deal, which was staunchly supported by Joe Biden, his Democratic rival in November 3 elections.

Zarif said that Iran was not willing to renegotiate the original accord even if Biden wins.

"The United States must first prove that it's worthy of the trust that is required for its re-entry into the deal before it sets conditions," Zarif said.

Snub at UN

The Trump administration has been seeking to reduce Iran's regional clout and boost its rivals Saudi Arabia and Israel.

It achieved a significant win earlier this month when the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain recognized Israel.

Pompeo addressed the media alongside cabinet colleagues and the US ambassador to the United Nations, Kelly Craft, who traveled to Washington rather than stay in New York for the world body's 75th anniversary summit.

As world leaders sent recorded messages, the United States was represented by its acting deputy envoy, although Trump is expected to speak virtually to the annual General Assembly on Tuesday.

French President Emmanuel Macron, addressing the anniversary summit by video, urged a new focus on the United Nations to combat the world's "disorder."

"At a time when the pandemic is feeding fear of decline and a narrative of collective powerlessness, I want to say very clearly -- faced with this health emergency, the climate challenge and the retreat on rights, it is here and now that we must act."

Photo: Wikicommons

Iran Says US Faces 'Maximum Isolation' as World Powers Dismiss Sanctions

By Karim Abou Merhi

Iran said Sunday that the United States is facing "maximum isolation" after major powers dismissed a unilateral US declaration that UN sanctions on Tehran were back in force.

Washington said the sanctions had been re-activated under the "snapback" mechanism in a landmark 2015 nuclear treaty—despite Washington having withdrawn from the deal.

As other signatories cast doubt on the move having any legal effect, Washington threatened to "impose consequences" on states failing to comply.

But Iran's President Hassan Rouhani said a concerted campaign by Washington to pressure Tehran had backfired.

"We can say that America's 'maximum pressure' against Iran, in its political and legal aspect, has turned into America's maximum isolation," he said in a televised cabinet meeting.

The sanctions in question had been lifted when Iran, the UN Security Council's five permanent members (Britain, China, France, Russia and the US) and Germany signed the 2015 treaty on Iran's nuclear programme, known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action.

But President Donald Trump withdrew the US from the JCPOA in 2018, saying the deal—negotiated by his predecessor Barack Obama—was insufficient. 

He also stepped up Washington's own sanctions as part of a "maximum pressure" campaign against the Islamic republic.

The US insists it is still a participant in the agreement—but only so it can activate the snapback option, which it announced on August 20.

Virtually every other UNSC member disputes Washington's ability to execute this legal pirouette, and the UN body has not taken the measure any further.

'No Legal Effect'

On Sunday, France, Germany and Britain issued a joint statement saying Washington's "purported notification" was "incapable of having any legal effect".

Russia also said Washington's "illegitimate initiative and actions" could not have "international legal consequences" for others.

China's mission to the UN tweeted that the US move was "devoid of any legal, political or practical effect", adding that it was "time to end the political drama by the US".

Rouhani thanked UNSC members who had "stood against America's illegal request" and said if remaining signatories let Iran access the deal's economic benefits, Iran would reinstate nuclear commitments it had dropped in response to the US withdrawal.

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, announcing the move, said Saturday that the US "welcomes the return of virtually all previously terminated UN sanctions on the Islamic Republic of Iran".

He said US authorities were prepared to impose "consequences" against states who "fail to fulfil their obligations to implement these sanctions", with measures to be announced in the coming days.

With around six weeks to go until the US presidential election, Trump could unveil those measures in a speech at the UN General Assembly on Tuesday.

Iran's foreign minister accused Pompeo of "threaten(ing) to punish a world that refuses to live in his parallel universe".

"The world says NO Security Council sanctions were restored," Mohammad Javad Zarif tweeted.

Iran's foreign ministry said in a statement that Washington, by leaving the nuclear deal, had "explicitly denied itself any right" to use the "snapback" mechanism.

It also warned that if the US "acts on these threats, directly, or with the cooperation of a handful of its puppets, it will face a serious response and be responsible for all the dangerous consequences.”

'Nothing Worse'

The US had already suffered a resounding defeat at the Security Council in mid-August, when it tried to extend an embargo on conventional weapons deliveries to Tehran, which was due to expire in October.

Pompeo responded with an unusually vehement attack on Britain, France and Germany, accusing them of "siding with Iran's ayatollahs", before announcing the snapback.

In Washington's eyes, its move has now extended the embargo "indefinitely" and reactivated international sanctions on many activities related to Tehran's nuclear and ballistic missile programmes.

Zarif accused Pompeo of not having read UN resolutions or the nuclear deal.

"He's now probably waiting for the movie to come out so he can begin to understand it," he told state television.

On the streets of Tehran, Iranians complained of harsh economic conditions they blamed on US sanctions.

"It's really difficult for the people right now. Whether sanctions are reimposed or not, we are living with utmost difficulty," said Leila Zanganeh, a martial arts instructor.

But Danial Namei, an architect, seemed to care little for returning UN sanctions and doubted things could get worse.

"We've been through difficult things and it is still ongoing. There's nothing worse than the worst, after all," he said.

Photo: IRNA

Pompeo Insists US to Enforce 'UN' Sanctions On Iran

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo insisted Wednesday the United States will enforce new "UN" sanctions on Iran starting next week, despite overwhelming consensus that Washington is out of bounds.

"The United States will do what it always does. It will do its share as part of its responsibilities to enable peace, this time in the Middle East," Pompeo told a joint news conference with British Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab.

"We'll do all the things we need to do to make sure that those sanctions are enforced," he said.

Pompeo last month headed to the United Nations to announce the "snapback" of sanctions under a 2015 Security Council resolution after failing to extend an embargo on conventional arms sales to Iran.

The resolution allows any participant in a nuclear accord with Iran negotiated under former president Barack Obama to reimpose sanctions, which would take effect one month afterward.

President Donald Trump pulled out of the accord, which he has repeatedly denounced, but Pompeo argues that the United States remains a "participant" as it was listed in the 2015 resolution.

The sanctions are authorized by a "valid UN Security Council resolution," Pompeo said.

Trump has already enforced sweeping unilateral US sanctions on Iran, inflicting a heavy toll in a bid to curb the clerical state's regional influence.

The United Nations has clearly said that it cannot proceed with the reimposition of UN sanctions, with 13 of the Security Council's 15 nations objecting to the US move.

European allies of the United States say that they support extending the arms embargo but want to preserve a diplomatic solution on the nuclear issue, which they see as more important.

Playing down differences, Raab said of the nuclear accord: "We have always welcomed US and indeed any other efforts to broaden it."

"The means by which we get there, there may be shades of difference but we have handled them... constructively," he said.

The issue has come to a head less than two months before Trump seeks another term against Democrat Joe Biden, a supporter of the accord that curbed Iran's nuclear program.

Photo: IRNA