Parties to Iran nuclear deal to hold formal meeting on Sunday: EU

Parties negotiating a revival of the Iran nuclear deal will hold a formal meeting in Vienna on Sunday, the EU said. (File/AFP)
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Updated 19 June 2021
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Parties to Iran nuclear deal to hold formal meeting on Sunday: EU

  • The meeting comes amid the sixth round of indirect talks between Washington and Tehran
  • These formal meetings are usually an indication that the latest round will be adjourned

PARIS: Parties negotiating a revival of the Iran nuclear deal will hold a formal meeting in Vienna on Sunday, the European Union said on Saturday.
Iran and six world powers have been negotiating in Vienna since April to work out steps for Washington and Tehran to take. The United States withdrew in 2018 from the pact, under which Iran accepted curbs on its nuclear programme in exchange for a lifting of many foreign sanctions against it.
Sunday's formal meeting comes more than a week after this round of talks resumed and is an indication that the talks are likely to be adjourned.
Officials over the week have indicated that differences remain on key issues.
"The Joint Commission of #JCPOA will meet on Sunday, June 20," Mikhail Ulyanov Russia's envoy to the talks said on Twitter.
"It will decide on the way ahead at the #ViennaTalks. An agreement on restoration of the nuclear deal is within reach but is not finalised yet."
The remaining parties to the deal - Iran, Russia, China, France, Britain, Germany and the European Union - meet in the basement of a luxury hotel.
The US delegation to the talks is based in a hotel across the street as Iran refuses face-to-face meetings, leaving the other delegations and EU to work as go-betweens.
Since former US President Donald Trump pulled out of the deal and reimposed sanctions on Iran, Tehran has embarked on counter measures, including rebuilding stockpiles of enriched uranium, a potential pathway to nuclear bombs.


Slain son of former Libya ruler Qaddafi to be buried near capital

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Slain son of former Libya ruler Qaddafi to be buried near capital

TRIPOLI: The slain son of former Libyan ruler Muammar Qaddafi will be buried in a town south of the capital that remains loyal to the family, relatives said Thursday.
Seif Al-Islam Qaddafi, once seen by some as Libya’s heir apparent, was shot dead on Tuesday in the northwestern city of Zintan.
The burial will be held on Friday in the town of Bani Walid some 175 kilometers south of Tripoli, two of his brothers said.
“The date and location of his burial have been decided by mutual agreement among the family,” half-brother Mohamed Qaddafi said in a Facebook post.
Mohamed said the plan reflected “our respect” for the town, which has remained loyal to the elder Qaddafi years after he was toppled and killed in the 2011 Arab Spring uprisings.
Each year, the town of about 100,000 celebrates the anniversary of a 1969 coup that brought Muammar to power, parading through the streets holding the ex-leader’s portrait.
Saadi Qaddafi, a younger brother, said his dead sibling will be “buried among the Werfalla,” an influential local tribe, in a grave next to his brother Khamis Qaddafi, who died during the 2011 unrest.
Marcel Ceccaldi, a French lawyer who had been representing Seif Al-Islam, told AFP he was killed by an unidentified “four-man commando” who stormed his house on Tuesday.
Seif Al-Islam had long been widely seen as his father’s heir. Under the elder Qaddafi’s iron-fisted 40-year rule, he was described as the de facto prime minister, cultivating an image of moderation and reform despite holding no official position.
But that reputation soon collapsed when he promised “rivers of blood” in retaliation for the 2011 uprising.
He was arrested that year on a warrant issued by the International Criminal Court for alleged crimes against humanity, and a Tripoli court later sentenced him to death, although he was later granted amnesty.
In 2021 he announced he would run for president but the elections were indefinitely postponed.
He is survived by four out of six siblings: Mohamed, Saadi, Aicha and Hannibal, who was recently released from a Lebanese prison on bail.
Libya has struggled to recover from chaos that erupted after the 2011 uprising. It remains split between a UN-backed government based in Tripoli and an eastern administration backed by Khalifa Haftar.