VIENNA: Negotiators trying to save the Iran nuclear deal will meet on Sunday, after an ultraconservative cleric won presidential elections in the Islamic republic.
The latest meeting is part of their regular discussions since early April, aimed at bringing the US back to the 2015 landmark agreement and Iran back into compliance with curbs on its nuclear program in exchange for sanctions relief.
Mikhail Ulyanov, the Russian envoy at the EU-chaired talks, said Sunday’s meeting would “decide on the way ahead.”
“An agreement on restoration of the nuclear deal is within reach but is not finalized yet,” he wrote on Twitter on Saturday.
Parties to the agreement – Britain, China, Germany, France, Russia and Iran – have been meeting in Vienna with indirect US participation since April to restore the deal, which promised Tehran sanctions relief in exchange for curtailing its nuclear program.
The deal was thrown into disarray in 2018 when former US president Donald Trump withdrew and reimposed sanctions, leading Iran in turn to step up its nuclear activities from 2019 onwards.
Ultraconservative cleric Ebrahim Raisi was declared the winner of Iran’s presidential election Saturday after securing just shy of 62 percent of the vote.
Negotiators have said the presidential election is not expected to influence the talks though Raisi’s views are widely seen as a break from the more moderate stances of former president Hassan Rouhani.
Nuclear deal negotiators take stock after Iran elections
https://arab.news/gn3u7
Nuclear deal negotiators take stock after Iran elections
- Mikhail Ulyanov, the Russian envoy at the EU-chaired talks, said Sunday’s meeting would ‘decide on the way ahead’
Israel destroys Khamenei’s underground bunker in Tehran now being used as shelter by Iranian leaders
Israel destroys Khamenei’s underground bunker in Tehran now being used as shelter by Iranian leaders
- Israel’s military said 50 aircraft targeted the secret underground complex
DUBAI: Israel has destroyed Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei’s underground bunker in Tehran, which is still used by senior Iranian officials after his assassination, Israeli media reported on Friday.
Israel’s military said 50 aircraft targeted the secret underground complex, spread over several blocks in the heart of Tehran, with over 100 munitions after receiving surveillance and intelligence reports, Jerusalem Post reported.
Some Iranian leaders were inside the subterranean complex when it was destroyed, Israeli media said.
There were numerous entrances to the secret subterranean complex, which was one of the critical command centers from which Khamenei and others often ran the country during a crisis, Jerusalem Post reported.
Israel’s military said Friday morning it had begun “a broad-scale wave of strikes” on Tehran, Iran’s capital.
Witnesses described the Israeli airstrikes as particularly intense, shaking homes in the area. Others reported explosions around the Iranian city of Kermanshah in an area that is home to multiple missile bases.
Iran’s President Masoud Pezeshkian said Friday that “some countries” had begun mediation efforts in the conflict, without elaborating.
