DUBAI: Iran is seeking the closure of the UN nuclear agency’s investigation of its nuclear activities among other guarantees, in order to revive the country’s 2015 nuclear deal with world powers, a senior Iranian official said on Monday.
“An end to the agency’s probes is part of the guarantees that we are seeking to have a sustainable and durable nuclear agreement,” Iranian foreign ministry spokesperson Nasser Kanaani told a televised news conference.
Last week, Iran sent its latest response to an EU-drafted text aimed at overcoming an impasse to revive the nuclear pact, under which it had restrained its nuclear program in exchange for relief from US, EU and UN economic sanctions.
Iran’s demand risks hurting the chances of saving the deal because Washington has rejected linking it to the agency’s investigation.
After months of indirect talks between Tehran and Washington, the nuclear deal appeared near revival in March. But negotiations broke down over several issues, including Tehran’s insistence that the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) close its probes into uranium traces found at three undeclared sites before the nuclear pact is revived.
Iran demands closure of IAEA probes for ‘sustainable’ nuclear deal
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Iran demands closure of IAEA probes for ‘sustainable’ nuclear deal
- Last week, Iran sent its latest response to an EU-drafted text aimed at overcoming an impasse to revive the nuclear pact
Barrack: US working to prevent escalation and restoring talks between Damascus and SDF
DUBAI: US Special Envoy to Syria, Tom Barrack said efforts to de-escalate the situation were ongoing amid rising tensions between the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) and the Syrian government.
In a post on X on Friday, Barrack said the United States “remains in close contact with all parties in Syria and is working around the clock to de-escalate the situation and prevent further escalation.”
The comments come as both sides traded accusations over the failure to implement the March 10 agreement.
Barrak also indicated that Washington was seeking to resume negotiations between the Syrian government and the SDF in the wake of clashes between the SDF and the Syrian army which left at least 24 people dead and over a hundred injured.
Ilham Ahmed, a Kurdish official in the Autonomous Administration, said on Thursday that the government’s claim that the agreement had not been implemented was “incorrect,” adding that “the international community knows this.”
Ahmed also claimed statements by Syrian President Ahmed al Sharaa were also viewed as a declaration of war.
Al Sharaa accused Kurdish forces of failing to implement the agreement he signed last year in Damascus with SDF commander Mazloum Abdi, stressing that the deal called for a unified Syria without federalism.
He also warned that the Syrian government would not remain idle, saying he was “not threatening, but describing reality.”
Relations between the two sides have deteriorated amid the stalled implementation of the agreement, which was due to be completed by the end of last year.
Tensions escalated further last week when clashes broke out between Kurdish forces and the Syrian army in Aleppo, before spreading to the eastern Aleppo countryside.
