JEDDAH: The prospects of a revived agreement to curb Iran’s nuclear program in return for lifting crippling economic sanctions receded on Friday when US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said the US was in no hurry to reach a deal.
Iran’s latest moves were a step backwards and Washington would not rush to rejoin the agreement at any cost, Blinken said on Friday.
European mediators last month appeared to make progress in restoring the 2015 Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action after Iran largely agreed to a proposed final text.
But optimism dimmed when the US sent a reply, to which Iran in turn responded.
“In past weeks, we’ve closed some gaps. Iran has moved away from some extraneous demands — demands unrelated to the JCPOA itself,” Blinken said.
“However, their latest response takes us backwards. And we’re not about to agree to a deal that doesn’t meet our bottom-line requirements. If we conclude a deal, it’s only because it will advance our national security.”
US President Joe Biden supports restoring the agreement, under which Iran will enjoy sanctions relief and again be able to sell its oil worldwide in return for tough restrictions on its nuclear program.
Biden’s predecessor Donald Trump pulled the US out of the agreement in 2018 and reimposed sweeping sanctions that have crippled the Iranian economy.
Diplomats say Iran has dropped a demand that Biden lift Trump’s designation of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps as a terrorist group, a key sticking point.
Remaining disputes include Iran’s insistence that the UN atomic watchdog close an investigation into three undeclared sites suspected of previous nuclear work. However, that investigation is linked to a possible breach of the 1968 Nuclear Non-proliferation Treaty, to which Iran is a signatory, and is unconnected to the JCPOA.
Prospects of revived nuclear deal recede as Iran ‘moves backwards’
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Prospects of revived nuclear deal recede as Iran ‘moves backwards’
- US will not rush into a new agreement at any cost, secretary of state says
Algeria inaugurates strategic railway to giant Sahara mine
- The mine is expected to produce 4 million tons per year during the initial phase, with production projected to triple to 12 million tons per year by 2030, according to estimates by the state-owned Feraal Group, which manages the site
- The project is financed by the Algerian state and partly built by a Chinese consortium
ALGEIRS: Algerian President Abdelmadjid Tebboune on Sunday inaugurated a nearly 1,000-kilometer (621-mile) desert railway to transport iron ore from a giant mine, a project he called one of the biggest in the country’s history.
The line will bring iron ore from the Gara Djebilet deposit in the south to the city of Bechar located 950 kilometers north, to be taken to a steel production plant near Oran further north.
The project is financed by the Algerian state and partly built by a Chinese consortium.
During the inauguration, Tebboune described it as “one of the largest strategic projects in the history of independent Algeria.”
This project aims to increase Algeria’s iron ore extraction capacity, as the country aspires to become one of Africa’s leading steel producers.
The iron ore deposit is also seen as a key driver of Algeria’s economic diversification as it seeks to reduce its reliance on hydrocarbons, according to experts.
President Tebboune attended an inauguration ceremony in Bechar, welcoming the first passenger train from Tindouf in southern Algeria and sending toward the north a first charge of iron ore, according to footage broadcast on national television.
The mine is expected to produce 4 million tons per year during the initial phase, with production projected to triple to 12 million tons per year by 2030, according to estimates by the state-owned Feraal Group, which manages the site.
It is then expected to reach 50 million tons per year in the long term, it said.
The start of operations at the mine will allow Algeria to drastically reduce its iron ore imports and save $1.2 billion per year, according to Algerian media.
