UNITED NATIONS, United States: Britain’s top diplomat called Wednesday on Iran’s leadership to choose “another path” including embrace of a nuclear deal as protests grip the nation after the death of a young woman arrested by morality police.
“The Iranian leadership should notice that the people are unhappy with the direction that they have taken,” Foreign Secretary James Cleverly told AFP at the United Nations.
“They could abandon their nuclear weapons aspirations. They could stop the repression of voices within their own country. They could stop their destabilizing activities,” he said.
“A different path is possible. That is the path that we want Iran to take and that is the path that will see them with a stronger economy, a more happy society and a more active part in the international community.”
Non-governmental groups say at least eight protesters have been killed in Iran in several days of unrest after the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini.
She died after being arrested by police responsible for enforcing the Islamic republic’s strict dress code for women.
The unrest comes as Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi visits New York for the UN General Assembly, where Western leaders are pressing him to accept an EU-brokered revival of a 2015 nuclear deal.
But hopes have dimmed as Raisi presses for US President Joe Biden to offer guarantees that a successor will not abandon the pact, as former president Donald Trump did.
“Sadly, we have not seen the negotiations progress as quickly as we would have hoped. They have stalled,” Cleverly said.
“It is in the Iranians’ hands now. A very sensible, pragmatic offer is on the table. The Iranians should take the opportunity to move in a better direction,” he said.
The Biden administration supports a US return to the deal, in which Iran stands to enjoy sanctions relief in return for strict limits on its nuclear program, but says that it cannot guarantee what a future president would do.
Protests show ‘another path’ possible for Iran: UK foreign secretary
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Protests show ‘another path’ possible for Iran: UK foreign secretary
- "The Iranian leadership should notice that the people are unhappy with the direction that they have taken," said Foreign Secretary James Cleverly
- Non-governmental groups say at least eight protesters have been killed in Iran in several days of unrest
Israeli FM urges Jews to move to Israel a week after Sydney attack
- “Today I call on Jews in England, Jews in France, Jews in Australia, Jews in Canada, Jews in Belgium: come to the Land of Israel! Come home!” Saar said
JERUSALEM: Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar called on Sunday for Jews in Western countries to move to Israel to escape rising antisemitism, one week after 15 were shot dead at a Jewish event in Sydney.
“Jews have the right to live in safety everywhere. But we see and fully understand what is happening, and we have a certain historical experience. Today, Jews are being hunted across the world,” Saar said at a public candle lighting marking the last day of the Jewish festival of Hanukkah.
“Today I call on Jews in England, Jews in France, Jews in Australia, Jews in Canada, Jews in Belgium: come to the Land of Israel! Come home!” Saar said at the ceremony, held with leaders of Jewish communities and organizations worldwide.
Since the outbreak of the war in Gaza, sparked by Hamas’s unprecedented attack on Israel on October 7, 2023, Israeli leaders have repeatedly denounced a surge in antisemitism in Western countries and accused their governments of failing to curb it.
Australian authorities have said the December 14 attack on a Hanukkah event on Sydney’s Bondi Beach was inspired by the ideology of the Islamic State jihadist group.
On Tuesday, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu urged Western governments to better protect their Jewish citizens.
“I demand that Western governments do what is necessary to fight antisemitism and provide the required safety and security for Jewish communities worldwide,” Netanyahu said in a video address.
In October, Saar accused British authorities of failing to take action to curb a “toxic wave of antisemitism” following an attack outside a Manchester synagogue on Yom Kippur, the holiest day in the Jewish calendar, in which two people were killed and four wounded.
According to Israel’s 1950 “Law of Return,” any Jewish person in the world is entitled to settle in Israel (a process known in Hebrew as aliyah, or “ascent“) and acquire Israeli citizenship. The law also applies to individuals who have at least one Jewish grandparent.zz
