by admin | May 25, 2021 | Corporate, Corporate Governance, News, Politics
By Arul Louis,
United Nations : External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj and Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif discussed US sanctions against Tehran amidst American President Donald Trump issuing dire warnings at the Security Council against violating the embargo.
India and Iran “shared each others’ position about where we stand at this point of time” on the sanctions, External Affairs Ministry spokesman Raveesh Kumar told reporters after the Ministers’ meeting on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly session here on Wednesday.
At the Security Counci, Trump said that the sanctions against Iran will come into full force in November and warned “any individual who fail to comply with these sanctions will face full consequences”.
Kumar said that India was engaged with all the stakeholders dealing with the sanctions and, therefore, it discussed it with Iran also.
Zarif told Sushma Swaraj about Iran’s interaction with the European Union (EU) and other countries over the sanctions, according to Kumar.
The spokesman said that Iran and India had “civilisational ties” going back in time and the discussions went beyond the sanctions issue.
Trump pulled Washington out of the nuclear deal known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) that Iran signed with the five permanent members of the UN Security Council, Germany and the EU, to end sanctions in return for Teheran stopping nuclear weapons development.
The EU and most countries back the nuclear deal and oppose US sanctions and Trump found himself isolated at the Security Council.
Washington’s allies, British Prime Minister Theresa May and French President Emmanuel Macron, openly opposed Trump at the Security Council meeting and expressed their support for the agreement with Iran.
Kumar declined to comment on foreign media reports that India was going to stop importing Iranian oil.
(Arul Louis can be reached at arul.l@ians.in and followed on Twitter at @arulouis)
—IANS
by admin | May 25, 2021 | Business Summit, Events, Muslim World, Social Round-up
President of Turkey Erdogan, President of Iran Rouhani and President of Russia Putin attend trilateral summit on September 7, 2018 in Tehran, Iran.
By Satuk Bugra Kutlugun,
Ankara: Turkey, Iran, and Russia on Friday called for a political solution to the crisis in Syria in a joint statement issued at the end of a trilateral summit in the Iranian capital Tehran.
“There could be no military solution to the Syrian conflict and it can only end through a negotiated political process.
“[They] reaffirmed their determination to continue active cooperation with a view to advancing the political process in consistence with the decisions of the Syrian National Dialogue Congress in Sochi and the UN Security Council Resolution 2254,” the statement said.
The leaders expressed their “satisfaction with the achievements” of the Astana format since January 2017, in particular, the progress made in “reducing violence across the Syrian Arab Republic and contributing to peace, security, and stability in the country.”
Iran, Turkey and Russia “emphasized strong and continued the commitment to the sovereignty, independence, unity and territorial integrity of Syria, as well as to the purposes and principles of the UN Charter and highlighted that they should be respected by all.”
The leaders “rejected all attempts to create new realities on the ground under the pretext of combating terrorism,” while expressing determination to stand against separatist agendas aimed at undermining the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Syria and national security of neighboring countries.”
The joint statement said the leaders highlighted the “need to create conditions for the safe and voluntary return of refugees and internally displaced persons (IDPs) to their original places of residence in Syria.”
Russia, Iran, and Turkey also called for the United Nations and its humanitarian agencies to help Syria by providing additional humanitarian aid.
The joint statement also welcomed the progress in the work of the Working Group on the release of detainees and abductees, and handover of the bodies as well as the identification of the missing persons, as undertaken with the participation of the UN and ICRC experts.
The next tripartite meeting will be held in Russia, upon the invitation of President Putin.
—AA
by admin | May 25, 2021 | Muslim World
Iranian Foreign Ministry Spokesman Bahram Qasimi.
By Ali Murat Alhas,
Ankara: An Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman on Thursday called on the U.S. to return to a landmark nuclear deal from which it withdrew earlier this year.
Speaking on Iranian state television, ministry spokesman Bahram Qasimi said that returning to the nuclear deal would be “the best option” for the U.S.
“I hope the U.S. views Iran — and the region in general — in a positive light and doesn’t repeat its past mistakes as the situation in the Middle East is very sensitive,” he said.
Noting that U.S. President Donald Trump would be unable to implement all of his planned policies, Qasimi said the U.S. had become “isolated” as a result of its decision to withdraw from the agreement.
EU countries, he said, thanks to their close ties with the U.S., should work to correct Trump’s Iran policy and advise him on Asia and the Middle East policymaking.
Russia and China, he added, should also work on convincing the U.S. president to remain a party to the nuclear deal.
“What Trump must understand… is that returning to the nuclear agreement is his best option,” Qasimi asserted.
“What’s more, the U.S. should abandon its sanctions policy, because such political maneuvering only hurts its reputation,” he said.
In mid-2015, Iran signed a landmark nuclear deal with the P5+1 group of nations (the five permanent UN Security Council members plus Germany).
The agreement placed tight restrictions on Iran’s nuclear program in exchange for billions of dollars in sanctions relief.
In May of this year, however, Trump unilaterally withdrew the U.S. from the agreement, which he had earlier described as the “worst deal ever”.
The move drew widespread criticism among the agreement’s other signatories.
Washington then re-imposed sanctions on Iran, which primarily target the country’s banking sector.
The sanctions are intended to hinder Tehran’s acquisition of U.S. currency; its precious metals trade; bank transactions denominated in Iranian currency; activities related to Iran’s sovereign debt; and the country’s automotive sector.
—AA
by admin | May 25, 2021 | Muslim World
Washington : US President Donald Trump announced that he was willing to meet his Iranian counterpart Hassan Rouhani without preconditions and “whenever they want”, a sharp departure from his threats against Tehran last week.
“I would certainly meet with Iran if they wanted to meet,” Trump said on Monday during a joint news conference at the White House alongside Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte.
“I do believe that they will probably end up wanting to meet. I’m ready to meet whenever they want to.
“No preconditions… They want to meet, I’ll meet, whenever they want,” the President added.
Trump also appeared to hedge the possibility of a meeting on an ability to “work something out that’s meaningful”.
Hamid Aboutalebi, an adviser to President Rouhani, tweeted in response to Trump that “returning to the nuclear deal” and “respecting the Iranian nation’s rights” would pave way for talks, reports the BBC.
Such a meeting would be the first between US and Iranian leaders since the 1979 Iranian revolution.
Monday’s olive branch from Trump marks an abrupt shift in tone. The President has been a strident critic of Iran, threatening Tehran with “consequences” on July 22, CNN reported.
The President and his senior officials have ramped up the rhetoric against Tehran, promising to “crush” its economy with international sanctions and accusing it of fomenting terrorism and regional instability, while telling the country’s citizens that their leaders are corrupt.
Washington is preparing to re-impose sanctions on Tehran within days – despite objections from the UK, France, China, Russia and Germany, which also signed the 2015 Iran nuclear deal known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action.
Iran insists its nuclear programme is entirely peaceful, and its compliance with the deal has been verified by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), which has said Iran is honouring its commitments.
—IANS
by admin | May 25, 2021 | Muslim World
Tehran : The Iranian Foreign Ministry on Tuesday denounced Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s nuclear allegations against Tehran as a “worthless show”.
Ministry spokesman Bahram Qasemi said that the “ridiculous propagandist presentations” of Netanyahu are “one of the latest shameful and worthless shows about Iran’s nuclear programme”, reports Xinhua news agency.
Netanyahu on Monday disclosed files that he said could prove Iran has secretly worked on nuclear weapons even after it signed an agreement in 2015 to halt ts nuclear programme.
The Iranian nuclear deal, known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, signed between Iran and six world powers, was designed to limit Tehran’s nuclear programme in exchange for the removal of international sanctions on the Islamic Republic.
“Even after the deal, Iran continued to preserve and expand its nuclear weapons know-how for future use” at the Fordow nuclear testing site, said Netanyahu.
However, Qasemi said the allegations were “merely aimed at spreading lies and deception”.
Netanyahu’s disclosure comes ahead of Trump’s May 12 deadline to decide whether to extend the waiver on nuclear-related sanctions against Iran.
Trump has repeatedly threatened to quit the deal.
—IANS
